White Collar Crime Prof Blog

DOJ Strategic Plan

Every good organization should have a strategic plan, so it is wonderful to see DOJ taking this step (see here).  The plan not only provides priorities, but also provides a Mission with Values (see here).  One certainly can't fault these four key values - "Independence and Impartiality, Honesty and Integrity, Respect, and Excellence."  Most important is the first one - independence and impartiality - something that was compromised during the last administration. 

The key goals of the strategic plan are equally admirable - "Uphold the Rule of Law, Keep our Country Safe, Protect Civil Rights, Ensure Economic Opportunity and Fairness for All, and Administer Just Court and Correctional Systems."  The statements are fortified with strategies to ensure success. For example for "Uphold[ing] the Rule of Law" there are five strategies (see here) - 

Strategy 1: Reaffirm and Strengthen Policies Foundational to the Rule of Law

Strategy 2: Protect the Justice Department from Improper Influence

Strategy 3: Protect Public Servants from Violence and Threats of Violence

Strategy 4: Protect the Public Fisc from Fraud on Government Programs

Strategy 5: Combat Foreign Interference in Democratic Processes

Strategy 6: Ensure Effective Oversight and Public Accountability

It may seem obvious that the Justice Department needs to be clear of improper influence, but in watching the January 6th hearings it is clear that this needs to be reaffirmed. 

(esp)

Miriam Baer - Sorting Out White-Collar Crime

Professor Miriam Baer (Brooklyn) has a fascinating new Article in Texas Law Review. The draft, posted on SSRN (here) has the following Abstract -

Our federal criminal code defines crimes, but declines to sort its fraud offenses according to degrees of harm or culpability. Although state prosecutors routinely charge crimes such as homicide or robbery in varying degrees, the federal code’s core fraud statutes are noticeably flat. There is no such thing as first- or second-degree fraud in the federal code.

Amidst a roiling debate as to whether the federal government overcriminalizes or underenforces white-collar crime, scholars have lost sight of the federal code’s lack of gradation. This Article seeks to remedy this neglect, particularly in regard to fraud crimes. Drawing examples from federal and state criminal codes, the Article analyzes the ways in which ungraded statutory regimes generate problematic and self-destructive expressive gaps. By lumping so much conduct under a single statutory umbrella, the federal code deprives the public of the ability to gauge the seriousness of a specific offense and of the will to discern those factors that separate the worst frauds from the merely bad ones.

If criminal law’s function is to distinguish wrongdoing and not solely to prohibit it, then our federal fraud statutes leave much to be desired. Reasonable people can debate the proper methodology for distinguishing bad from worse offenses, but it is quite another matter to abandon statutory sorting altogether. Accordingly, the Article closes by advocating the use of misdemeanor and low-level felony statutes to improve—and sort—the federal code’s fraud crimes.

Professor Lauren Ouziel (Temple)  provides an equally thoughtful response here titled Steering White Collar Enforcement in the Texas Law Review Online. 

(esp)

White Collar Prosecutions - Down?

Trac Reports titles the recent report, White Collar Prosecutions Hit All-Time Low in January 2019. They note that "[t]his is an historic low since monthly tracking began in October 1998." They note that "this number is down 20.3 percent over the previous month, and continues a five-month downward slide." Additionally, they say that "[c]ompared to five years ago, January filings were down 35.7 percent." President Trump's term they say has a number "lower than in previous administrations."

I don't doubt that the white collar prosecutions are down.  I also don't doubt that comparing the prosecutions from the current administration to the last administration using the same metrics support it being down.

But there is a separate issue here that raises concerns - how does DOJ measure white collar crime.   Trac includes thirty (30) categories of crimes, including ones related to fraud, antitrust, intellectual property violations, identity theft, and arson for profit.  The list of different types of fraud is impressive, including tax fraud, federal procurement fraud, insurance fraud, securities fraud, computer fraud, health care fraud, and many other classes of fraudulent conduct. 

But what I don't see are the "short-cut" offenses that are often used in white collar prosecutions. Unreported here are obstruction of justice, false statements, and perjury.  And yet we all know that these are common offenses used in white collar cases. And is RICO included in the statistics?  Cases under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act can have many different predicate offenses, some of which are street crimes like homicide, and others are mail and wire fraud.     

So there is no doubt that white collar prosecutions are down.  But we should also be asking -- isn't it about time that DOJ started looking at a better methodology for reporting white collar prosecutions.  See Lucian Dervan & Ellen Podgor, White Collar Crime: Still Hazy After All These Years.

(esp)(w/ disclosure that she has a B.S. degree from Syracuse U.- home of the Trac Reports). 

2018 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2018:

The Collar for Plumber Unemployment – The Mueller Investigation, which has sprung no leaks.

The Collar for the Most Likely to Inadvertently Pull the Execution Switch on His Client – Rudy Giuliani.

The Collar for the Most Likely to Cause President Trump to have a Heart Attack – Tied between Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort.

The Collar for the Most Likely Agency to be Shut Down – No not the EPA or Department of Education, rather the IRS so that President Trump’s tax returns can’t be revealed.

The Collar for the Most Likely to Get a Second Tattoo on his back – Roger Stone (underneath his Nixon tattoo?).

The Collar for Most Likely to Try Not to Follow in his Father’s Footsteps – Jared Kushner.

The Collar for the Best Insurance Protection if in Prison – To Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and others for passing a criminal justice reform act that will assist some serving time.

The Collar for Taking a Gamble – To all those pushing ahead with cases with dual sovereignty issues, prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The Collar for the Longest Special Counsel Investigation – Clinton/Whitewater (see https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-special-prosecutor-mueller-trump-2017-6)

The Collar for the Least Likely to Look Someone in the Eye and Say “You’re Fired” – Donald Trump.

The Collar for Most Likely to Win the Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down Award” – Jeff Sessions for not firing Mueller.

The Collar for Least Likely to Teach Professional Responsibility at a Law School – Acting US Attorney Matthew Whitaker.

The Collar for the Joe Friday Award for Catching the Most Fish in his Net – Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Collar for the Least Likely to Discuss Politics in Bed – Kellyann Conway and George Conway.

The Collar for the Timex Watch “Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking” – Jeff Sessions.

The Collar for the Next James Patterson Mystery – The undisclosed company with a subpoena problem.

The Collar for the Least Likely to Play Poker with Mueller – William Barr and Matt Whitaker.

The Collar for Best “Stand Your Ground Defense” – Second Year in a Row, to Rod Rosenstein who continues to stand firmly on Mueller’s appointment.

The Collar for Clotheslines –Second Year in a Row, to Donald Trump for hanging so many of his subordinates out to dry.

The Collar for Directional Impairment – Second Year in a Row, to Donald Trump for demonstrating that loyalty is a one-way street.

The Collar for Best Game of Hide and Seek – To Donald Trump for continuing to refuse to disclose his tax returns (third year in a row).

The Collar for the Best Parent – Retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award – not awarded again this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(esp)

It's Not You - White Collar Cases Are Down

If you are in Washington, DC, and practice white collar criminal defense, you have probably seen an uptick in representing individuals related to ongoing investigations from the Special Counsel's Office.  But outside of the city, and actual cases, white collar criminal defense is way down. So if you are not getting the cases - it is not you.

According to TRAC Reports (here), white collar cases are down 40.8 % from 1998, and 31.3% from 2008. Looking just five years ago, it is down 33.5%. Looking at the lead charge in the cases being brought, wire fraud (section 1343) comes in as number one.  And if you are in the Southern District of New York or Southern District of Florida, the number of cases is higher in these areas than in other parts of the country.

One caveat here - These numbers may not accurately represent white collar cases being brought, as many white collar matters may be brought under "shortcut offenses" such as obstruction of justice, false statements, or perjury and may not accurately be reflected in white collar numbers (see here).  Also the use of RICO can skew these numbers as it may not be reported as a white collar offense even though the predicate acts are fraud related.(see here)

(esp)(w/ disclosure that she is a B.S. graduate of Syracuse U.- home of the Trac Reports). 

2017 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2017:

The Collar for Best “Stand Your Ground Defense” – To Rod Rosenstein who continues to stand firmly on Mueller’s appointment.

The Collar for “The Apprentice” Sequel – To Donald Trump for telling U.S. Attorneys “you’re fired.”

The Collar for Dead Air – To Donald Trump for acting so quickly in firing U.S. Attorneys that he didn’t have replacements ready.

The Collar for a Telling Foul Ball – To Ty Cobb (the President’s lawyer, not the late baseball player) for discussing work at a restaurant within earshot of a NY Times reporter.

The Collar for Most in Need of Prevagen –To Jared Kushner for needing to amend his disclosure forms multiple times.

The Collar for Best Adapted Screenplay – To House Republicans, who are using the Clinton Playbook to call for Special Counsel Mueller’s resignation or firing. It was wrong when it was done to Ken Starr and it’s just as wrong now.

The Collar for Newest Pumped-Up Sports – To the Russian Teams for getting tossed out of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games (with a thank you from U.S. baseball for getting them off the front page).

The Collar for Kicking Back a Sport – To International FIFA Executives and others over bribery and kickbacks.

The Collar for Increased Employment of White Collar Attorneys in Washington, D.C. – To Donald Trump and Robert Mueller, jointly, for keeping Washington, D.C., white collar attorneys busy.

The Collar for Clotheslines –To Donald Trump for hanging so many of his subordinates out to dry.

The Collar for Directional Impairment – To Donald Trump for demonstrating that loyalty is a one-way street.

The Collar for Worst Optics by a Prosecutor – To Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance for initially accepting campaign contributions from Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, before and after quashing a fraud investigation of the elder Trump and two of his children (with a thank you from former AG Loretta Lynch for outdoing her airport schmoozing with Bill Clinton).

The Collar for Worst Ghost Writing – To Trump Attorney John Dowd for claiming he authored an arguably incriminating tweet for the president.

The Collar for “But I Play One on TV” – To Donald Trump. Jr. for claiming before a Congressional committee that he did not have to disclose conversations with his father because of attorney-client privilege.

The Collar for Political Detours – To New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who may have lost out on becoming Attorney General because of a logjam on the George Washington Bridge.

The Collar for It’s About Time - To Donald Trump for finally doing what this blog called on someone to do in 2010-11 – granting a commutation to Sholom Rubashkin on his 27-year sentence.

The Collar for Best Dolphin (Flipper) – To Michael Flynn for cooperating in shark infested waters.

The Collar for Least Known Person at the Table – To George Papadopoulos for being the first known to plead guilty in the Russian investigation.

The Collar for Overweight Luggage – To Robert Mueller who may have hired a few too many assistants with excess Democratic Party baggage.

The Collar For Getting Two Bites of the Big Apple - To New York politicians Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos for getting new trials because their respective trial courts' instructions were faulty under the Supreme Court's later-decided McDonnell decision.

The Collar for Best Game of Hide and Seek – To Donald Trump for continuing to refuse to disclose his tax returns (second year in a row).

The Collar for the Best Parent – Retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award – not awarded again this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (esp)

ABA White Collar Crime Conference - Alan Dershowitz

Alan M. Dershowitz, the morning speaker, started by telling how he missed teaching. The amount of perjury committed by defendants is small in comparison to the amount of lying by police officers. He talked about how some witnesses are told not only to sing, but to compose. He noted that perjury in civil cases is pervasive.  Perjury in civil cases, however, is seldom prosecuted.   He also noted that most perjury does not occur on direct examination, but rather on cross-examination. Also he noted that there are often lies in depositions. He ended by saying that we should not be tolerating perjury, and also that we should be focusing on perjury beyond defendant perjury. 

(esp)

ABA White Collar Conference - Pre-trial Practice in Federal Criminal Cases

One of the opening panels of the conference was a breakout on Pre-trial Practice in Federal Criminal Cases.  The panel included Hon. Cecilia Altonaga, Professor Ricardo Bascuas, Ryan O'Quinn, David Markus, and Vanessa Snyder.  The moderator was Andrew Feldman.  

The panel looked at motion filing, bail, and admission and exclusion of evidence as some of the topics for discussion.

From the prosecutor perspective Ms. Snyder emphasized the benefits of defense counsel calling prosecutors before filing motions.  "See if you can work it out."  It would lead to a more productive result, she stated.  She stated that then if it is necessary you can file the motion if you can't work it out.

Judge Altonaga emphasized having a plan when filing pre-trial motions. Is it getting you to your goal or are you alienating the court and prosecutor. Pre-trial motions can be used to educate the court. 

David Marcus spoke about the insignificant number of folks who skip on a bond and how the failure to give a bond proves detrimental to the system.  Judge Altonaga spoke about the risk of flight standard.  It helps if there are local ties, that is ties to the United States exist. 

Professor Bascuas noted the increased number of individuals in prison and the decreased number of trials. 

Ryan O'Quinn noted the long relationship that the prosecution and defense have prior to Indictment in white collar cases. 

The panelists also discussed the admission and exclusion of 404(b) evidence and motions in limine.

Audience questions turned the discussion in a different direction - Brady.   

(esp)

White Collar Crime Policy Counsel - Job Opening

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the leading national bar association representing the entire defense bar, is seeking a Counsel to work in its White Collar Crime Policy Department on a variety of white collar criminal defense and overcriminalization initiatives. This staff person is a member of NACDL’s national affairs team and works under the Director of White Collar Crime Policy.  For more information, see here.

(esp)

2016 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2016:

The Collar for the Best Left Hand Turn – To the Supreme Court following Justice Scalia’s death in affirming both insider trading and bank fraud convictions.

The Collar for Failing to Deliver the Goods – To the government for prosecuting Fed Ex and then needing to dismiss the case following opening statements. 

The Collar for Needing New Glasses – To James Comey so that he can read Agency policy to not do anything election related within 60 days of an election. 

The Collar for Sports MVP – To the world of tennis, which stole some of the focus from FIFA this year with the BBC's allegations of significant match-fixing.

The Collar for Slow and Steady – To Britain's Serious Fraud Office, which, after announcing the implementation of DPAs in October 2012, entered into its first DPA in November 2015 and its second in July 2016. 

The Collar for Quick and Steady – To the DOJ, which, according to Professor Brandon Garrett’s website, has entered into well over 100 DPAs and NPAs since October 2012. 

The Collar for Best Reading of this Blog– To the Supreme Court in reversing Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s conviction, this blog’s 2015 case of most needing review.

The Collar for the Longest Attempt to Justify a Decision – To the 11^th Circuit for its 124-page decision in United States v. Clay that attempts to justify how “deliberate indifference” meets the Global Tech standard.

The Collar for Worst Schmoozing at an Airport – To former President Bill Clinton for causing AG Loretta Lynch to accept the FBI’s decision-making after Bill Clinton came abroad her airplane. 

 The Collar for the Most Underreported Settlement – To Trump University’s agreement to pay $25 million settlement in the Trump University case.

 The Collar for Mandating Corporate Backstabbing – To Deputy AG Sally Yates, who keeps insisting her memo that promoted a corporate divide from its constituents – widely referred to as the “Yates Memo” -- should be called the Individual Accountability Policy.

 The Collar for the Pre-mature Weiner Release – To James Comey for his overly excited announcement about the former Congressman’s emails.

The Collar for Community Service to Russia – To all those who failed to investigate and release reports on computer hacking that caused the release of information during the election.

The Collar for the Quickest Backpeddling – To Rudy Giuliani for “clarifying” his statement that he knew about a confidential FBI investigation related to Hillary Clinton’s emails.

The Collar for Best Game of Hide and Seek – To Donald J. Trump for explaining that he could not release his already-filed tax returns because he was under an IRS audit.

The Collar for Best Self-Serving Confession – To the Russian Sports Federation for admitting there was systematic doping of Olympic athletes (but Putin didn't know about it).

The Collar for Quickest Recantation (aka the "Mea Culpa Collar") – To DOJ Chief Leslie Caldwell for criticizing overly aggressive AUSAs at a Federalist Society function and apologizing to DOJ attorneys a few days later.

The Collar for Best Judicial Watchdog – To Judge George Levi Russell III of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland for his post-trial decision reversing the conviction of Reddy Annappareddy and dismissing the indictment with prejudice based on prosecutorial misconduct.

The Collar for Never Giving In – To Josh Greenberg and Mark Schamel who tirelessly and brilliantly represented Reddy Annappareddy post-trial and secured his freedom.

The Collar for Best Money Laundering  – To the New York City and Los Angeles real estate developers who sell eight-figure condo apartments to anonymous LLP's owned by foreign officials and their families.

The Collar for the Best Child – To Don Siegelman’s daughter, who continues to fight to “Free Don.”

The Collar for the Best Parent – Retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award –not awarded again this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (esp)

Textualism and White Collar Crime

A wonderful article appeared in the NYLJ back in March concerning textualism in white collar law.  Authors Elkan Abramowitz and Jonathan Sack remark on the broadly worded statutes one finds in the white collar arsenal, and how Justice Scalia was a leader in using a textualist approach in interpreting these statutes.   The authors of this article reflect on the "exculpatory no" and obstruction of justice as two examples in demonstrating the use of textualism.

With Justice Scalia no longer with us, it will be interesting to see if others pick up this theme in current cases such as former Gov. McDonnell.

Article - Download Justice Scalia’s Approach to Textualism in White-Collar Law - Sack Abramowitz

(esp)   

2015 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2015:

The Collar for Make-Believe Julius Caesar – To Deputy AG Sally Yates who issued a “new” corporate divide and conquer memo, pitting companies against their employees in a supposed effort to “get tough” on high-level corporate wrongdoers, only to see it followed up by GM’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement. She came, she saw, she whimpered. 

The Collar for Forced Government Product Recall—To Preet Bharara who was ordered by the Second Circuit to recall his spoiled brand of insider trading prosecutions.

The Collar for Bargain Shopping – To DOJ, which might consider shopping its insider trading cases out of Manhattan following the Newman decision.

The Collar for Newspeak (aka the Orwell Collar)—To DOJ's Office of Public Affairs for its press release celebrating the Don Blankenship verdict.

The Collar for Best Singing of "Silence is Golden" – To DOJ for issuing press releases when there is a conviction and nothing when the jury returns a not guilty or a court dismisses the case.

The Collar for Arm-Twisting—To Deputy AG Sally Yates, whose memo spawned a sudden outbreak of corporate throwing--under the bus.

The Collar for Wishful Thinking—To Karl Rove for speculating in his Wall Street Journal column that Hilary Clinton might be indicted.

The Collar for Delusional Thinking—To "bad boy" Martin Shkreli for complaining to the Wall Street Journal that the indictment against him, "doesn't tell my side of the story at all."

The Collar for Hallucinatory Thinking—To Representative Trey Gowdy for thinking that anybody, on either side of the political aisle, really cared about the substance of his special committee’s findings.

The Collar for Favorite Don Quixote Judicial Noodge (aka the Tilting Against Windmills Collar)—To Judge Alex Kozinski who bravely and repeatedly urges his fellow federal judges to deter Brady violations where they matter--in the courtroom.

The Collar for Creative Writing (aka the E.E. Cummings Collar)—To the New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office, whose prosecutors made anonymous prejudicial comments in local online newspaper stories about the defendants they were prosecuting.

The Collar for Creative Storytelling—To the same New Orleans U.S. Attorney's Office, whose prosecutors denied in open court all knowledge of anonymous prejudicial comments. This resulted in a dismissal with prejudice upheld this year by the Fifth Circuit.

The Collar for Prejudicial Law Enforcement Statements (aka the John Ashcroft Collar)—To the F.B.I. for its spokesperson's public "anonymous" comment that the charges against Martin Shkreli represented "a trifecta of lies, deceit, and greed."

The Collar for Professional Irresponsibility—To the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York for allowing the FBI to perp-walk Martin Shkreli in front of television cameras.

The Collar for the Fishiest Title on a DOJ Press Release — "Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee Abandon Tuna Merger After Justice Department Expresses Serious Concerns"

The Collar for Forcing the DOJ to Call Soccer “Football” – To FIFA for the ongoing corruption investigation in the United States and Europe

The Collar for Defending the Attorney-Client Privilege – To the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for overturning a lower court decision in the case of In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. that “generated substantial uncertainty about the scope of the attorney-client privilege in the business setting."

The Collar for Attempting to Make the Guinness Book of Records for the Longest Investigation – Yet again, to Congress for its investigation of the IRS.

The Collar for Food for Thought in Sentencing – To Stewart Parnell, who received a sentence of 28 years in prison after conviction on charges related to his involvement in a deadly nationwide salmonella outbreak

The Collar for the Case Most Needing Review – Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s conviction.

The Collar for Rat-Catching – To Antitrust for having the highest percentage of substantial assistance motions in the 4th quarter.

 The Collar for Judicial Watchdog—To EDVA District Judge Gerald Lee. When the EDVA U.S. Attorney’s Office sent an official letter to potential defense witnesses informing them that they were actually victims, Judge Lee made prosecutors prepare a corrected version setting the record straight.  

The Collar for the Best Child– To Don Siegelman’s daughter, who continues to fight to Free Don.

The Collar for the Best Parent - Retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award –not awarded again this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (LED), (esp)

4th NACDL White Collar Crime College at Stetson - 2105 Award to Hank Asbill (JonesDay)

The NACDL White Collar Crime College at Stetson completed an exhausting and exhilarating program with top white collar defenders teaching white collar advocacy skills to practitioners. This year, the instructors teaching in the program were:

A. Brian Albritton, Henry  "Hank" W. Asbill, Brian   H. Bieber, Barry Boss, Ellen C. Brotman, Preston Burton, Jean-Jacques Cabou, Robert M. Cary, Lee A. Coppock, David Debold, Lucian E. Dervan, James E. Felman, Drew Findling, Roberta Flowers, Ian N. Friedman, Lee Fugate, Helen Gredd, Lawrence S. Goldman, John Wesley Hall, Jr., John F.  Lauro, Bruce Lyons, Terrance MacCarthy, Edward A. Mallett, Bruce Maloy, Eric R. Matheney, Michael D. Monico, Jane W. Moscowitz, Marc L. Mukasey, Kevin J. Napper, Julie Nielsen, Cynthia Eva Orr, J. Edward Page, Marjorie J. Peerce, Patricia A. Pileggi, Ellen S. Podgor, Gregory Poe, Mark P.   Rankin, Shana-Tara Regon, Kerri L. Ruttenberg, Brian Sanvidge, Melinda Sarafa, Fritz Scheller, Adam P. Schwartz, George Ellis Summers, Brian L. Tannebaum, Kevin Tate, Larry Thompson, Gary R.Trombley, Morris (Sandy) Weinberg, Jr., Solomon L. Wisenberg

 The opening keynote was given by Cynthia Orr, with Larry Thompson speaking about things not to do in a white collar case.  The 2015 White Collar Award went to Hank Asbill of Jones Day (see here).

(esp)

2014 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate.

With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2014:

The Collar for Attempting to Make the Guinness Book of Records for the Longest Investigation - To Congress for its continued investigation of the IRS.

The Collar for Trying to Be Best Actor in the “Mirror Has Two Faces”– To corporate counsel who think they can represent individuals in a corporation or academic institution while continuing to represent the entity  

The Collar for Continually Hitting the Snooze Button on the Wakeup Alarm – To the Sentencing Commission for putting off for years the recognition that something needs to be done about Sentencing Guideline 2B1.1  

The Collar for Trying to Build the Economy – To DOJ for reaching huge dollar settlements with companies and banks.

The Collar for the Largest Fireworks End of Year Show – To Alstom and DOJ for reaching a $772 Million Settlement

The Collar for Getting Out When the Going is Good – To AG Holder who tendered his upcoming resignation after announcing important clemency initiatives

The Collar for the Case Most Needing Review - Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s conviction   

The Collar for Forgetting What Happened to Humpty Dumpty – To US Attorney Preet Bharara for going too far with insider trading prosecutions

The Collar for the Most Indecipherable Code – To whoever is trying to determine the meaning of how to define insider trading

The Collar for Least Likely to be Teaching Professional Responsibility at a Law School -- The former attorneys at Dewey & LeBoeuf who plead guilty

The Collar for Breaking the Rubber Band When It Was Stretched Too Far – To the DOJ for trying to use the Sarbanes Oxley Act to prosecute a fisherman who threw fish overboard.

The Collar for Role Reversal -To Sidney Powell, who is a female, for her scintillating book Licensed to Lie that exposed prosecutorial shenanigans, but also critiqued the physical characteristics and attire of her DOJ litigation opponents

The Collar for the Most Likely to Fall in a Dominos Game – Anyone who was associated with Bernie Madoff.

The Collar for Justice Finally Served-To the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that overturned the one remaining Tom DeLay conviction in an 8-1 decision.

The Collar for Most Political District Attorney’s Office -To the Travis Country District Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit. Not satisfied with its humiliating appellate defeats in the Tom DeLay case, the office is now investigating University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall in a politically inspired witch-hunt.

The Collar for White Collar Integrity-To U.T. System’s outside counsel Phil Hilder whose written report exposed the legal absurdity of the Texas Legislature’s Wallace Hall witch-hunt referral.

The Collar for the Least Likely to Put Up a Fight – To companies charged with Antitrust violations -- that had no trials and 100% of its convictions through plea agreements.

The Collar for Best Non-Fiction -To Rob Cary’s Not Guilty: The Unlawful Prosecution of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, which builds a devastating critique of the DOJ’s trial team.

The Collar for the Best Child– To Don Siegelman’s daughter, who continues to fight to Free Don

The Collar for the Best Parent - Retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award –not awarded again this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (LED), (esp)

Welcome Professor Lucian Dervan to the WhiteCollarCrimeProf Blog

Welcome to Professor Lucian Dervan, who is joining the White Collar Crime Prof Blog.  Professor Dervan is a professor of Southern Illinois School of Law, where he also serves as the Director of Faculty Development. A prolific scholar, Professor Dervan is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the NACDL White Collar Criminal Defense College at Stetson.

(esp)

2013 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. I welcome comments from readers who would like to suggest additional categories or winners (or losers?).

With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado, The Collars for 2013:

The Collar for Sweeping Things Under the Rug - To the Ninth Circuit's En Banc majority in U.S. v. Olsen which swept another Brady violation under the rug of immateriality

The Collar for Least Bang for the Buck - To Rajat Gupta for spending over 30 million on a conviction and jail sentence 

The Collar for the Best Game of Hide and Seek – To the DOJ for having to be sued for its lack of transparency in Non-Prosecution Agreements

The Collar for the Most Missed Math Questions - To those trying to interpret sentencing guideline 2B1.1

The Collar for Kicking the Constitution the Most Times – To prosecutors who ask for greater penalties for defendants, like Kevin Ring, who exercise their Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial

The Collar for the Most Likely to be Indicted - Your choices are: Governor, Senator, Mayor, recreational pot smoker (unless you're in Colorado), penny-ante mortgage broker

The Collar for the Worst Continuing Political Prosecution – To the Travis County District Attorney's Office which brought the indictment against Tom Delay that was reversed, and then promptly filed a petition for discretionary review with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

The Collar for the Next Pending Legal Dilemma – To jurists deciding whether extraterrestrial is included within extraterritoriality

The Collar for an Arrow Least Likely to Hit a Bullseye – To allegations that the IRS Engaged in Targeting of organizations entitled to tax exempt status

The Collar for Stonewalling - To the IRS for its Congressional Investigation Evasion

The Collar for Destroying Another Country's Growth Industry – To the DOJ for its U.S.- Swiss Tax Evasion Cases

The Collar for the Most Likely to Strip the Government of Power – To judges who start scrutinizing corporate pleas

The Collar for Who Missed the Most Law School Exam Questions on Discovery Even When the Answer Was Provided in Advance – To DOJ Attorneys

The Collar for the Most Willful Blindness – To Prosecutors and jurists who misinterpret the Supreme Court’s decision in Global-Tech

The Collar for the Best Houdini Imitation - To Steven A. Cohen for escaping a personal indictment

The Collar For Breaking the Rubber Band When It Was Stretched to Far -  To DOJ for its Hobbs Act prosecution in Sekhar v. United States

The Collar for Recognizing that the Criminal Justice System is Broken – To AG Holder in his comments on the 50th Anniversary of Gideon

The Collar for Best Newspeak (aka Baron Munchausen Collar) - To DOJ and DEA for using the term "parallel investigation" as a substitute for "pervasive government lies"

The Collar for Disappearing Ink - To DOJ for its failure to post anything critical of the Ted Stevens prosecution team on its own website

The Collar for the Best Child– to Don Siegelman’s daughter who continues to fight to Free Don

The Collar for the Best Parent - retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award - unawarded this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (esp)

Solomon Wisenberg Moves to Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Congratulations to co-blogger Solomon L. Wisenberg who has gone to lead the white collar practice at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.   Check out Sol's Nelson Mullins web bio here.

(esp)

Thanks for Staying Tuned

Thanks for staying tuned to the WhiteCollarCrimeProf Blog- we're back in full force now, with another book sent off to the press.  More to come about this project down the road.  Your readership is appreciated.  

(esp)

2012 White Collar Crime Awards

Each year this blog has honored individuals and organizations for their work in the white collar crime arena by bestowing "The Collar" on those who deserve praise, scorn, acknowledgment, blessing, curse, or whatever else might be appropriate. I welcome comments from readers who would like to suggest additional categories or winners (or losers?).

With the appropriate fanfare, and without further ado,

The Collars for 2012:

The Collar for Delay of Game Followed by Strikeout - To the Roger Clemens prosecution team

The Collar for the Most illegitimate Prosecution -  To the prosecutors who brought the case against John Edwards

The Collar for "I'm Sorry But I Forgot!"- To the authors of the wiretap application in the Rajaratnam case.

The Collar for the Most Missed Law School Exam Questions by DOJ Attorneys  - Discovery Questions

The Collar for the Tim Geithner Lifetime Achievement Award - To Attorney General Eric Holder for acquiescing in Treasury's decision not to indict HSBC or any of its senior officers

The Collar for the Statute Giving Courts the Best Shot at Correcting Poor Legislative Drafting - False claims (18 U.S.C. s 287) for Congress' failure to specify materiality and willfulness

The Collar for the Most Likely to Receive a Pardon - DOJ's pardon attorney

The Collar for Best Job at Protecting Your Own - To the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility for its report and recommendation on the Stevens case

The Collar for the Most Likely to be Indicted - Your choices are: Governor, Senator, Mayor, recreational pot smoker

The Collar for the Best Legal Treatise - Holder & Breuer on White Collar Declinations (Publication forthcoming in four years)

The Collar for the Show Least Likely to Survive a Season - An FCPA case

The Collar for the Agency to Have the Highest Number of Early Retirements - Tied between the SEC and State Department 

The Collar for the Most Likely to Survive a Spill - BP

The Collar for the Best Attempt to Alleviate the Financial Crisis - DOJ's Nearly $5 BIllion Recovery in False Claims Act cases 

The Collar for the Worst Attempt to Alleviate the Financial Crisis - DOJ's Failure to prosecute financial institution fraud

The Collar for the Most Likely to Be Visiting a Prison Camp - Former middle management executives of companies that enter into Deferred Prosecution Agreements

The Collar for the Most Likely to Come Closest to Playing "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" with Donald Trump - Monitors under deferred prosecution agreements 

The Collar for the Best Parent - retired years ago and renamed the Bill Olis Best Parent Award - unawarded this year since no one comes even close to Bill Olis, may he rest in peace.

(wisenberg), (goldman), (esp) 

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday!

(esp)