A federal judge on Thursday refused to overturn the fraud and conspiracy convictions of four former executives for the only financial institution to be criminally charged in connection with the federal bank bailout program, the Associated Press reports.

Judge Richard Andrews refused to enter judgments of acquittal or set new trials for the former Wilmington Trust executives.

“Former bank president Robert Harra Jr., former chief credit officer William North, former chief financial officer David Gibson and former controller Kevyn Rakowski were convicted in May on charges of fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to federal regulators,” writes reporter Randall Chase

Read the AP article.

A federal administrative law judge arrested last week, accused of threatening the mother of his child with a rifle, shot and killed himself early Friday morning, ending a tense 10-hour standoff in Florida, reports the Miami Herald.

Police and federal agents had already confiscated a weapons cache from the home of Timothy Maher a few days before he took hostages and then killed himself. Three hostages were unharmed.

“The standoff was the culmination of a 10-day cat-and-mouse game between the troubled judge and local and federal law enforcement that began with Maher being arrested on firearms charges and included the shutdown of a downtown Miami Social Security office,” reports the Herald.

Read the Miami Herald article.

Image by James Tourtellotte

Above the Law reports that Cardinal Donald Wuerl has tapped Jones Day to represent him on matters relating to a grand jury report that alleged the sexual abuse of thousands of victims at Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.

Wuerl, as the former bishop of Pittsburgh, allegedly failed to remove priests accused of abuse from their ministries, according to the report.

Editor Kathryn Rubino quoted from a Law.com report that Wuerl has already been on the offensive:

“[Archdiocese of Washington general counsel Kim Viti Fiorentino], Wuerl’s in-house lawyer, has attacked the Pennsylvania grand jury report and its depiction of Wuerl. In an interview with her archdiocese’s weekly newspaper published Tuesday, Fiorentino said the investigatory process and resulting report, ‘narrowly targeted the Catholic Church in six dioceses in Pennsylvania and was generated in a process that suffered from significant legal flaws.’”

Read the Above the Law article.

Indiana lawyer T. Edward Page was murdered at his home by a client, Hobart, Ind., police said late last week.

The Chicago Tribune reported that  a client of Page’s, William Landske, has been charged in the murder.

Page, an attorney with Thiros & Thiros in Merrillville, worked as Lake County public defender for the last 10 years, Marce Gonzalez Jr., chief public defender, said. Page submitted his notice of retirement Tuesday and was planning to finish out the month, he said.

Earlier in the week, another lawyer, Stephen Shapiro of Illinois, was shot to death in a separate case. His brother-in-law is in custody in that case.

Read the Chicago Tribune article.

The New York Post reports that the former lawyer who helped “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli defraud investors landed just one and a half years in prison Friday — but will have to fork over more than $10 million in restitution and forfeitures.

Brooklyn federal court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said Evan Greebel’s conduct was “egregious” and he played a “crucial role” in Shkreli’s scheme to defraud his hedge-fund investors after he lost all their money in a bad trade.

In addition to the prison time, the disbarred attorney will have to pay $10,447,979 in restitution to Retrophin and forfeit $116,464.03 in ill-gotten gains to the government, writes reporter Emily Saul.

Greebel is a former partner at Kaye Scholer and Katten Muchin Rosenman.

Read the NY Post article.

Prosecutors in the Illinois murder case of Stephen Shapiro, a partner in Mayer Brown, say he was gunned down by his brother-in-law, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Police arrested Shapiro’s brother-in-law, John Gately III in connection with the slaying at the lawyer’s home.

A prosecutor said Shapiro’s wife, Joan Shapiro, had been financially supporting her brother and had recently argued with him about the management of his finances.

On the day of the shooting, Gately attempted to talk to his sister, but Shapiro refused him. Authorities said Gately then shot Shapiro, before trying to shoot Joan Shapiro. She escaped from the house.

Read the Tribune article.

Stephen Shapiro, known as “a superhero” among his fellow attorneys for his frequent appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court, was shot and killed in a domestic altercation Monday at his Chicago-area home, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“Shapiro’s slaying shook up legal circles from Chicago to Washington, with friends and colleagues recalling a man who had reached the apex of his profession yet maintained his modest tastes and unpretentious personality,” write reporters John Keilman and Kathy Routliffe.

Shapiro was a partner at Mayer Brown and founder and senior member of the firm’s appellate practice, according to information on the firm’s website. He argued 30 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Police arrested a man in a Winnetka apartment in connection with the murder.

Read the Chicago Tribune article.

The Washington Post is reporting that a West Virginia House panel moved this week to impeach the state’s entire Supreme Court.

Fourteen articles of impeachment allege corruption, maladministration, incompetence, neglect of duty and potential criminal behavior — impeachable offenses under the state constitution, writes Isaac Stanley-Becker.

Federal investigators secured a 23-count indictment charging former chief justice Allen H. Loughry II, now suspended without pay, with fraud, witness tampering, lying to a federal agent and obstruction of justice. Another seat on the court was vacated when Menis E. Ketchum II resigned in July, days before he was accused of federal wire fraud.

The Post report says other justices are “accused of ‘unnecessary and lavish spending’ on renovation of their offices, travel budgets and ‘regular lunches from restaurants,’ among other expenses, as well as failure to carry out administrative duties and properly develop guidelines for the use of public resources.”

Read the Post article.

During the latest National Health Care Fraud Takedown, investigators targeted Houston and Dallas to identify and charge more than 40 people with a range of fraud allegations.

How is a region designated as a health care strike force area? Former federal prosecutor and Houston trial attorney Ashlee McFarlane of Gerger Khalil & Hennessy explains in a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

“Dallas is a health care strike force city, meaning the Department of Justice and federal agencies have identified Dallas (like Houston) as a hot bed for health care fraud, based on data analysis and reviewing payments of claims submitted to federal health care benefit programs like Medicare,” says McFarlane.

“Kickbacks are the foundation of almost every health care fraud case. “As a former prosecutor, I can tell you—kickbacks are the first thing agents and prosecutors look for in building an investigation.

“There’s no way to know the number of kickbacks being paid in a city. You have to start investigating a case. However, when there are providers who are outliers in the billing data, federal agents often look to see if kickback payments are used to induce referrals.”

Dallas and Houston are among 10 locations nationwide with Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations. According to the Department of Justice, a Medicare Fraud Strike Force consists of a partnership between the DOJ and Department of Health and Human Services to prevent fraud and enforce anti-fraud laws.

Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, presiding over the Paul Manafort trial, has a reputation of displaying a no-nonsense, sharp demeanor that sometimes stings the lawyers in his courtroom, reports The Washington Post.

“He has torn my head off in front of my wife multiple times,” said Kevin Mikolashek, who recently left the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Reporter Rachel Weiner quotes defense lawyer John Zwerling, who says he warns lawyers who are new to the Alexandria, Va. court: “It’s important for him that everyone in the courtroom knows he is the smartest person in that courtroom, and just be aware that he usually is. So you better be on your A game.”

Weiner adds: “Ellis regularly interrupts trial testimony with his own questions and demands that certain lines of inquiry be cut short, clearing up ambiguity that defense attorneys hoped to create. More than one lawyer has tried to block him from doing so with pretrial motions or mid-case demands for a mistrial.”

Those attempts have been struck down, however.

Read the Post article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a former Dentons associate who stole the firm’s confidential files and then tried to extort cash and artwork from the firm now faces attorney discipline charges.

The complaint names Michael Bernard Potere, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison for unauthorized computer access. The complaint was served July 10 but recently posted. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission’s alleged ethical violations based on the criminal conduct.

Potere, an associate in Dentons’ Los Angeles office from 2015 until June 2017, downloaded numerous confidential firm documents, such as financial reports, documents about partner meetings, client lists, billing information, and recruiting-related information, ARDC said. He then threatened to send the documents to a legal website unless the firm paid him $210,000, according to reporter Mindy L. Rattan.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a virtual currency operator accused of running off with investor funds after a 2013 hack and lying to investigators has accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors in New York.

Reporter Lydia Beyoud writes that Jon E. Montroll of Saginaw, Texas, faces up to 40 years in prison.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a July 23 statement accompanying the plea agreement that Montroll “repeatedly lied during sworn testimony and misled SEC staff to avoid taking responsibility for the loss of thousands of his customers’ bitcoins,” in 2013, Berman said.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Some former colleagues of the lawyer who was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the “Pharma Bro” case are asking the judge in his case for leniency.

Evan Greebel, formerly of Katten Muchin and Kaye Scholer, could face up to 20 years in prison for his role as outside counsel for Martin Shkreli’s pharmaceutical company Retrophin, according to Above the Law. Prosecutors alleged Greebel assisted Shkreli in using Retrophin’s assets to pay investors in unrelated hedge funds run by Shkreli through the use of phony settlement and consulting agreements and fraudulently backdating agreements.

“But his lawyers — he’s repped by Gibson Dunn — have submitted a sentencing memo asking Judge Kiyo Matsumoto for no jail time,” writes editor Kathryn Rubino. “Attached to the memo are some 180 letters asking for leniency, and quite a few from Greebel’s former Biglaw partners.”

Read the Above the Law article.

Ken Starr

A former football coach who lost his job at Baylor University had some harsh words for former Baylor president Ken Starr, but his strongest words are for Pepper Hamilton, whose investigation led to Baylor’s decision to part ways with almost anyone even tangentially involved in allegations of sexual misconduct by football players.

Above the Law details the saga, based in part on an interview with Baylor’s former defensive coordinator and interim head coach Phil Bennett published by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“Bennett rips the firm as clueless about the basics of running a college football team — allegedly suggesting to him that the school’s lawyers should have gotten involved as soon as a student showed up late for practice — and prone to inserting some disturbing racial observations,” writes editor Joe Patrice.

Read the Above the Law article.

The former general counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Health is accused of falsifying death threats against herself and has been charged in Oklahoma County district court, according to KWTV News 9 in Oklahoma City.

Julia Marie Ezell faces three counts of using a computer to send herself death threats and then falsely report a made-up crime. Ezell resigned as health department general counsel on Friday.

State officials said the emails were meant to look like they were coming from angry medical marijuana supporters. The health department recently adopted rules for the implementation of medical marijuana across the state.

Read the KWTV News 9 article.

The American Bar Association has posted a tax form that reveals a onetime staff member diverted about $1.3 million from the ABA over a period of eight years.

The ABA Journal reports that the organization became aware of the theft by a nonmanagerial staff member last September, according to the form. The employee was fired the next day, writes Debra Cassens Weiss.

ABA staff are cooperating with the investigation and have been in touch with law enforcement as recently as Tuesday.

An ABA official told the Journal that the theft was well-hidden with falsified documents, but the theft became apparent when the individual got more ambitious in attempts to divert more money.

Read the ABA Journal article.

Keila Ravelo, a former partner at Hunton & Williams and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, was disbarred in New York for approving payments of nearly $8 million to her ex-convict husband’s companies in exchange for “little or no services,” Bloomberg Law reports.

Ravelo’s disbarment was retroactive as of her November 2017 guilty plea to federal wire fraud and tax evasion charges.

Ravelo was accused in 2014 of conspiring to defraud Hunton, Willkie, and MasterCard by submitting false invoices for several million dollars to two litigation support vendors she and her husband controlled, a court found.

Sentencing is scheduled for September. A plea agreement calls for imprisonment for 48-72 months.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A former partner at a major U.S. law firm who spent two decades as a fugitive while avoiding charges that he ran a fraudulent investment scheme has pleaded guilty to carrying out a different scam while living in Massachusetts under an alias, according to Reuters.

Scott Wolas, 69, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to defrauding 20 investors in two real estate projects out of $1.7 million while he was using someone else’s identity, Nate Raymond reports.

In the 1990s, Wolas was a litigator in the New York office of Hunton & Williams. Authorities said he fled about the time of a 1997 indictment in New York and turned up in Florida where he became a securities broker while using a college roommate’s name. When he was facing charges in Florida, he moved to Massachusetts, where he used various names while working as a real estate agent.

Read the Reuters article.

Government Executive reports that a former top legal adviser to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau was sentenced to 48 months in prison for wire fraud and identity theft affecting aliens, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.

Reporter Charles S. Clark writes that “Raphael Sanchez, 44, of the ICE Office of Principal Legal Advisor based in the Pacific Northwest, had pleaded guilty in February to running a scheme to defraud aliens in various stages of immigration removal by using their personally identifiable information to open lines of credit and personal loans in their names. He would then manipulate their credit bureau files, transfer funds to himself and purchase goods for himself using credit cards issued in their names, [the Department of] Justice said.”

Sanchez admitted to using the agency’s computer database as well as paper files to steal the personal information.

Read the Government Executive article.

Vinson & Elkins partner Douglas E. McWilliams could face a felony charge after a boat he was operating on Lake Travis ran aground, injuring two colleagues who were taken to a hospital by helicopter.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that an investigator has accused McWilliams, a partner in the firm’s Houston office, of leaving the scene of the crash. The investigator said in an arrest affidavit that interviews led him to believe that McWilliams had been drinking prior to the crash.

McWilliams’ lawyer, however, countered with affidavits from fellow lawyers, including the firm’s chairman, saying that he was not drunk at any point that night, according to reporter Tony Plohetski.

Read the American-Statesman article.