“The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has left the Republican seeking $43 million in public funds to replace some of them with outside lawyers to lead a high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Google,” reports Jake Bleiberg from the Associated Press in ABC News’ U.S. News.

“Former Paxton aides told The Associated Press that before they reported him to the FBI in September and began resigning, the lawsuit against the search engine giant was set to be handled internally by what is one of the largest state attorney general’s offices in the U.S.”

“The outside lawyers’ contracts put a price tag on the fallout from Paxton’s deputies accusing him of crimes in the service of a wealthy donor who employs a woman with whom the attorney general allegedly had an extramarital affair. It remains to be seen how much taxpayers will ultimately shell out under the complex deals.”

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“A suburban New York jewelry wholesaler pleaded guilty on Wednesday to fraud for running a $200 million Ponzi scheme targeting current and retired police officers and firefighters who were promised big profits from the resale of jewelry,” reports Jonathan Stempel in Reuters U.S. Legal News.

“Federal prosecutors said Gregory Altieri, 53, of Melville, New York, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted to securities fraud at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn.”

“The defendant faces up to 20 years in prison at his scheduled March 31, 2021, sentencing.”

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“After nearly three years of legal wrangling, 23 foreign investors in the scandal-plagued Jay Peak projects have settled with their former immigration attorneys, Carroll & Scribner,” reports Anne Galloway and Alan J. Keays in VT Digger’s Crime and Justice.

“The immigrant investors sued Ed Carroll and Mark Scribner, claiming the two attorneys gave the developers of Jay Peak the legal tools to hoodwink them.”

“The Burlington based firm had a built-in conflict of interest: Carroll & Scribner served both as corporate attorneys for Jay Peak and as immigration attorneys for the investors.”

“In a lawsuit filed in 2018, investors alleged negligence, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.”

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“Eight acrobats severely injured when the rigging suspending them by their hair plummeted to the floor during a circus performance in Rhode Island in 2014 have reached a $52.5 million settlement with the ownership and management of the arena where the circus was held, their lawyer confirmed Monday,” posted in AP News.

“A metal clip that held the acrobats 20 feet (6 meters) above the floor of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center snapped during the May 2014 performance, causing the women to suffer broken bones and spinal injuries. A ninth worker on the ground was also hurt.”

“Some of the women still suffer from ‘life-altering’ injuries, according to Mandell, who said he could not get into specifics because of medical privacy laws.”

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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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“A former lawyer faces multiple charges of theft and fraud after investigators say he stole about $700,000 from clients over a period of three years,” reports 10 Tampa Bay in their Crime. section.

“According to FDLE, 52-year-old Moein Marashi from Clearwater was arrested after an investigation found he had ‘deprived clients of money entrusted to him for legal services.'”

“Marashi was a member of the Florida Bar Association from 2002 until he was disbarred in August 2019, FDLE reports. The investigation also began in 2019.”

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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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“Facebook’s purchases of photo service Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp have helped fuel the social media giant’s massive growth. They’ve also prompted concerns from federal and state authorities about Facebook’s dominance in social networking,” reports Queenie Wong in CNET Daily News.

“The uneasiness with Facebook’s power bubbled over on Wednesday as the Federal Trade Commission and 48 attorneys general filed separate lawsuits in federal court accusing Facebook of illegally stifling its competition by snapping up its rivals.”

“The lawsuits are the latest sign that lawmakers and regulators are ratcheting up their scrutiny of the power that tech giants wield. In addition to Wednesday’s actions, the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division has been talking to developers about their interactions with Oculus, the virtual reality headset maker Facebook owns, Bloomberg reported last week. In October, the Justice Department filed a landmark lawsuit against Google for allegedly holding monopolies in both search and search advertising.”

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“Despite their collective years of practice, a recent case tried by four plaintiff lawyers was in some ways a unique experience,” reports Olivia Convington in The Indiana Lawyer.

“Of course there was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that lawyers Louis “Buddy” Yosha, Rich Cook, Bryan Tisch and Brandon Yosha had to contend with during their trial in Marion Superior Court. There was also the fact that at the time the case of Simmons v. Indianapolis Power & Light Co. went to trial, Brandon Yosha had only been a licensed lawyer for five weeks.”

“Plus, in the world of personal injury cases, trials aren’t nearly as common as they used to be. What’s more, this trial lasted two full weeks — also uncommon in personal injury law.”

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“The grievance committee for the Southern District of New York has suspended Richard Liebowitz, a New York lawyer notorious for filing low-value copyright cases on behalf of photographers, from practicing law while it investigates charges against him,” reports Caroline Spiezio in Westlaw Today.

“The committee’s chair, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla, wrote in a Monday order that the interim suspension was needed to ‘protect the public’ because of Liebowitz’s ‘unwillingness to change despite 19 formal sanctions and scores of other admonishments and warnings from judges across the country.'”

“Liebowitz and his counsel, Brian Jacobs of Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.”

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“Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors’ U.S. units on Friday agreed to a record $210 million civil penalty after U.S. auto safety regulators said they failed to recall 1.6 million vehicles for engine issues in a timely fashion,” reports David Shepardson in Reuters’ Autos.

“Hyundai agreed to a total civil penalty of $140 million, including an upfront payment of $54 million, an obligation to spend $40 million on safety performance measures, and an additional $46 million deferred penalty if it does not meet requirements.”

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“A federal appeals court has concluded that a federal judge’s comments about a lawyer for a bias plaintiff were ‘within the bounds of what imperfect men and women, even after having been confirmed as federal judges, sometimes display,'” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati ruled that U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman of the Eastern District of Michigan was not required to recuse himself before tossing the discrimination case against General Motors. But his threat to place the lawyer on a pro bono list ‘could easily be seen as punitive,’ the court said.”

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“Two influencers allegedly teamed up with nearly a dozen third-party sellers to advertise, promote and facilitate the sale of counterfeit luxury goods on Amazon, according to a lawsuit the company filed Thursday,” reports Annie Palmer in CNBC’s Tech.

“Amazon accused Kelly Fitzpatrick and Sabrina Kelly-Krejci of using Instagram, Facebook and TikTok accounts, as well as their personal websites, to promote counterfeit products being sold on Amazon. The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, also names 11 individuals and businesses based in the U.S. and China that allegedly listed the counterfeit products on Amazon.”

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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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“The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Zoom to resolve allegations that the company engaged in misleading security practices. The use of the videoconferencing platform skyrocketed during the pandemic, particularly in the healthcare and education sectors, which spotlighted its security risks,” reports Jessica Davis in Health IT Security’s Cybersecurity News.

“The settlement requires Zoom to establish and implement a comprehensive security program and prohibits the vendor from misrepresenting its privacy and security, as well as other ‘detailed and specific relief to protect its user base.'”

“The Commission’s complaint alleges that Zoom made misrepresentations regarding the strength of its security features and implemented a software update that circumvented a browser security feature,” according to the FTC majority statement. “The proposed order provides immediate and important relief to consumers, addressing this conduct.”

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“A Swiss bank implicated in FIFA corruption investigations said Monday it has agreed to a settlement in principle with the US Department of Justice and set aside $79.7 million to pay expected fines,” reports The Associated Press in First Posts’ Sports.

“Zurich-based Julius Baer said the agreement sees the bank ‘entering into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement’ and financial settlement to be charged against its accounts for 2020.”

The bank has cooperated with American authorities since 2015, when a sprawling investigation of corruption in international football was unsealed.”

“In 2017, a former banker with Julius Baer pleaded guilty in federal court in New York for his part in managing accounts that laundered bribes for South American football officials. They included Julio Grondona, who was FIFA’s former senior vice president and finance committee chairman when he died in 2014.”

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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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“Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Thursday a historic $60 million state settlement with Terminix International in response to the company’s alleged illegal business practices targeting Alabama consumers,” reports Fox10 News.

“Officials say a statewide fund for consumer relief will be created to address Alabama consumer damages due to Terminix’s actions.”

“An investigation by the Alabama Attorney General’s office and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries revealed that Terminix engaged in a pattern of collecting annual termite protection premiums from Alabama consumers, but failed to deliver or provide the termite protection services promised in the contracts consumers had with Terminix. As a result, many homes and businesses suffered termite infestation.”

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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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“Johnson & Johnson has been defending against claims its talc-based powders cause cancers for years, and, with a new ruling against the drugmaker in Missouri, it’s preparing to challenge a massive verdict at the U.S. Supreme Court,” reports Eric Sagonowsky in Fierce Pharma.

“After a Missouri appeals court this summer lowered a 2018 talc verdict against the drugmaker to $2.11 billion, J&J pledged to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court. That court has now refused to take up the appeal—and J&J says it’ll take its case higher.”

“But it’s far from certain to get a hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court, either. Of the 7,000 cases it’s asked to review each year, the high court takes up 100 to 150 of them, according to U.S. government figures.”

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