PLI's inSecurities Podcast - Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga’s Core Values
Law Brief®: The Theranos Trial
Legally Qualified: Protecting Against Elder Investment Fraud and Exploitation
EmpiresX Head Trader Pleads Guilty to $100M Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud Scheme - On September 8, 2022, the “Head Trader” for EmpiresX, a purported cryptocurrency platform, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to...more
On the top of its record of success, DOJ won two big and highly-contested cases. The first against Elizabeth Holmes and the second against Roger Ng. In perhaps one of its most significant failures, DOJ was handed a quick...more
Four Indicted for $16 Million Money Laundering Scheme - On March 23, 2022, an indictment was unsealed in the Western District of Arkansas, charging four men for their involvement in wire fraud and money laundering schemes...more
Like wild mushrooms after a warm summer rain, and undaunted by the COVIDs, the fraudsters, the grifters, and the “the spawn of the Devil’s own strumpet”* were prolific before meeting the wrath of the courts and the regulators...more
“The investigative work of 2021 has all the makings of a made for TV movie – embezzlement of funds from a nonprofit, a family fraud ring that stole millions in COVID-relief funds and a $1 billion Ponzi scheme used to buy...more
Engineering Firm Settles $37 Million False Claims Act Allegations - As part of a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, QuantaDyn Corporation has agreed to pay $37,757,713.91 in restitution to resolve...more
Joseph Frank Abel recently pled guilty to conspiring to offer and sell unregistered securities and to filing a false tax return in connection with his role in the BitClub Network, a cryptocurrency mining scheme worth at least...more
To our bad guys, 2019 was a year flush with hope and opportunity; it ended with recidivism, more misery from Venezuela, a charlatan, an Okie who pulled a multi-million dollar fast-one on Chesapeake and, as in years past, a...more
Last week, DOJ announced the indictment of two former Herbalife executives in China for participating in a bribery scheme over a ten-year period. Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company, was not charged and its...more
Non-US Plaintiffs Allegedly Defrauded by Fund’s Investment in US Life Insurance Proceeds did not Suffer a US Domestic Injury Within the Meaning of RICO. ...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini discussed the case in which a defendant in an alleged fraud scheme moved to sever his case from those of his alleged co-conspirators. The court denied the motion since the defendant...more
The Federal Reserve bank released the minutes from its September meeting yesterday. Among other things, we learned that the Fed Governors moved largely in lockstep on September’s rate hike, even as the crew was less unanimous...more
Sometimes a fraudster is just a fraudster – they are dangerous because they can manipulate without remorse or conscience. The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is a classic story of a manipulative CEO engaged in...more
We used to call it Nafta. If the White House has its way, we may be talking about M/USTA and C/USTA. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York has announced that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment against three Florida men who co-founded cryptocurrency company Centra Tech, Inc. The...more
On August 15, 2016, the Second Circuit issued a rare opinion on the subject of the sufficiency of evidence to establish venue in United States v. Lange, No. 14-2442-cr (Jacobs, Chin, Droney). ...more
Once again we look back at the continuing cavalcade of crooks, criminals, miscreants and, to put it kindly, morons the less intellectually gifted, who met justice face-to-face in 2017. This year’s class includes a preacher,...more