A day after a Dallas jury found a neurosurgeon guilty of intentionally crippling an elderly woman he operated on, a string of his former patients and co-workers testified in his sentencing trial, reports The Dallas Morning News.

Christopher Duntsch of Colorado has been in jail since his arrest in July 2015, charged with five aggravated assault charges after four of his patients were maimed and two died between July 2012 and June 2013, reports Claire Ballor.

“His trial focused only on a first-degree felony charge: injury to an elderly person. Mary Efurd was 74 years old in 2012 when Duntsch promised to fix her back pain but instead damaged her spinal cord and amputated part of a nerve,” writes Ballor.

Read the Dallas News article.

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A Washington lawyer at a prominent firm was arrested in a disguise while trying to sell a copy of a secret lawsuit involving a company that was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, Bloomberg Law is reporting.

Jeffrey Wertkin immediately lost his job with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP after he was picked up Jan. 31 in the lobby of a hotel in Cupertino, California. The FBI said he believed he was about to collect $310,000 for selling the lawsuit.

Wertkin believed he would hand a copy of a complaint to an employee of the company, which was accused in the complaint by a whistle-blower of falsely billing the government, report Bloomberg’s Jef Feeley, David Voreacos and Joel Rosenblatt.

That employee turned out to be an FBI agent, according to arrest documents unsealed on Feb. 6.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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The U.S. law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP announced that Kenneth E. Yeadon has joined the firm as a partner in the Chicago office.

Previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a senior attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, Yeadon will focus his practice on government investigations and securities litigation, internal investigations, compliance counseling, health care fraud, tax fraud and other complex business disputes., the firm said in a news release.

“I’m very pleased to welcome Ken to Hinshaw and our White Collar Defense and Internal Investigations team,” said Sergio Acosta, Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Government Practice Group. “He brings to the table a tremendous amount of experience in conducting high level investigations and prosecutions on behalf of government law enforcement and regulatory agencies.”

Yeadon has led investigations with the FBI, SEC, CFTC, IRS, FDA, and DOL, involving securities and commodities violations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) health care fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, and trade secret theft. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, he served as a senior attorney in the Division of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, where he conducted a series of high-profile investigations and enforcement actions involving investment advisers, broker dealers, officer and director liability, mutual funds, insider trading, and other complex financial fraud.

“I’m looking forward to entering private practice and helping corporate and individual clients navigate the intricacies of a SEC or a grand jury investigation,” said Yeadon. “Sophisticated business clients can benefit greatly from the advice of an investigator and litigator who understands and handles matters involving novel and complex issues. Building on my successful track record of leading complex government investigations and trials, I am looking forward to bringing my experience, knowledge, and common-sense approach to problem solving on behalf of Hinshaw’s clients.”

Yeadon is a graduate of DePaul University College of Law (J.D.) and Western Washington University (B.A.). He is admitted to practice in Illinois, the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Dylann Roof will face the death penalty after a Charleston, South Carolina, jury found him guilty of shooting and killing nine people at the historic Emanuel AME Church in June 2015. Although he had legal representation during the federal trial, he chose to represent himself during the penalty phase, leaving open the possibility of an appeal. It also sets the stage for South Carolina prosecutors to seek the death penalty in an upcoming state murder trial, according to an article published by Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

Explains Dallas criminal defense attorney Nicole Knox:

“Roof’s decision to take the innocent lives of South Carolina citizens is deplorable, and the pursuit of the death penalty in state court is likely an effort to offset any potential success he may find during his federal appeal. Roof has a sound basis to support his motion for new trial because he did not have the benefit of qualified counsel during the punishment phase. Without the arguments of defense counsel, we cannot be sure that Roof, arguing for himself, was capable of pursuing mitigation arguments that could have precluded a death penalty verdict. His post-trial motions and the appeals could continue for several years. Should the state pursue and succeed in obtaining a death penalty verdict on its own case, then Roof will be able to appeal that case as well, but it will give the state another opportunity to hold him accountable for his crimes.”

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Double-digit investment returns for little-known New York hedge fund Platinum Partners turned out to be too good to be true, according to federal prosecutors.

The New York Times reports that federal agents arrested Mark Nordlicht, a founder and the chief investment officer of Platinum, and six others on charges related to an alleged $1 billion fraud. It is one of the largest such fraud cases since Bernard L. Madoff’s investment firm unraveled in 2008.

“David Levy, the firm’s co-chief investment officer, was also among those arrested in the morning by agents in Texas, Manhattan and New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City,” writes reporter Alexandra Stevenson. “The men were charged with securities fraud and investment adviser fraud, according to an unsealed indictment filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a parallel civil case.”

Read the NYT article.

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New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a warning on Wednesday about a phishing scam in which hackers pose as representatives from from his office and target attorneys, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

Schneiderman’s press release quotes a phony email in which the hackers suggest a complaint has been filed against the recipient’s law firm.

“The goal of such emails is to trigger the recipient to click a link or open an attachment through which the hacker can gain access to the server, and any sensitive information on your computer such as credit card data and social security numbers,” the report says.

Read the Bloomberg article.

By Patty P. Tehrani
Lawyer and Founder of Policy Patty Toolkit

The cybersecurity regulations keep coming. Following New York’s proposed regulation on cybersecurity, and notice from banking regulators on proposed cybersecurity rules, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an advisory and related FAQ.

The advisory includes key definitions relevant to cyber-related incidents as follows:
• Cyber-Event: An attempt to compromise or gain unauthorized electronic access to electronic systems, services, resources, or information.
• Cyber-Enabled Crime: Illegal activities (e.g., fraud, money laundering, identity theft) carried out or facilitated by electronic systems and devices, such as networks and computers.
• Cyber-Related Information: Information that describes technical details of electronic activity and behavior, such as IP addresses, timestamps, and Indicators of Compromise (IOCs). Cyber-related information also includes, but is not limited to, data regarding the digital footprint of individuals and their behavior.

The advisory explains how BSA requirements apply to cyber-events, cyber-enabled crime, and cyber-related information with guidance on:
• reporting cyber-enabled crime and cyber-events through SARs;
o consider all available information surrounding the cyber-event, including its nature and the information and systems targeted;
o determine monetary amounts involved in the transactions or attempted transactions (should consider in aggregate the funds and assets involved);
o know other cyber-related SAR filing obligations required by their functional regulator;
• including relevant and available cyber-related information (examples provided – IP addresses with timestamps, virtual-wallet information, device identifiers, and cyber-event information) in SARs to:
o provide complete and accurate information, including relevant facts, to the extent available:
 description and magnitude of the event;
 known or suspected time, location, and characteristics or signatures of the event;
 indicators of compromise;
 relevant IP addresses and their timestamps;
 device identifiers;
 methodologies used; and
 other information the institution believes is relevant;
o refer to the FAQs for additional information on reporting cyber-related information in SARs;
• collaborating internally between BSA/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) units and other units to identify suspicious activity to:
o make sure to internally share relevant information from across the organization to help reveal additional patterns of suspicious behavior and identify suspects not previously known to BSA/AML units;
o use cyber-related information to:
 help identify suspicious activity and criminal actors;
 develop a more comprehensive understanding of their BSA/AML risk exposure;
 use information provided by BSA/AML units to help the institution guard against cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime;
 provide for more comprehensive and complete SAR reporting;
• sharing information among financial institutions to guard against and report money laundering, terrorism financing, and cyber-enabled crime to:
o identify threats, vulnerabilities, and criminals; and
o note the extension of Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act as a safe harbor from liability to financial institutions—after notifying FinCEN and satisfying certain other requirements— to encourage information sharing.
The supplemental FAQs provide additional guidance on reporting obligations for cyber events and cover the following questions:
• What information should a financial institution include in SARs when reporting cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime?
• How should a financial institution complete SARs when reporting cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime
• How should cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime be characterized in SARs?
• How does a financial institution report numerous cyber events in SARs?
• Is a financial institution required to file SARs to report continuous scanning or probing of a financial institution’s systems or network?
• Should a SAR be filed in instances where an otherwise reportable cyber-event is unsuccessful?
• Does FinCEN now require financial institutions’ BSA/AML units to have personnel/systems devoted to cybersecurity?
• Are BSA/AML personnel now required to be knowledgeable on cybersecurity and cyber-events?
• Can financial institutions use Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act to share cyber-event and cyber-enabled crime information with other financial institutions
Note: These new FAQs replace prior guidance provided by FinCEN.

FinCEN hopes the guidance will help reduce cyber risks for financial institutions as serve as a reminder on:
• their Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) obligations regarding cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime;
• how BSA reporting helps U.S. authorities combat cyber-events and cyber-enabled crime;
• compliance with BSA requirements or other regulatory obligations for financial institutions does not absolve them from having to comply with federal and state notice/reporting requirements and guidance on cyber-related incidents;
• encouraging collaboration:
o within financial institutions—between employees combating cyber-crime and employees combating money laundering;
o information sharing between financial institutions to again more effectively combat cyber-crime; and
• filing a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) does not relieve it from any other applicable notice requirements of events impacting critical systems and information or of disruptions in their ability to operate.

Note: Under the Bank Secrecy Act, financial institutions must file SARs to report suspicious activity.

A Florida ice cream truck driver suffering financial woes and frustrated that his wife wanted to move back to New Jersey shot and killed her and his son and badly wounded an attorney before police ended a three-hour standoff Wednesday afternoon when they shot him, reports The Miami Herald.

Real estate lawyer Larry Harshman, 54, was shot five times at his Kendall law office earlier in the day. Harshman, who had drawn up paperwork for a home Jabado was forced to sell short three years ago, underwent surgery and was recovering in a hospital, police said.

WSVN 7 News talked to Harshman’s wife: “Now I find out that he came last week to tell Larry that he was getting divorced, that his wife wanted to leave him. And he was gonna take the kid. And Larry said, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do for you because I’m not a divorce attorney.’” The suspect, Fadel Jabado, allegedly returned to Harshman’s office later and shot him in the stomach.

Articles: Miami Herald and 7 News.

A prominent San Francisco attorney returning to his home in El Cerrito, Calif., Thursday night was confronted by an assailant who shot him to death, according to a report on SF Gate.

Paramedics pronounced James Gilliland Jr., 62, dead at the scene on his front porch in the San Francisco Bay area.

“Gilliland was a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP in San Francisco, where he headed litigation from 2013 to 2015. Specializing in patents, copyright and antitrust, he represented companies including Oracle, Sony, Williams-Sonoma and Levi Strauss and Co.,” write Kimberly Veklerov and Steve Rubenstein.

SF Gate reported that a police spokesman said it was not known whether Gilliland was stalked or followed, whether he was the victim of a robbery, or whether the victim and gunman knew each other.

Read the article.

A South Carolina attorney who pleaded guilty to defrauding her sorority at the University of Alabama of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison and fined $50,000, reports AL.com.

The sentence also calls for Jennifer Elizabeth Meehan, 40, to serve 18 months of home confinement and 40 months supervised probation, along with community service and participation in a mental health program.

Meehan told the judge that she placed $234,000 of the money in a shoebox inside a closet to use for a scholarship program and other sorority expenses, according to the report by Kent Faulk.

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority at the University of Alabama intended the money to be used to furnish its sorority house.

Read the article.

The Innoxcell Annual Symposium – The US -Asia Cross Border White Collar Crime Series will be on Dec. 6, 2016, in New York at the Warwick New York Hotel.

Complimentary passes are available for General Counsel, Corporate Compliance, Head of Audit, Head of M&A, IP and Head of Risk. Contact Jeffrey Teh at Jeffrey.teh@innoxcell.net for more information on passes.

The Innoxcell Annual Symposium (IAS) is the world’s largest and most comprehensive white-collar crime and regulatory compliance conference, focusing on cross-border business legal relations between the US and Asia.

In 2016, the Innoxcell Annual Symposium (IAS) has been held in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and now, the United States. This is the only event of its kind, featuring multiple streams covering the great diversity of cross-border issues, including:

• US – Asia eDiscovery judiciary panel
• US-China anti-corruption best practices
• Financial Crime Compliance
• Employee Misconducts
• China outbound investment and merger review best practices
• Cross-border fraud investigation and litigation
• One belt, one road – risk and legal considerations

Register for the symposium.

Image by Ocean County, NJ, jail

A prominent New Jersey lawyer who specializes in elder care law was arrested on Tuesday and charged with stealing more than $1 million from some of his clients, reports NJ.com.

Charges against Robert Novy of Novy & Associates in Manchester involve his handling of funds of some of his clients, state Attorney General Christopher Porrino said.

According to Porrino, Novy, who had his own radio show on topics of interest to senior citizens, is accused of stealing $1.2 million between 2010 and 2015 from at least four people, some of whom suffered from Alzheimer’s or did not have or close relatives to keep track of their funds, repots MaryAnn Spoto.

Read the article.

Dallas police have released documents that detail evidence they’ve sought in the slaying of prominent attorney Ira Tobolowsky, according to a report by The Dallas Morning News.

“A search warrant affidavit reveals that detectives suspected that someone drilled holes into the 68-year-old’s fence to spy on him before he was set on fire May 13 at his North Dallas home,” writes Chris Siron.

Read the article.

Matthew Graves has joined DLA Piper’s litigation practice as a partner in the Washington, DC office.

Graves, who will also be part of DLA Piper’s White Collar practice, previously served as the acting chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section at the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

In a release, the firm said he has extensive experience with white collar resolutions, foreign data privacy laws, and multi-agency investigations with US governing bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of the Treasury. He is also among the few lawyers who have prosecuted financial institutions for violating US sanctions laws.

The release continues:

“Matt is a highly respected trial lawyer whose background in white collar litigation and experience working at the US Attorney’s Office will complement our global platform, and help our clients navigate the complex regulatory and enforcement environment,” said Loren Brown, global and US co-chair of DLA Piper’s Litigation practice.

Graves will assist clients on complex civil litigation matters across industries including securities, healthcare, tax, election and export control laws. His practice includes counseling clients facing public integrity and anti-corruption challenges, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, contractual disputes and various forms of financial fraud.

“Washington, DC is the epicenter of federal government regulatory enforcement, and Matt’s government experience strengthens our presence in the market,” said Mary Gately, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Washington, DC office. “We expect Matt to quickly become a significant contributor to the firm’s sector-based practices in areas including financial services.”

Graves is the recipient of an FBI Service Award and six US Attorney’s Office Special Achievement Awards. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, and his B.A. from Washington and Lee University.

Carl Ferrer, chief executive of advertising website Backpage.com, was arrested on Thursday on criminal charges including pimping, as authorities investigate the company which has been accused of facilitating sex trafficking of minors, according to a Reuters report.

“Backpage, the second-largest U.S. online classified ad service after Craigslist, has faced scrutiny from the U.S. Senate as well as civil lawsuits over allegations that the site facilitates sex trafficking, especially of children,” reports Dan Levine for Reuters.

The California AG’s office also announced a criminal charge against the controlling shareholders of Backpage.com, Michael Lacey and James Larkin. Ford said warrants have been issued for Lacey and Larkin but they are not in custody. Ferrer was custody in Houston on a California warrant.

Read the article.

A California man, described as a Harvard-educated lawyer who was later disbarred, pleaded guilty Thursday in a federal court to an elaborate kidnapping that law enforcement had initially branded a hoax, reports NPR.

Reporter Merrit Kennedy writes that defendant Matthew Muller, 39, is identified in court documents as a former Marine who suffers from bipolar disorder. The Associated Press reports he calmly told U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley that he was taking antidepressant, mood-stabilizing and anti-psychotic drugs.

The AP reports that Muller “could face life in prison when he is sentenced, though prosecutors have agreed as part of his guilty plea to recommend a maximum term of 40 years.”

Read the article.

The Houston lawyer shot and killed by police after he began firing at cars from a Houston strip mall was identified by his former law partner as a hard worker and a good lawyer, reports Florian Martin of Houston Public Media.

The Washington Post reports that Nathan DeSai was was wearing military clothes and Nazi emblems during the attack, and was carrying nearly 2,600 rounds of ammunition inside a Porsche convertible parked at the scene.

“He was always at work every day, we always went to court, (he) did his work,” former partner Kenneth McDaniel said in the Houston Public Radio report. “No, I mean he was a good lawyer, good standing with the bar. I’m at a loss for words for what has happened. It’s horrible.” The two agreed to go their separate ways because business had been slower than expected, he added.

Authorities said they found a Thompson submachine gun in DeSai’s car at the scene of the shootings.

Read the reports in:
Houston Public Media
The Washington Post

Many of those attending the 34th international symposium on economic crime in Cambridge, England, have the view that the record of combating economic crime is so woeful that governments need a new approach, according to a report in The New York Times.

About 1,600 delegates from academia and the legal and compliance profession attended the event.

“If this is a war, we are not winning it,” said Alison Levitt, a partner at the London law firm Mishcon de Reya, speaking on a panel at the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College. She was not opining on drugs or terrorism, rather on the limited progress law enforcement has made in battling economic crimes like money laundering, fraud and insider trading.

Levitt recommended that the same stigma that is associated with crimes like rape be attached to economic crime, reports Anita Raghavan.

“Ironically, one participant suggested that the publication of the Panama Papers, which revealed how wealthy individuals used elaborate corporate structures and offshore tax havens to obscure their ownership of assets, would lead to less transparency,” The Times reports.

Read the article.

Alan Koslow, one of South Florida’s most effective lawyers, pleaded guilty Thursday to a money-laundering conspiracy charge.

Federal prosecutors charged him earlier this year with helping people he thought were criminals to hide the source of $220,000 linked to illegal gambling and drug dealing of cocaine and counterfeit Viagra, reports the Sun Sentinel. The transactions were actually part of an undercover FBI sting.

In his Nov. 10 sentencing, Koslow will lose his law license and will face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Sun Sentinel’s Paula McMahon reports: “Koslow accepted $8,500 from undercover agents as payment for laundering cash by running it through his friend Susan Mohr’s business bank account in Fort Lauderdale during several months in 2012 and 2013, according to court records.”

Read the article.