Money Laundering

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By Charles River Associates (CRA)
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.26.16

* Could it be? Could she really do such a thing? Rumor has it that Amal Clooney may be quitting her law firm job at Doughty Street Chambers to become a fashion designer for the likes of fashion house Oscar de la Renta. We may have more on this later today. [Inquisitr] * Maryland's AG intends to contest a ruling granting "Serial" podcast subject Adnan Syed a new trial, saying that the state would "defend what it believes is a valid conviction." Syed has been servicing a life sentence for the murder of Hae Min Lee since 2000. [Baltimore Sun] * Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert may be behind bars for a 15-month term for attempting to conceal secret payments to his underage sexual assault victims in a cover-up scheme, but that doesn't mean he's not going to fight a lawsuit seeking the full $3.5 million he allegedly said he would pay to buy a victim's silence. [Chicago Tribune] * Vermont Law School, which was hit relatively hard by the recession in terms of its ability to fill its seats, has applied for a $15 million loan from the federal government to help restructure its debts. Unlike what its students face in terms of their debt, the law school may be able to get a good interest rate upon approval. [VTDigger / Valley News] * "[A]ttempting to fit the sale of Bitcoin into a statutory scheme regulating money services businesses is like fitting a square peg in a round hole." Congratulations (or perhaps condolences?) digital currency aficionados, because a judge just ruled that Bitcoin isn't money for the purposes of money-laundering statutes. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 07.25.16

* If Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wins the election, he may be the first president-elect to be standing trial for fraud prior to taking the oath of office. Judge Gonzalo Curiel has tentatively refused to dismiss one of the two pending Trump University cases, saying plaintiffs had met requirements for the case to move forward for a jury to decide whether Trump "participated in a scheme to defraud" students. [San Diego Union-Tribune] * After being served with a class-action suit alleging she rigged the Democratic primaries and the release of emails in the latest Guccifer hack showing her favoritism for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is resigning as the Democratic National Committee's chair after this week's convention. [CNN; Observer] * Five senators, including Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), have introduced the Student Loan Tax Relief Act, which would exempt forgiven loans from being taxed as income. Law school grads on IBR, ICR, or PAYE should pray this bill is passed. [Forbes] * In an announcement made before markets opened, Verizon said it would be purchasing Yahoo for $4.83B. It's rumored that Faiza Saeed, Cravath's incoming presiding partner -- who was appointed to a committee to explore Yahoo's sale -- was the driving force behind the deal, which is expected to close in early 2017. [Reuters; Big Law Business] * Law firms are apparently in a "weak spot" when it comes to the detection of money laundering operations. That may be how Shearman & Sterling got mixed up with an alleged Malaysian plot to siphon funds from its trust account to purchase luxury items in a scheme that's turned into an attempted $1B DOJ asset forfeiture. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.17.16

* Happy Friday! Let's start by giving props to the firms that announced pay raises yesterday: Morgan Lewis, Andrews Kurth, Ashurst, Crowell & Moring, Orrick, and Dechert. [Above the Law / 2016 Salary Increase] * Speaking of the Great Pay Raise of 2016, law firm leaders want to reassure irate in-house counsel: don't worry, you won't see this (directly) reflected in your rates. [Big Law Business] * Biglaw Game of Thrones: who are the leading contenders to succeed Jeffrey Stone and Peter Sacripanti as co-chairs of McDermott? [American Lawyer] * The Second Circuit plays a sad song for record companies in a closely watched copyright case. [How Appealing] * And in other copyright news, SCOTUS (sorta) clarifies the standards for awarding attorneys' fees in copyright cases. [New York Times] * Look for indictments to issue from the grand jury in the Dan Markel murder case. [News4Jax] * Noam Scheiber of the Times takes a close look at struggling Valparaiso Law -- and it's not a pretty picture. (Expect more on this later.) [New York Times] * Ex-prosecutor gone bad: a Cleveland criminal defense attorney just got convicted after agreeing to launder thousands of dollars for someone he thought was a cocaine dealer. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

By David Lat
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 05.27.16

* Yikes! Thanks to its expensive legal battle with Hulk Hogan -- one that's been revenge-financed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel to the tune of millions of dollars -- Gawker Media is exploring a possible sale of the company and has hired Mark Patricof of Houlihan Lokey to provide financial advice. [DealBook / New York Times] * Maybe Harvard Law grads are a like Carrie Bradshaw after all -- except their degrees cost more than their shoes: In addressing Harvard's 2016 grads at the Law School’s Class Day, Sarah Jessica Parker of Sex and the City admitted she had no idea why she was chosen as a speaker, and said she initially turned down the offer. [Harvard Crimson] * Alan Koslow, formerly of Becker & Poliakoff, resigned yesterday after he was charged in a federal money-laundering conspiracy scheme. Koslow's charge is the result of a three-and-a-half year undercover FBI sting. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. We may have more on this later today. [Orlando Sun-Sentinel] * “Oracle shouldn’t ‘own’ programmers simply because they had taken the time to learn Java." Google escaped an almost $9 billion copyright lawsuit with the help of a jury that concluded the tech giant had made fair use of Oracle's Java programming language in the creation of its Android operating system for its phone business. [Big Law Business] * Closing the gender gap, one job at a time: The OnRamp Fellowship, a program that pairs female lawyers who want to return to practice with the nation's top firms in the hope of receiving an offer at the end of their one-year stints, has now expanded to in-house legal departments. Congratulations on your excellent work. [WSJ Law Blog]

By Staci Zaretsky