Lord Black – Victim of the Government’s Anti-Business Jihad

As you likely know by now, Lord Conrad Black, former CEO of Hollinger International and owner of, among other media properties, The Chicago Sun Times and The National Post, was convicted last week on 3 counts of money laundering and 1 count of obstruction of justice. He was acquitted on the remaining 9 counts of…

Subway Founder Loses NASD Arbitration – Not a Big Surprise

The co-founder of Subway recently lost his NASD arbitration claim, in which he alleged the UBS caused him $193 million in damages by improperly investing funds held by trusts he controlled in tech stocks before the 2001 market implosion. As Mr. Deluca discovered, NASD arbitration panels are not usually very investor friendly, especially when the…

Black Case Could Be Headed For Mistrial

Jurors in the trial of media mogul Conrad Black have advised the judge that they are unable to reach a verdict, and added in their note to the court that they have “read the jury instructions very carefully.” The New York Times provides this report: A jury in the racketeering and fraud trial of fallen…

White House Asserts Executive Privilege

In a move that ought to surprise no one, the White House today asserted executive privilege and denied Congressional requests that two former White House aides, former counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor testify before the House and Senate Judicary Committees, respectively, the Associated Press reports. In a letter to the Chairmen…

Bad Day for Prosecutors in Brocade Backdating Case

Friday was a bad day for the federal prosecutors handling the options backdating related securities fraud case against former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes, and tomorrow does not promise to be any better. The federal judge presiding over the case has ordered the prosecutors to file a response to the defense team’s motion for acquittal by…

Brocade Backdating Prosecution on Life Support

The federal judge presiding over the stock options backdating related criminal prosecution of former Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes has ordered prosecutors to file a response to the defense team’s motion for acquittal by 8 am tomorrow morning. At a hearing on Friday, the Judge grilled prosecutors relentlessly about what evidence had been presented to…

Whither Delay?

Does anyone have any info about where the case against Tom Delay stands? I seem to recall seeing recently that an appellare court upheld the dismissal of one count in the indictment, but truthfully I wasn’t paying very close attention as I’ve had a lot of other things going on. Anyone?

Study Shows that Children Begin To Deceive At 6 Months of Age

The UK Telegraph ran this interesting story reporting the results of studies conducted by psychologists at the University of Portsmouth. The study shows that children begin to engage in deceitful behavior as early as 6 months of age. Presumably Patrick Fitzgerald will be issuing indictments shortly.

The Libby Perjury Trap

My recent post criticizing Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald seems to have angered some, including one purported Yale Law School alumnus (whose comments have been deleted because they were left using what appears to have been a bogus email address). So I want to re-direct this Libby discussion. Its not about Bush, and its not about…

Former Villanova Star Howard Porter Dies After Beating

While not strictly “criminal law” related,” I post this because it is a significant Philadelphia story. For those who are Villanova graduates, as I am (Law, ’92), we are grieving this tragic, tragic death.  below the fold is today’s Philadelphia Inquirer story.