NY judge to bin Laden kin: Lawyer might be trouble

Published May 15, 2013

Associated Press

NEW YORK –  A judge warned Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Wednesday that a lawyer he hired to represent him on charges he conspired to kill Americans could end up in prison himself.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Sulaiman Abu Ghaith that he could cause himself problems by choosing attorney Stanley Cohen to defend him against charges that he conspired against Americans in his role as al-Qaida's chief spokesman.

Cohen was indicted last year in Syracuse, N.Y., on federal charges that he failed to file individual and corporate tax returns between 2005 and 2010 and committed other tax-related violations. A federal prosecutor in Manhattan told Kaplan that additional charges may be filed against Cohen.

Kaplan asked Abu Ghaith a series of questions designed to make sure the 47-year-old defendant understood the hazards of rejecting three public defenders to have Cohen and another attorney represent him.

The judge said he wanted to make clear to Abu Ghaith that Cohen "has interests that are potentially in conflict with your own."

He also told him it was "quite possibly ill advised" for a defendant to proceed with an attorney who faces criminal charges himself, and he noted that Cohen might not be able to obtain security clearance from the government to view classified materials necessary to prepare for trial.

Abu Ghaith insisted he wanted Cohen to represent him after his brother in Kuwait hired the veteran civil rights attorney.

"I understood he's very enthusiastic about this case," Abu Ghaith told Kaplan. "I thank you very much but I've made my decision."

The judge set a hearing for next week to further explore the legal issue. He told the government to submit legal papers explaining its position on whether Abu Ghaith can be represented by Cohen and whether his understanding of his rights was sufficient to switch lawyers.

Abu Ghaith has pleaded not guilty to charges that he urged the death of Americans after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Prosecutors say evidence against Abu Ghaith includes a widely circulated video of him in early October 2001 sitting with bin Laden and current al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and another in which he calls on every Muslim to join the fight against the United States, declaring that "jihad is a duty."

Cohen said outside court that he believes he was chosen because of his extensive contacts throughout the Middle East and his ability to travel and speak with witnesses where other lawyers cannot.

"I've probably done more terrorism cases — real and fake — than any other lawyer in the United States," he said.

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Electronic taxi hailing in New York halted by judge day after debut

Published May 01, 2013

Associated Press

NEW YORK –  Hailing yellow cabs with smartphone apps is on hold in New York City a day after the experimental service began.

An appeals judge agreed Wednesday to bar e-hailing, at least temporarily. A panel of judges is expected to weigh the case later this month.

A lawyer for e-hail opponents says they're gratified and calls the program "fundamentally flawed" and illegal.

But Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky says the apps are "perfectly legal" and good for riders.

In December, the city OK'd a year-long test. Car service owners sued, saying it's unfair to them because they rely on pre-arranged fares and it's too broad to qualify as a test program.

A judge dismissed their lawsuit last week. They then went to the appellate court.

Uber Technologies launched an e-hail service Tuesday.

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Mexico judge acquits ex-drug czar linked to cartel

Published April 15, 2013

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY –  A Mexican judge has acquitted a former drug czar who was charged with organized crime after he allegedly accepted $450,000 to leak details of police operations against members of the Pacific cartel, an alliance once headed by the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Noe Ramirez was Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor and the highest-ranking law enforcement official detained in 2008 as part of then President Felipe Calderon's sweeping effort to weed out corrupt officials with ties to organized crime.

Mexico's Federal Judiciary Council said in a statement that a federal judge acquitted Ramirez on Monday after determining the main witness in the case lied and prosecutors might have fabricated evidence.

Ramirez was one of five top officials and two federal agents detained in 2008 as part of Calderon's "Operation Clean House."

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Judge rules in favor of billionaire after California man sells him faux-vintage wine

Published April 11, 2013

Associated Press

NEW YORK –  A federal jury in New York City has sided with a Florida billionaire, finding that a California businessman defrauded him by selling bottles of phony vintage wine.

The jury in Manhattan federal court returned its verdict late Thursday. It then was sent back to determine how much businessman Eric Greenberg owes William Koch, a yachtsman who won the America's Cup in 1992.

Outside the courtroom, Koch was smiling. He said he hoped the verdict sent a message to those in the wine auction market who follow a code of silence about fake wines.

He had sued Greenberg to seek the return of $320,000 he spent on 24 wines at a 2005 auction. Greenberg insisted on the witness stand that he never intentionally sold a bad bottle of wine.

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Colorado judge defers ruling on whether Fox News reporter must testify on sources

Published April 08, 2013

FoxNews.com

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  District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. took over the case of Aurora, Colo., theater shooting suspect James Holmes this month.AP

The Colorado judge who will decide whether a Fox News reporter must reveal news sources or face possible jail time has deferred that decision to a later date.

District Court Judge Carlos Samour Jr. ruled that the issue facing FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter is not "ripe" for a final decision. In his order, released late Monday, he wrote that he will not rule on requiring Winter's testimony until he first decides on whether a notebook mailed by James Holmes to a psychiatrist will be admissible as evidence in Holmes' murder trial.

The ruling comes amid court hearings where Holmes is accused of murdering 12 people and injuring 58 in a July 20, 2012, shooting rampage at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater.

Winter broke an exclusive story revealing that prior to the shooting Holmes had sent a package to a University of Colorado psychiatrist that included a notebook "full of details about how he was going to kill people," one source said.  Her July 25 article on FoxNews.com also reported that the notebook contained illustrations of a massacre, including drawings of gun-wielding stick figures shooting other stick figures.

The Holmes defense team accused the government of violating gag orders that Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester had issued in the days following the shooting, and his lawyers asserted that the disclosures violated Holmes' right to a fair trial.

After numerous legal fights, in which Winter has sought protection under New York’s public policy protecting confidential sources and the reporter Shield Law in Colorado, she was required to attend an April 1 hearing in the Centennial, Colo., courtroom in the murder case now overseen by Judge Samour. Holmes' lawyers argue that Winter's protection from the Colorado Shield Law should not apply because, among other criteria that must be met, her reporting purportedly revolved around a "substantial issue" in the case.

Holmes' notebook is not currently part of evidence in the proceedings and may never be, depending on further defense actions and judicial rulings. Because of that uncertainty, although Judge Samour said that he still will require Winter's presence in court for hearing Wednesday on her request to invalidate her subpoena, it appears that he will not rule on that request, nor force her to testify, until a later date.

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Judge won't let Fort Hood suspect plead guilty

Published March 20, 2013

Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas –  A military judge says an Army psychiatrist cannot plead guilty to any charges in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage.

Maj. Nidal Hasan wanted to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder. But Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges carrying the death penalty.

Hasan's attorneys still had asked the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, to let Hasan plead guilty to lesser charges of unpremeditated murder. He still would have gone to trial in May and faced a possible death sentence if the judge had allowed the plea.

But Osborn said Wednesday that Hasan will not be allowed to plead guilty even to the lesser charges.

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Judge won't let Fort Hood suspect plead guilty

Published March 20, 2013

Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas –  A military judge says an Army psychiatrist cannot plead guilty to any charges in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage.

Maj. Nidal Hasan wanted to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder. But Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges carrying the death penalty.

Hasan's attorneys still had asked the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, to let Hasan plead guilty to lesser charges of unpremeditated murder. He still would have gone to trial in May and faced a possible death sentence if the judge had allowed the plea.

But Osborn said Wednesday that Hasan will not be allowed to plead guilty even to the lesser charges.

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Attorneys reportedly ask judge to dismiss Ohio high school rape case

COLUMBUS, Ohio –  Attorneys for a high school football player facing rape accusations in Ohio are asking a judge to dismiss the case against him because they say the "unavailability of material witnesses" denies him his right to a fair trial.

A West Virginia judge last week rejected requests three juveniles be called to testify at the eastern Ohio trial of two high school football players charged with raping a 16-year-old girl. The girl is from West Virginia.

The juveniles' testimony was expected to bolster the players' defense against the charges.

Attorneys representing defendant Trent Mays on Monday filed a motion to dismiss, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The two players go on trial Wednesday in Jefferson County juvenile court in Steubenville. Their attorneys have denied the charges.

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Judge rejects Bulger's future immunity claim

BOSTON –  Lawyers for gangster James "Whitey" Bulger (BUHL'-jur) say the federal government is trying to conceal the "sordid history" of Bulger's relationship with law enforcement by trying to prevent him from using his claim that he received immunity for his crimes from a former federal prosecutor.

Bulger's lawyers responded to a ruling Monday by a federal judge who said Bulger's claim that he had immunity for future crimes, including murder, "was without authorization" and is "unenforceable."

Attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Hank Brennan said Bulger is prepared to testify at his trial about how and why he received immunity from former federal prosecutor Jeremiah O'Sullivan. They said Bulger's right to a fair trial is at stake.

Bulger, the former leader of Boston's Winter Hill Gang, is set to go on trial in June, charged with participating in 19 murders.

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NY judge sends ex-lawyer to prison for 8 years

NEW YORK –  A former Chicago lawyer who participated in what authorities have called the largest tax fraud in history was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison by a judge who called the scheme to help wealthy clients escape millions of dollars in taxes "breathtaking in its scope and the damage it caused the nation."

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III sentenced 52-year-old Donna Guerin, of Scottsdale, Ariz., after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion. He ordered her to pay $190 million in restitution besides the $1.6 million she agreed to forfeit when she pleaded guilty in September.

Guerin, a former partner at Jenkens & Gilchrist, a Texas-based law firm with offices throughout the United States, had admitted that she helped market tax shelters from 1994 through 2004 to some of the world's richest investors, including the late sports entrepreneur Lamar Hunt, trust fund recipients, investors, a grandson of the late industrialist Armand Hammer and one of the earliest investors in Microsoft Corp.

Prosecutors said the tax shelters produced about $7 billion in phony tax losses that customers could use to reduce their tax obligations by tens of millions of dollars, cheating the Internal Revenue Service of nearly $1.5 billion. One of several tax shelter schemes was marketed from 1998 through 2000, producing at least $3.9 billion in bogus tax losses for at least 550 wealthy people, the government said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley J. Okula Jr. called it a "truly unprecedented fraud" and the largest loss by the IRS in history.

The judge said the fraud touched some of the nation's largest financial institutions, where legal statements prepared by Guerin and those she trained made many professionals believe the tax shelters were legitimate.

The judge seemed unimpressed with Guerin's statement that she was "truly sorry" for her actions and that she had lost her legal career, her reputation and her ability to raise children.

The judge described Guerin's rise from a humble background to attend law school and secure a great job at a major firm as "the embodiment of the American dream."

"But then," he said, "her lust for money turned her American dream into a nightmare."

The onetime Elmhurst, Ill., resident earned nearly $18 million illegally because she wasn't content with a job out of law school that paid about $200,000, the judge said.

"She became a criminal for two reasons: the lure of money and the belief she would never be brought to justice," he said. "In the end, this case is all about greed."

The judge ordered Guerin to pay $200,000 of her restitution before she reports to prison. He noted that she has moved to a home with four bedrooms and three baths "that she describes as modest."

In 2000, when Guerin turned 40, she was paid $11.5 million, "but it was all fraud, and she knew it," the judge said.

"You had everything, and you squandered it," he said. "You must be punished."

After a 2011 trial, the judge ordered a new trial for three of four people convicted in the case, saying a "pathological liar" who served as a juror had corrupted it.

Before Guerin's plea, she was one of two lawyers facing retrial. The other, Paul M. Daugerdas, of Wilmette, Ill., was described by prosecutors at trial as the mastermind of the tax scheme. Also awaiting trial was Denis M. Field, of Naples, Fla., the former chief executive officer of the accounting firm BDO Seidman and former head of its national tax practice. Both have pleaded not guilty. The retrial is scheduled to start Sept. 9.

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US judge: Insurer not obliged to cover Sandusky

HARRISBURG, Pa. –  The insurance carrier for the children's charity founded by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky doesn't have to cover him for acts of child sexual abuse, a judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane said Sandusky was not acting as an employee or executive of The Second Mile when he abused and molested boys.

"The fact that Sandusky met his victims through The Second Mile — or even sexually abused victims 'during the course of activities of Second Mile' — does not change the fact that his sexual abuse of children was personal in nature, and performed in his individual capacity," the judge's ruling said.

The judge ruled in favor of Warren, N.J.-based Federal Insurance Co., which had brought the case against Sandusky.

Sandusky was convicted last summer of abusing 10 boys, some of whom he met through the charity he founded in 1977. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison but maintains his innocence and is appealing. He faces lawsuits from some of his accusers.

Sandusky's lead appellate lawyer, Norris Gelman, said he would be sticking with his client but "without money it's going to be a little tough."

"I'll talk to him, I'll talk to his wife, and we'll see what's what," Gelman said. "I'm not the kind of guy who would quit in the middle of a case. I've never done that, and I don't think I ever will."

Gelman said Federal Insurance had paid him some money but declined to say how much. Neither the insurer's lawyers nor Sandusky's civil lawyers immediately returned phone messages Friday.

Eight young men testified against Sandusky, describing a range of abuse they said went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and anal rape when they were boys.

Sandusky, 69, did not testify at his trial but has long insisted he's innocent. He acknowledges he showered with boys but says he never molested them.

The abuse scandal rocked Penn State, bringing down football coach Joe Paterno and the university's president and leading the NCAA, college sports' governing body, to levy unprecedented sanctions against the university's football program.

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