Recent Articles

Ninth Circuit Holds That Canadian Receiver Has Standing Under RICO.

Thomas Walker
January 06, 2009 13:09

On December 31, 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in A. Farber & Partners, Inc. v. Garber et al., 2008 WL 5427956 (C.A.9 (Cal.)), held that a Canadian receiver had standing to bring a lawsuit under RICO. A. Farber & Partners, Inc. (the “Receiver”) was appointed interim...

Will Blago Meet RICO?

Thomas Walker
January 03, 2009 19:33

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has requested a three month extension of time to bring an indictment against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, stating that he needed more time to review thousands of telephone intercepts and to interview new witnesses. William A. Jacobson, Associate Clinical...

SEC gets Madoff list of assets but won't make them public.

Thomas Walker
January 02, 2009 18:11

The Bloomberg News (1/2, Scheer, Frank) reports, "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Bernard Madoff last month for allegedly directing a $50 billion fraud, won't make public a list of his assets filed yesterday, the regulator said." A "Columbia Law School...

New York investors sue Madoff.

Thomas Walker
December 31, 2008 16:46

Bloomberg News(12/31, Larson) reports, "Bernard Madoff, the financial adviser who allegedly admitted to running a $50 billion fraud, was sued by three New York investors who say he should be barred from distributing money to family and friends." They say that he "should have his...

Madoff fraud lawsuits begin to center on "feeder funds."

Thomas Walker
December 30, 2008 17:19

Look for cases arising our of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme to include claims under civil RICO.  Investigations by several prominent law firms are expanding the potential pool of defendants.  The Financial Times (12/30, Chung, Brewster) reports, "As victims of Bernard Madoff's alleged...

New Jersey Court holds that juries cannot be informed of treble damages.

Thomas Walker
November 26, 2008 13:05

 On November 25, 2008, the Superior Court of New Jersey held that informing the jury of the ultimate outcome of a verdict on the RICO count was inappropriate. Finderne Management Company, Inc. et al. v. James W. Barrett, et al., --- A.2d ----, 2008 WL 4979937, N.J.Super.A.D.,2008; citing St....

Arizona Congressman Renzi indicted on racketeering charges.

Thomas Walker
November 14, 2008 14:03

CQPolitics.com (11/14) reports, "A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Rep. Rick Renzi on eight additional charges, including racketeering and making false statements on his 2005 tax return. The expanded indictment also levies additional conspiracy and insurance fraud charges against...

Is It Civil Or Is It Limited to Criminal - Beyond RICO

Thomas Walker
November 04, 2008 19:44

The White Collar Crime Prof Blog reported yesterday on an interesting issue presented in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard Law Professor Takes New Tack Against RIAA (citing Jaikumar Vijayan, Computer World, Harvard professor offers new challenge to RIAA antipiracy campaign -Nesson claims...

Smithfield and Union Settle RICO Case

Thomas Walker
October 27, 2008 16:23

The Associated Press reported today that Smithfield Foods and the United Food and Commercial Workers International union have settled the company's racketeering lawsuit. The agreement was reached this morning as the case was about to go to trial in federal court in Richmond, Virginia  In...

Wachovia to Pay $178 Million to Settle RICO Class Action

Thomas Walker
October 16, 2008 21:14

Wachovia Bank has agreed to pay more than $178 million to settle a class action RICO suit that accused the bank of allowing two telemarketing firms to swindle elderly victims by obtaining their bank account information and then drawing from their accounts through the use of "remotely created...