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Apr 13

D.C. Circuit Reins In District Court for Second-Guessing Government’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement

This guest post was authored by our colleague Jeremy A. Gunn, an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department. In an unusual win for both the U.S. Department of Justice and corporate defendants, the D.C. Circuit last week reversed a district court’s refusal to pause the… Read More

Mar 31

Supreme Court: Courts Cannot Bar Use of Untainted Assets to Mount Criminal Defense

In a decision of significant importance to the white-collar world, the United States Supreme Court held yesterday that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel extends to permit those accused of crimes to use their “untainted” personal assets to fund their defense. Put another way, this… Read More

Mar 16

Questions Linger: Is Fraud on Freddie and Fannie Fraud on the Government

  This guest post was authored by our colleague Priya Roy, an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department and member of its Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice group. Priya focuses her practice in the areas of higher education and white collar and government investigations. She… Read More

Mar 07

Ninth Circuit Sharply Circumscribes Cell-Phone Searches in Light of Riley

We here at White Collar Alert get excited by Riley v. California.  We’ve previously written about it here, here, and here.  And with good reason—smartphones have become a central part of most of our daily lives, and contain some of our most sensitive personal information.… Read More

Feb 25

Seventh Circuit Finds Clear Error on Loss Calculation in Trade Secrets Sentencing

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday found clear error in the sentencing of a quantitative finance professional who pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing and transmitting trade secrets.  The defendant, twenty-eight year old Yihao Pu, stole expensive and proprietary high-speed securities trading software with… Read More

Feb 24

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry’s Indictment Dismissed as Unconstitutional

Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the prosecution of former Texas Governor Rick Perry was as much an “oops” as his own slip that famously felled his 2012 Presidential campaign.  The court remanded the case to the district court with orders to… Read More

Feb 12

Second Circuit Accepts Rajat Gupta’s Insider Trading Appeal

This week I spoke with Fox Business reporter Serena Elavia about the Second Circuit’s decision to grant a certificate of appealability in the Rajat Gupta insider trading prosecution.  Gupta is the high-profile former McKinsey & Co. Managing Director and Goldman Sachs board member who was… Read More

Jan 25

Supreme Court Holds General Statute of Limitations is Not Jurisdictional Defense

It appears that not even this weekend’s colossal winter snowstorm could deter the Supreme Court from its business, today deciding several criminal cases on its docket.  In addition to the landmark Montgomery v. Louisiana decision, which gives retroactive effect to Miller v. Alabama and will… Read More

Jan 19

Supreme Court Takes on Insider Trading “Personal Benefit” After All

Just when the Supreme Court appeared to be turning its collective attention away from the standard for insider trading convictions by denying the writ for certiorari in United States v. Newman, the Court today granted cert. in Salman v. United States, which addresses the “personal… Read More

Jan 11

Third Circuit confirms right of defendant not to be cross-examined during sentencing allocution

This guest post was authored by our colleague Michael C. Witsch, an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department in Philadelphia. Michael can be reached at mwitsch@mmwr.com or 215.772.7592.  On Tuesday, January 5, the Third Circuit ordered resentencing in the case of a Pittsburgh-area appraiser who… Read More