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  • Devyani Khobargade case: Preet Bharara's office refuse to comment on India's strong response

    Anurag Singh (Bangalore)

    Bharara has a malicious agenda . He has political ambitions , this was an easy scalp for him..get some small fry with huge publicity ...this sadist wins either way...
    Anurag Singh (Bangalore) - December 2013



  • Here’s how Detroit’s bankruptcy will actually work
    from The Washington Post WonkBlog
    Missing the "rest of the story" in an otherwise good introductory view of Detroit's future in bankruptcy. A better article would have connected the dots between Kevyn Orr and his former partners at Jones Day. It doesn't take a legal expert to understand the potential for Conflict Of Interest with all of the connections there, but it gets much worse. In order to present themselves as Chapter 9 experts, Jones Day made the reckless decision of acquiring the Bruce Bennett bankruptcy team, veterans of two failed law firms in about as many years. The current and former employees of Detroit deserve better than to have their retirements controlled by a legal team that was put together like an NFL roster. Dirty lawyers don't belong there, and there is much public history about Bennett's dirty deeds like in SONICblue. This is going to get much more interesting once the unions, retirees and others concerned about Detroit learn about the dirt on Jones Day, and how Conflict Of Interest has coincided with hedge fund speculators buying debt at pennies on the dollar, only to have Jones Day as official counsel peddling plans to enrich them. Get a comfy seat everybody!
    Candido VonTruthhurtz - August 9, 2013



  • Menendez says he called gov't agency to help donor
    from CBS News.com
    Bob Menendez has much to explain. How do you wait 3 years to repay a "gift loan"? It needed to be disclosed even if it was a loan. But lets look at the obvious, noone who makes $175K and has a net worth of $700K takes two vacations costing $60K. So the truth behind Bob's belated $60K repayment has yet to be disclosed. But I have personally met Bob, his Jersey City office was across from my business. When I went to him with evidence of corruption by Fed lawyers helping hedge funds, he first tried to ignore us. Then he called the Journal Square cops on us, go ahead investigative reporters check the 2005 incident reports. No arrest made, but now we know that Bob owed favors to certain crime families who had dirt on him.
    DT_Victim - May 5, 2013



  • For Dewey Associates, the Beginning of the (Very) End?
    from WSJ Blogs
    Everyone is wondering how such highly paid lawyers could overspend without a clue. The media is focusing on the wrong questions. It seems fairly obvious that the firm was a criminal enterprise.  Sure, there were some honest lawyers. But all of the lawyers on the executive committee are complicit in the General American Mutual Insurance crimes if they dared to fail their duties to report the conflict of interest violations. “Strike one” is not having a management system in place to catch it, “Strike two” is ignoring it when you were served with the $3 Billion suit, “Strike three” is the cover up resolution accounting something.  Apparently Davis dealt with the stress by attracting even more conflict smudged lawyers to the firm. This info is easy to find, why is the press wearing blinders?
    Crime is deeper than the Steves - May 8, 2012



  • Dewey & LeBoeuf To Sublease Executive Floor
    from WSJ Blogs
    Just when you might start feeling sorry for these guys they give you another good laugh: “plans to sublease the 43rd floor were made in January of this year.”

    So, everything is going according to plan. No one can say exactly where it’s all headed, but even that is part of the plan. One supposes that when they stopped paying the cab company’s bills, that too was part of the plan. One wonders whether the lenders have requested a copy of the plan, just to see if they got a mention.
    Comment by Pete - April 25, 2012



  • Dewey Defector Speaks, Opens Up About Partner Pay, Firm Leadership, and What May Come Next
    from The AM Law Daily
    Nice Praise from Altorelli. But it's a shame he has no comment about General American Mutual, as the law firm's undisclosed clients were associated with a run against the mutual ins. co as Wall Street coincidentally called their puts at the same time. Why would a lawyer have advised a mutual insurance company to issue puttable bonds, if not to ingratiate themselves with their undisclosed clients selling them? Surprise of surprises, yet another undisclosed client is the white night buying out the mutual insurance co - but at a billion dollar discount. Altorelli might not have been there when the deeds were originally done, but since he was on the inside he really ought to know something about the "resolution". The terms of which Dewey pulled a Streisand on, as if that won't end up lighting a fire under her judgeship's cannons. Dewey say $155 Million disappeared? How does one hide such facts from insurance carriers, creditors, and bars? Let alone DAs. This Dewey story just starting folk!
    Comment by Melvin Purvis - April 07, 2012




  • Dewey or Don’t We: Abnormal or New Normal?
    from the ABA Journal "Legal Rebels
    Kudos to Pam for daring to critique the parading emperor’s garb. She could have taken one further step and posed the follow up question that should be on all lawyers’ minds. Where are the mandatory bar complaints filed against these lawyers who bring these self serving complaints? And while we are on the topic, why are all of the pundits looking at Dewey LeBoeuf with blinders on? Let’s remember that the State of Missouri and two of its most prominent firms swore a scorching $3 Billion complaint against the firm with allegations founded upon undisclosed conflict of interest - as General American Mutual was advised into a precarious financial position ultimately resulting in another of Dewey’s undisclosed clients doing a takeover at a firesale price. Let’s have a reality check. Dewey could have produced a copy of their mandatory conflict of interest “informed waivers” to dispel the serious charge of an undisclosed conflict of interest, and place their accuser’s counsel in their own jeopardy. To my knowledge, neither happened. So let’s not be surprised if criminal and self regulatory consequence add to what is most likely already a big part of the financial problems at the firm. Dewey keeps telling us one thing, then we find out the truth. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I thought making false statements about your finances, hiding material facts, and exaggerating profitability were considered Fraud. Sure, the legal industry ought to learn something from this after the fact questioning of the management at Dewey LeBoeuf. However, I believe the “questioning” really needs to be conducted under oath by prosecutors.
    Mar 31, 2012 9:10 PM CDT



  • Another Dewey Departure: Antitrust Partner O’Kelly Moves to Arent Fox:
    from the Law Blog on WSJ.com

    Steven H. Davis was overheard while sipping Champagne at the Ballet last night that Eamon was practically asked to leave in order for the “strategic plan” to really kick in, and that for the most part there will be absolutely without a doubt no affect on firm revenues, but expenses will plunge. Too bad we can’t buy stock in Dewey LeBoeuf, because the enterprise value has got to be skyrocketing as their fixed costs approach the limit of zero all the while revenues are unchanged in this outside the box value generation paradigm.
    Comment by Anon - March 30, 2012

 

  • The Unfinished Business of Law Firm Collapses:
    from the Law Blog on WSJ.com

    What happens when the law firm collapses amidst allegations of misconduct having criminal implications? When many millions in legal fees are forfeited, and clients lose tens of millions because of conduct deemed “fraud upon the court” – when, if ever, can the involved lawyers get a fresh start? The SONICblue frauds are getting more famous, and Bruce Bennett – one of the ring leaders – just saw the firm he founded “Hennigan Bennett and Dorman” vanish. Wall Street financial shenanigans brought us the phrase “toxic assets”. At what point does a lawyer become a toxic asset to his subsequent firm?
    Comment by Parade Watching Child - February 25, 2012

 

  • Report: NY Gov. Cuomo Flew Home In State Aircraft:
    from the New York CBSlocal.com

    How could Andrew Cuomo justify doing an investigation of state aircraft use during Spitzer’s administration, and yet fail to do any investigation of Spitzer’s violation of money laundering, doing business with organized crime (prostitution ring), and Spitzer’s own abuse of prosecutorial discrection with the cover up of the death threat in the WorldCom bankruptcy scandal? Who is going to investigate Cuomo for his “favor” to the wife beating Judge James Peck? Just because Peck was in charge of distributing billions of dollars to organized crime (the big ones operating behind law firms) doesn’t mean that Cuomo’s quid pro quo is “too big to tell”
    Comment by Mr. O - August 15, 2011

  • Too Big to Prosecute? Not in His Office, Says Preet Bharara:
    from the Law Blog on WSJ.com

    Big tough guy Preet, yeah right. Why doesn’t the media report that Preet’s real name is Pretender. Yes, “Preet” is short for “Pretender” as in pretending to fight for the U.S. Constitution. Why does Mr. Bharara let the wall street crooks who lied to government officials, the only crime Martha Stewart ever supposedly commited, off the hook? Why does Preet let BigLaw firms who filed false sworn documents off the hook? The DOJ picks their targets very carefully, because future employment, partnerships and bonuses for themselves and their family are more important than their oaths to public service. Let’s not forget that Eliot Spitzer and Paul Bergrin have the exact same prosecution background as Preet. Read about Preet’s Pungent Pretermission!
    Comment by Preet's Pretermission - June 9, 2011

  • DOJ Opera:
    from the Bankruptcy Law Blog on WSJ.com

    Sadly, our DOJ is merely an opera house shell which plays host to a revolving door masquerade of pretend defenders of our Constitution. Too many of these lawyers’ true allegiances remain solely to their associates in private practise law operating as the most profitable and unreported form of organized crime. Note to readers whose understanding of the real world is limited to TV and film: the largest chunk of organized crime is alive and well and built upon a foundation of BigLaw attorneys and their firms with the stalwart symbiosis of members of the Big-Four accounting Oligopoly. Sorry to disturb the racist sensibilities molded by the media which has defined all mafia as Italian American, all you need to do is follow the money.

    Al-Qaida could not have assembled a more effective strategy to plot the eventual demise of the U.S.A. than to plant seeds of corruption as deep as the selfish careerists and racists which hold sway over our DOJ. Shakespeare, Napolean, and Sun Tsu would be proud of such forward thinking planning, the destruction of an enemy at such low cost and such little effort - corruption has destroyed many more governments than the sword. Methinks this current hissy fit exercise shows that the lady protest too much.

    How do these Feds justify themselves having indicted Barry Bonds for lying about steroids, and for incarcerating Martha Stewart when the multi-Billion dollar bankruptcy industry of false declaration filing BigLaw firms and their conflicted hedge fund clients thrive by organized periodic fraud upon the court by oath violating attorneys who are in turn protected by their relations within the DOJ? Only a Federal Special Prosecutor stands a chance at unraveling the web of organized crime which binds the abuse of prosecutorial discretion employed by corrupt public officals such as Eliot Spitzer (thou shalt protect thy prostitution ring and their bankruptcy ring affiliates who employ death threats), the DOJ, the SEC, and the “self regulating” state bar associations. The eToys pyramid of criminality and cover up is just one slap in the face to former U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft who said “there is no more important area in the fight against corruption than the challenge for us within the law enforcement and justice sectors to keep our own houses clean.” There are many more such blatant frauds upon the public whose stories will never be silenced in this new age of the internet.
    Comment by David O'Donnell - July 11, 2008

 

  • MF Global: Fraud, Incompetence, or a Bit of Both?:
    from the fool.com

    The title must be a joke "A bit of both". Maybe if we were only talking about a few million, or ten or twenty million dollars, it could be a bit of fraud. Maybe if we were talking about the disputed resolution of a complex business transaction, or a contractual dispute. No, this is an extremely simple case of a banking/investment management institution - MF Global - invading the constructive trust which protected their clients assets. Make no mistake this lawyer invented term "comingle" is double speak for "theft". This is a massive amount of fraud. We should not be surprised that this massive coordinated crime has headed for our corrupt bankruptcy courts. Highly regarded PHd's in the U.S. at UCLA and other institutions have determined that our bankruptcy courts are corrupt. This sort of crime is covered up, executive criminals are protected by a sinister abuse of bankruptcy laws by BigLaw. Read about these scandals at the BankruptcyMisconduct web site.
    Comment by WhistleBlowhard - December 07, 2011

 

  • SEC & DOJ Revolving Doors:
    from Wall Street Journal blog

    Lawyers from the SEC and the DOJ bounce back and forth between roles as “regulators” and then as members of the very same BigLaw law firms and financial companies which they are supposed to regulate, investigate, and prosecute. Might some "temps" with attorney jobs at Federal agencies in securities and law enforcement perceive that being loyal to their oaths would be bad for their future careers? Might they understand the easy path to McWealth is to play along, and bury the misdeeds of their relations? BankruptcyMisconduct.com has an excellent SEC letter showing numerous failures to make mandatory filings by a public company that was liquidated for the sole benefit of the hedge fund majority stockholder, all while failing to disclose director resignations and their replacement with operatives of the very same hedge fund. Doesn’t Chelsea Clinton work at a hedge fund? Wasn’t Bear Stearns one of the clients which Weil Gotshal & Manges failed to disclose as the lawfirm filed criminally fraudulent declarations in the Leslie Fay bankruptcy? Isn’t the “we don’t comment on anything we do” just a ploy that the SEC uses to avoid justifying the discretion certain officials hold to allow some parties unlimited priviledge to engage in any illegal behavior, while other parties such as HP are nailed when it suits the private motives of the enforcement division heads? Was someone jealous of Patricia Dunn? What other crimes are all being swept under the rug here?
    - April 23, 2008



  • ABI Deputy Executive Director Felicia S. Turner talks with Roberta DeAngelis:
    from American Bankruptcy Institute - Podcast

    Roberta DeAngelis certainly spoke in great detail about executive compensation packages and the new limitations against large payments to insiders. Obviously something was needed to balance the corrupting influence of “quid pro quo” payments by large Debtors, via filings by their BigLaw bankruptcy counsel firms, to corporate insiders as a form of kickback for steering the bankruptcy legal fees to a particular law firm. In many mega cases a single firm gets not just tens of millions, but sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees. There is no way that such a gold mine of money won’t be tainted, especially if our regulators fall asleep at the switch. Which begs the question, why would we think that the office of the U.S. Trustee is in any way genuine in their efforts to combat corruption when their attorney employees fail to disclose their own relationships and affiliations with the lawfirms they are charged with regulating? Obvious examples of criminal acts including fraudulent written disclosures to the bankruptcy court by bankruptcy lawyers and professionals of the eToys case did not merely escaped mandatory criminal referral by the U.S. Trustee. The criminal parties were gifted a purported “settlement” by the U.S. Trustee absolving them of their crimes and continuing disclosure obligations. The U.S. Trustee does not hold prosecutorial discretion for crimes, they can not decide for or against prosecution, they can only refer crimes. Ms. DeAngelis speaks in far too great detail about executive retention plans for any jury member to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that she did not understand the clear and simple facts regarding the eToys false declaration crimes.
    Comment by David O'Donnell - July 21, 2008



  • The thing itself speaks:
  • from the JONATHAN TURLEY Res ipsa loquitur (”The thing itself speaks”)

    The appropriate way to view things is there are a few lawyers in law enforcement, and sitting on the bench as judges, who are overtly corrupt. There are many more lawyers, including at the DOJ, who view their roles so narrowly, and their oaths so meaningless, that they become corrupt by their tacit approval and blind indifference towards the overt corruption of their brothers and sisters. You are smokin’ some powerful dope if you think that filing a complaint with some government agency is going to unravel corruption that is tightly wound in our “justice” system. Most lawyers don’t make a fortune, but all dream of the BigLaw partnerships. Junior associates are engaged in the pyramid games at BigLaw firms as they spend a decade of 60 billable hour (or more) weeks hoping for a shot at a partnerhips which guarantee annual income of over $2 Million per partner. The vast majority fail because such huge incomes can only flow to a few people at the top of a billing pyramid. However, a lawyer working at the DOJ (or SEC) can leapfrog the private practice sweat shop career path (a/k/a lottery ticket buying) towards such lucrative partnerships landing such a job directly including huge signing bonuses. This is for lawyers without a client list or a track record of rain making. What do you suppose is the best resume to promote oneself for such a career path? “I contributed to the incarceration of x BigLaw Partners” is assuredly not the “job experience” which endears government lawyers to BigLaw. Can you say “conflict of interest” or “revolving door” or “public corruption”?
    comment by DeathThreatVictim on June 4, 2008 at 9:56 am



  • Where are they now: eToys.com:
    from The Industry Standard - David Cotriss

    Dear Mr. Cotriss:
    I am not doubting your motivation for your story on eToys and its bankruptcy case. However, your presentation of the history ignores the most dramatic and most relevant facts showing the true context of the "disappearance" of so much shareholder value. The "Where are they now section" fails to report the closing of at least one law firm whose principals reopened shop under a new name, as well as the remarkable shuffling of lawyers among supervisory roles at the Department of Justice unit which is charged with regulating the conduct of bankruptcy professionals and duty bound to report bankruptcy fraud to prosecutors. It seems that a former law partner at one of the professional firm accused with the most egregious violations was the attorney at the U.S. Trustee's office who decided against prosecuting his "former" brothers and partners. Shouldn't he have stepped aside and let an un-conflicted lawyer make the decision?

    This peculiar unit of the D.O.J. has an amazing history of ignoring crimes by entities associated with their fellow lawyers. Similar to how Eliot Spitzer (a former DOJ employee) and his relationship with organized crime (prostitution ring et al) is being spun into a sex scandal, when the real story that should be reported is Spitzer as chief NY State prosecutor was "owned" by an organized crime family. This crime family held career ending dirt on the Attorney General and Governor of New York. Just as corrupt public officials buried and ignored evidence in the eToys bankruptcy, Spitzer buried the "death threat advice" evidence delivered to his office by certified mail.

    http://jaactv.com/330/site/content/view/12/30/

    Here is a transcript of this evidence showing counsel to my former firm refusing to bring conflict of interest issues by bankruptcy professionals to the attention of the court, as he bring up the subject of death threats "happens all the time". There are many criminal and ethical violations evidenced by this attorney validated transcript:

    http://jaactv.com/330/site/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download...

    The real question regarding cases like eToys, Worldcom / MCI, WebSci, AmmoCore, and many others: when will the DOJ and the FBI start to follow former federal Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's advice?

    " No country -- certainly not the United States -- is free of corruption. In the real world of limited resources, we know that we can only detect, investigate and prosecute a small percentage of those officials who are corrupt."

    " I remain convinced that there is no more important area in the fight against corruption than the challenge for us within the law enforcement and justice sectors to keep our own houses clean."

    Comment by DeathThreatVictim - May 30 2008




  • Debtors' Counsel modus operandus: quid pro quo & Corporate Criminals:
    from the Bankruptcy Law Blog on WSJ.com

    The conduct of public companies such as Countrywide is nothing more than a set of risk reward gambles undertaken by corporate executives emboldened by the quid pro quo assurances that their selection of bankruptcy counsel will deliver an unspoken loyalty by the bankruptcy professionals. “You bring us the fees, and we will protect you, and the U.S. Trustee’s office is filled with our brothers so we are all safe.” Read more about it at www.bankruptcymisconduct.com as this story of Countrywide is a common tale. At some point, there will emerge a critical mass of public servants whose sense of duty will transcend the easy comfort of complicity. Surely, crooks have always been able to silence people of honor when their numbers are small. The emergence of truth is inevitable.
    Comment by David O'Donnell - January 16, 2008




  • OIG Obtains Documents DOJ Unlawfully Denied Existed Re: Private FOIA Request:
    from Bankruptcy Fraud Resource Center

    Learning that the Office of Inspector General performed an audit of criminal referrals is an odd development. Having witnessed numerous instances of Bankruptcy Judges and Trustees failing to refer conduct that any sentient person would have to conclude was criminal, or at least suspected to be criminal, as required under Title 18 USC § 3057 - I sent a Freedom Of Information Act request to the DOJ requesting any documents reporting on criminal referals by U.S. Trustees. Their responce was they had no documents and performed no tracking. An odd claim given that one of their own U.S. Trustee manuals clearly stated that performance evaluations of staff includes review of criminal referrals. An X-files theorist might conclude that the best way for a U.S. Trustee to win a top evaluation is to ensure that NO criminal referrals are made which might implicate top law firms (a source of and destination for many DOJ lawyers), former DOJ lawyers currently in bankruptcy practise, or any of their respective well financed clients such as hedge funds and private equity firms. Sorry if I'm not at all impressed with the "bankruptcy crimes" involving mom and pop restaurants and similar small time players, with a rare small time lawyer thrown in for good measure. Why the dearth of action on the professionals involved in the big bankruptcy cases?
    Comment by David O'Donnell - November 10, 2007