“Nearly 20 current and former general counsel of major corporations have joined Big Law leaders in signing a statement opposing voter disenfranchisement, following changes to Georgia’s voting laws,” reports Ruiqi Chen in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“The top lawyers that have signed the letter represent companies like American International Group Inc., Starbucks Corp., ViacomCBS Inc., and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. None of the in-house leaders who had signed the statement as of Monday afternoon work for Georgia-headquartered companies.”

“More than 60 leaders of AmLaw 100 firms have also signed on in support of “making voting easier, not harder, for all eligible voters,” said the statement, which was circulated among legal industry leaders by Paul Weiss Chairman Brad Karp and AIG General Counsel Lucy Fato.”

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“A federal appeals court has sanctioned Perkins Coie attorneys who represent Democratic groups for a “redundant and misleading” motion in election litigation,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Ethics News.

“The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans imposed the sanctions on lawyer Marc Elias and his legal team in a March 11 order …”

“The court imposed the sanctions in a case in which Perkins Coie lawyers argued that the elimination of straight-ticket voting in Texas disproportionately affected minorities.”

“The appeals court said the lawyers filed a Feb. 10 motion to supplement the record that was nearly identical to a Sept. 29, 2020, motion that they previously filed. The earlier motion was denied.”

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“A federal judge on Tuesday approved Daimler AG’s $1.5 billion settlement to resolve a U.S. government probe into the German automaker’s use of undisclosed software that allowed excess diesel pollution to be emitted by 250,000 of its vehicles in the United States,” reports David Shepardson in Reuters’ Autos.

“The settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and California Air Resources Board, which was announced in September, includes an $875 million civil penalty levied under the Clean Air Act, $70 million in additional penalties and $546 million to fix the polluting vehicles and offset excess emissions, court papers show.”

“As part of the settlement, Daimler will pay California $285.6 million.”

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“State Attorney General Jeff Landry authorized a $100 million settlement with one of dozens of oil and gas companies accused of destroying Louisiana’s coast,” reports Dan Copp on The Courier in Houma Today’s News.

“Lawsuits were filed by seven parishes alleging 42 energy companies damaged wetlands and marshes through drilling and other projects. The agreement releases Freeport-McMoRan Inc. from liability for any current claims and dismisses the company from the coastal parish lawsuits.”

“In exchange, the Phoenix-based company has agreed to deposit the first payment into a trust, followed by several smaller yearly payments, Landry said. Payments will not be distributed until the state Legislature creates an oversight board to hold and manage the money.”

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Todd Rothbard, a Santa Clara attorney, got a letter from the IRS a few weeks ago saying he miscalculated his 2019 taxes and was due more than $284,000, reports Louis Hansen in The Mercury News’ California News.

Rothbard called to his accountant and they agreed his return was correct and he was not owed any money. Rothbard tried calling the IRS for days but could not get through.

“This week, a second envelope arrived with a check for a little more than $285,000 — presumably, it included interest on the money he doesn’t think he deserves.”

“‘I’m pretty scrupulous,’ said Rothbard, who runs a busy property rights law firm with about two dozen employees. ‘There’s no way I’d miss $285,000.'”

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“Chad Mizelle was recently the Acting General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security,” writes Joe Patrice in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Entirely unsurprisingly, Mizelle slipped into the firm his wife just vacated with an of counsel title and an opportunity to pretend that every career stain of the last administration never happened.”

“Some of the ‘complicated legal issues’ he failed to successfully navigate involved his former bosses Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the DHS ‘officials’ that Trump appointed to head the agency despite a clear legal framework that prevented this. Mizelle’s job was to make the case that Trump could staff the agency with anyone he wanted and the GAO kicked the claim to the curb after, you know, researching it. This prompted Mizelle to respond the way any professional attorney would… by throwing a tantrum and personally insulting the GAO lawyers.”

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“Amidst all the awful of yesterday, there was a viral moment caught by Norwegian journalist Veronica Westhrin capturing the frustration and horror of D.C. residents watching their town get defaced by a gang of ignorant white supremacists high on delusions of widespread voter fraud and whipped into a frenzy by a deranged lame duck president,” reports Joe Patrice in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

Peter Tracey, Senior Counsel at Perkins Coie. was filmed “standing on his stoop yelling at the rioters besieging the city and a Black woman passing by in her car share their anger and sorrow as an unprecedented assault took place in their city. Neighbors connecting in a crisis.”

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“A North Texas lawyer has been fired by his employer after he was seen on video outside the Capitol building along with hundreds of other supporters of President Trump on Wednesday,” reports Domingo Ramirez Jr. in the Forth Worth Star Telegram.

“Social media posts identified the attorney as Paul Davis, who was an associate general counsel and director of human resources at Goosehead Insurance, a company based in Westlake.”

“On Wednesday, Davis posted a video on Instagram saying that he was outside the Capitol building and he had just been tear-gassed.”

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“The Texas attorney general’s office has named The Lanier Law Firm and the law firm Keller Lenkner to the litigation team that would face off against Alphabet’s Google in an expected antitrust lawsuit, the office said on Tuesday,” reports Diane Bartz in Reuters’ Technology News.

“Texas, backed by other states, has long been expected to follow the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google but unrelated allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton of bribery and abuse of office led to the departure of several lawyers who were key to the Google investigation.”

“With the new hires, the Texas lawsuit could come as early as this month, according to a source familiar with the office’s planning.”

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“The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that General Electric Co. … has agreed to pay a $200 million penalty to settle charges for misleading investors regarding the profitability and risks to some of its core business lines, the agency said.” reports Chris Matthews in MarketWatch’s Economy & Politics.

“The order found that the company misled investors in 2016 and 2017 about the source of profitability in its GE Power business, and failed to inform investors of risks relating to its portfolio of long-term health insurance liabilities between 2015 and 2017.”

“General Electric stock fell 75.7% from the beginning of 2016 through the end of 2018, according to FactSet.”

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“Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown has agreed to a $750,000 settlement with the city of Milwaukee, nearly three years after he was tased by an officer during a run-in with police over a parking violation, court documents show,” report Justin Carissimo and Victoria Albert in CBS News.

“The settlement will also require the city to admit that Brown’s constitutional rights were violated and to commit to implementing changes to the police department. Brown on Friday signed the settlement agreement, which still needs the city council’s approval. City Attorney Tearman Spencer recommended the settlement on Wednesday.”

“On January 26, 2018, a police officer approached Brown after he illegally parked across two handicap spots, officials said. Several officers arrived at the scene and a struggle ensued. Video of the arrest showed officers taking Brown to the ground and shocking him with a Taser.”

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“A husband and wife were sentenced today to a combined 92 months in prison for their roles in a sophisticated fraud scheme that primarily targeted elderly Americans,” posts The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

“According to court documents, Chirag Choksi, 36, who was sentenced to 78 months in prison, and Shachi Majmudar, 36, who was sentenced to 14 months, were members of a criminal conspiracy in which members used a variety of schemes, including impersonating law enforcement officers and other government officials, to trick and coerce victims into mailing and shipping cash to other conspiracy members by convincing the victims, a disproportionate number of whom were elders, that it was in their best interests to do so.”

“These schemes generally started with automated “robocalls” from a call center in India that were designed to create a sense of urgency with unsuspecting recipients. The messages typically told the recipient that they had some sort of serious legal problem, and that if they did not immediately take a particular action demanded by the callers then there will be drastic consequences. Typically the recipients were threatened with arrest, significant financial penalties, or cessation of government benefits. The fraudsters almost invariably instructed the call recipient that, in order to prevent these dire consequences, the recipient must pay money, by wire transfer or cash, to some purported government entity. This conspiracy operated “money mule” cells in multiple states, including New Jersey, California, Indiana, Texas, Illinois and Minnesota. These money mules would receive parcels containing cash that had been sent by victims and then deposit the money in bank accounts controlled by conspirators.”

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“The federal government is suing to block Visa’s $5.3 billion acquisition of fintech startup Plaid, alleging the merger violates antitrust laws,” reports Clare Duffy of CNN Business in KTEN News.

“Visa in January announced plans to acquire Plaid, which makes digital infrastructure linking financial data from people’s bank accounts to the apps they use to manage their money such as Venmo, Coinbase and Expensify.”

“The US Justice Department alleged Thursday that Visa is a ‘monopolist in online debit transactions’ — and a new service in development by Plaid could pose legitimate competition to Visa’s business, according to the complaint in US District Court in Northern California.”

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“California’s new privacy agency means a fresh set of regulatory headaches for tech companies and other businesses operating in California that are already grappling with the state’s landmark 2018 law,” reports Jake Holland in Bloomberg Law’s Privacy & Data Security Law News.

“The new regulator was established with the passage of the Proposition 24 ballot measure on Tuesday to police California’s broad data privacy laws. Companies need to be more diligent about their data retention and sharing practices or risk hefty fines of as much as $2,500 per violation or $7,500 per intentional violation.”

“‘The law is chock full of new things,’ said Kristen Mathews, a privacy and data security partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York. ‘Most of the provisions require extra compliance, and it’s a big lift for businesses.'”

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Assistant Chief Mark Begley was awarded a $1.84 million lawsuit settlement against the County of Kaua‘i and Kaua‘i Police Department, reports Jason Blasco in The Garden Island.

“Begley was put on paid administrative leave in March 2012 when he filed a stress-based worker’s compensation claim, citing a hostile work environment. He was reinstated in June 2019.”

“In 2016, Begley initiated a federal lawsuit against the county, KPD and several senior officers, claiming that the now-retired KPD Chief Darryl Perry and his successor, former Acting Chief Michael Contrades, harassed and retaliated against him for reporting allegations that another assistant chief acted inappropriately toward a subordinate female officer.”

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“Two Las Vegas residents made their initial court appearances in U.S. District Court on Friday for charges in connection with a multimillion dollar investment fraud scheme,” reports the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Nevada.

“A federal grand jury returned a 14 count indictment on Tuesday, charging John Frank Thomas III, 75, and Thomas Joseph Becker, 72, both of Las Vegas, with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 13 counts of wire fraud.”

“According to allegations in the indictment, from September 2010 to August 2019, Thomas and Becker maintained — and advertised to investors as supposed investment funds — the following entities: Sports Psychometrics; Vegas Basketball Club; Vegas Football Club; Einstein Sports Advisory; Quantum Sports Advisory; Wellington Sports Club; and Welscorp, Inc. Thomas and Becker made false representations to investors that they would use their sports betting skills and strategy to make sports bets with the investors’ money.”

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“Doctor Shoaib Qureshi, Doctor Imran Mirza, Memphis Primary Care Specialists, Lunceford Family Health Center, and Getwell Family Medicine agreed to pay $341,690 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly charging Medicare for services rendered by nurse practitioners at the higher reimbursement rate for physician services, the Justice Department announced today,” released the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs.

“Medicare pays a higher rate for physician services than for non-physician services. Medicare will pay the higher physician rate for services rendered by non-physician providers if the services are ‘incident to’ the services of a physician. Such ‘incident to’ services, however, must be provided under the direct supervision of a physician. The United States alleged that, from 2015 to 2018, Doctor Qureshi, Doctor Mirza, and their clinics billed Medicare as though the physicians had provided the services in question, when in fact nurse practitioners had treated the patients without the supervision required by Medicare’s ‘incident to’ rules. Indeed, the government alleged that the services were rendered when the physicians were out of the office, including times when they were traveling out of state or abroad.”

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“… a disbarred lawyer in Westchester County, pled guilty today in White Plains federal court to stealing government funds. VILA’s plea results from his theft of approximately $1 million that the Department of Justice’s 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) had awarded to the defendant’s client, a 9/11 first responder,” released the Southern District of New York.

“VILA was arrested on September 3, 2020, and pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti.”

“Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: ‘As he admitted today, Gustavo Vila stole money awarded by the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to his client, an NYPD officer and 9/11 first responder, and falsely told the client for more than three years that the stolen money had yet to be released by the Fund. Now Gustavo Vila awaits sentencing for his crime.'”

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“A lawsuit accusing several paving companies of anti-competitive practices and price gouging is over, with state officials announcing Friday a $101.35 million settlement,” reports in Steven Allen Adams in The Intelligencer.

“West Virginia Paving Inc., Kelly Paving Inc., American Asphalt and Aggregate Inc., and eight associated companies agreed to pay that amount to the state in a settlement of an anti-trust case brought by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and six local governments, in Parkersburg.”

“The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 11, 2017, accused CRH PLC – based in Ireland and the parent company for several asphalt and paving companies doing business in West Virginia – of creating a monopoly on paving and asphalt supplies, driving up the cost of projects and materials at the expense of state taxpayers.”

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“Herbalife Nutrition Ltd.’s (‘Herbalife’) recent settlement of bribery allegations demonstrates the U.S. government’s continuing focus on China and the critical role that board members and senior management of multinationals play in overseeing compliance globally. On August 28, 2020, Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (‘Herbalife’) agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) and the Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) more than $123 million in penalties and disgorgement to resolve bribery allegations in China. The settlement resolves a long-running probe in which two former executives of Herbalife’s Chinese subsidiary were indicted on criminal charges in November 2019. The resolution is one of many recent noteworthy enforcement resolutions targeting the operations of multinationals in China,” writes Geoffrey M. Atkins, Carissa Yuk and Viacheslav (Slava) Iavorskyi in Ropes & Gray’s Alerts.

“The Order indicates that Herbalife China’s then-Managing Director and Director of External Affairs, along with other Herbalife China employees, provided lavish meals, gifts and other benefits to Chinese government officials in order to obtain its first direct selling license in March 2007. The SEC further stated that Herbalife China employees funded the meals and gifts through falsified expense reimbursements until 2016.”

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