September 2018
Training Opportunity
Arizona State
University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law will host the 2018
CEPI Ethics Summit from December 11-13, 2018.
The first day of this training is open to all attorneys and to ASU law students;
the second morning will be for only government attorneys; and all two-and-one-half
days of this training will be open to “ethics gurus” at attorneys general
offices. The scholarship application period for NAAG members is open until October
15; for more information and to apply for a scholarship or to register,
visit the registration website.
Cases
State
Court
of Criminal Appeals Upholds Auburn Republican Mike Hubbard's Conviction on 11
of 12 Charges: The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has
affirmed
the conviction of former Alabama House Speaker Michael Hubbard,
who was convicted in June 2016 of a variety of charges related to his violation
of the Alabama Ethics Law. Hubbard, who helped pass those very
same ethics laws, argued—among other things—that the laws were unconstitutionally vague.
AG
Steve Marshall Announces Sentencing of Former Health Dept. Employee to Suspended
10-Year Sentence for Felony Ethics Violation: A former Administrative
Assistant for the Alabama Department of Public Health, who pled guilty
to stealing over $15,000 from the state by falsifying travel vouchers, has been
sentenced to four years of supervised probation and ten years in prison (which
were suspended), and has been ordered to pay restitution.
Ex-Valley
Metro CEO Stephen Banta Pleads Guilty to Fraud 3 Years After 'Republic' Inquiry:
Following charges brought by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office,
former Valley Metro Chief Executive Stephen Banta pled guilty to fraud.
Banta was charged with using public funds to pay for extravagant personal travel
and dining. His acts were originally uncovered by reporters
who discovered that he routinely few first class and stayed in $600-a-night hotels.
Ex-Quartzsite
Police Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Cash: Christy Conley,
a former evidence technician for the Quartzsite, Arizona, police
department, has pled guilty to stealing about $20,000 in cash from an evidence
safe in 2017. In an effort to hide her crime, Conley also set fire to the evidence room.
AG:
Employee Charged with Stealing $139,000 from School District: The Arizona
Attorney General’s Office has indicted the former business manager
for the Western Arizona Vocational Education District, Deborah Long.
Long is accused of stealing more than $139,000 from the district over a nearly 5-year period.
MBTA
Worker Repairing Fare Boxes Now Accused of Stealing $450,000, Authorities Say:
Former Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority automated fare technician Stephen
P. Fagerberg is alleged to have stolen $450,000 from fare boxes he was
charged with repairing. The loss amount is a result of additional investigation
done by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office after his
June arrest, when it was believed he’d stolen approximately $80,000 from transit boxes.
Former
Monroe County Judge Pleads Guilty in Prostitution Case: In a case brought
by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, former Monroe
County Judge Jarod Calkins has pled guilty to hiring women for the purposes
of prostitution. According to an
affidavit filed in the case, Calkins engaged in non-consensual, violent acts with the women.
Another
Year in Prison for Griego: Former New Mexico State Senator Phil Griego,
who was previously convicted of other corruption-related offenses after trial,
pled guilty to stealing money from his campaign account and lying about that theft
on campaign finance reports. Greigo was sentenced to a consecutive year in prison
for the new case. Both cases were brought by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.
JFK
Supervisor Took Bribes, Broke Rules to Let Other Countries Park Their Planes Overnight:
Prosecutors: Marlene Mizzi, the former assistant duty supervisor
at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, has been charged with
receiving a reward for official misconduct. One of her alleged bribers, a Qatar
travel coordinator who made arrangements for that country’s United Nations
delegates named Joseph Jourieh, was also charged. Jourieh is
alleged to have provided Mizzi with meals, limo rides, and a watch. The Port Authority
Inspector General warned employees that the agency “would not tolerate violations
of the public trust or any other corrupt acts.”
Queensbury
Couple Pleads Guilty in Money-Laundering Scheme: Robert J. Mirel
and Debra Burnett, former owners of Arlington Manipulators,
pled guilty to grand larceny, money laundering, fraud and tax fraud in connection
with a long-running scheme to obtain money from businesses without delivering
any products. The New York Attorney General’s Office brought
the case, which is expected to result in an order of over $1.3 million for restitution
and several years in prison for both defendants.
State
Sen. Jeff Woodburn Arrested On Domestic Violence, Assault Charges: The
Vermont Attorney General’s Office has charged State Senator
Jeff Woodburn with domestic violence, criminal trespass, and criminal
mischief. Woodburn allegedly hit and bit his partner on multiple occasions, and
also kicked in the door to her home and entered without her permission. Although
some members of the senator’s party called upon him to resign, he was recently
reelected.
Federal
How
America Stopped Prosecuting White-Collar Crime And Public Corruption, in Charts:
The Washington Post looks at data from federal white-collar and
corruption cases to conclude that such prosecutions appear to have dropped substantially.
US
Judge off Corruption, Kidnapping Cases After Emails: Central District
of Illinois Judge Colin Bruce has been removed from all criminal cases—including
the corruption case against ex-congressman Aaron Schock—after
it was revealed that he exchanged emails with a paralegal at the U.S. Attorney’s
Office prosecuting Schock. Those emails—which the U.S. Attorney’s Office of
the Central District of Illinois disclosed to defense attorneys when it discovered
them earlier this year—included the judge’s criticisms of federal prosecutors
who were trying a case before him. The case has been reassigned
to a judge in the Northern District of Illinois—and the U.S. Department of Justice
has also reassigned prosecution of the case to Assistant U.S. Attorneys in that district.
Ex-Judge
Loses Appeal in Bribery Case: Former Texas state district
judge Angus McGinty has, nearly three years after being sentenced
to federal prison for taking bribes, lost his appeal. McGinty argued that his
defense attorneys urged him not to cooperate with law enforcement because they,
too, were implicated in his bribery scheme. The Fifth Circuit concluded
that even an unwaivable conflict does not invalidate a conviction where the defendant
“knows of the conflict, keeps the district court in the dark, and later seeks
to invalidate his conviction based on the alleged conflict.” The court
nonetheless suggested that prosecutors should take a proactive approach when they
that defense counsel may have a conflict of interest: “We take this opportunity
to remind prosecutors that the prudent course in a case like this is promptly
and fully to disclose a potential conflict to the district court.”
Former
East Chicago Councilman Sentenced to 20 Years Prison for Drug-Related Murder:
Former East Chicago City Councilman Robert Battle—who was reelected
to a second term while murder charges were pending against him—has been sentenced
to 20 years in federal prison. Battle, who was a drug dealer in addition to being
a politician, shot and killed a man to whom he owed a drug debt. Less than two
months before that murder, Battle had been stopped by federal authorities, who
seized over $100,000 of drug money from him. Battle agreed to cooperate with police
and promised to inform them if he saw his supplier. Instead, in mid-October 2015,
Battle murdered the supplier when the supplier came to his house to discuss the drug debt.
Ethics
Lawyer
is Suspended for Flashing Gun at Deposition, Other 'Appalling' Behavior: In
Nevada, an attorney has been suspended from the practice of law
for over six months after calling his litigation opponent names and showing a
gun during a deposition. James Pengilly was representing himself
as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit when he called the plaintiff names and
gestured to a gun on his hip during a deposition.
NJ
Attorney General Creates Office to Investigate Corruption: The New
Jersey Attorney General has announced a new Office of Public
Integrity and Accountability, which will focus on allegations of civil
rights violations, wrongful convictions, and matters involving public officials.
The office will report directly to the attorney general.
Wantage
Municipal Prosecutor Sanctioned for Misleading Court: A municipal prosecutor
in Wantage, New Jersey, has been disciplined with a letter of
admonition for violating the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct. William
Haggerty admitted that he failed to disclose he was the brother of a
utility board’s chairman when he prosecuted a case in which utility board was
the “victim” of an individual who tampered with its equipment. Haggerty’s
omission resulted in a mistrial in the case after the defendant asked a witness
about the relationship between the chairman and the prosecutor.
Faithful
Execution: The Persistent Myth of Widespread Prosecutorial Misconduct: In
a recent law review piece, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Tennessee
(and former New Jersey Assistant Attorney General) argues that
the—to use the words of the now-disgraced former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinksi—alleged
“epidemic”
of prosecutorial misconduct is more accurately described as occasional incidents
of individual shortcomings among a small number of prosecutors.
A
New Panel Can Investigate Prosecutors. They Plan to Sue to Block It.: New
York has created an 11-member commission with the power to investigate
the state’s 62 district attorneys if it believes their conduct is unprofessional,
unethical, or unlawful. The president of the District Attorneys Association
of the State of New York has spoken against the bill creating the commission,
calling it “flawed and unconstitutional” and warning that the “interference
will breed more public corruption and distrust of our public officials.”
Portland
Criminal Defense Attorney Suspended for 1.5 Years: Gary Bertoni,
a criminal defense attorney in Oregon has been suspended from
the practice of law for 18 months after repeatedly “disregard[ing] … the interests
of his clients.” The sanction follows his conviction for failing to pay employment taxes.
Prosecutors
Worry a New Ethics Opinion is a 'Tactical Weapon': In Tennessee,
an opinion issued by the state’s Board of Professional Responsibility
in March of this year is the subject of debate by the defense bar and by federal
and state prosecutors. The opinion would require prosecutors to turn over all
exculpatory evidence “as soon as reasonably practicable,” upon pain of suspension
or disbarment. The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference
and the state’s three United States Attorneys have requested
that the board withdraw its opinion.
Investigative Tools
The
New Frontier: Using Artificial Intelligence To Help Fight Corruption: Our
friends at the Global Anticorruption Blog discuss how artificial
intelligence tools can be harnessed by both private and public sectors to prevent and uncover corruption.
Navigating
Data Privacy for Cross-Border Investigations: In an article discussing the
EU’s GDPR, the FCPA Blog notes that some countries have enacted
“data localization” laws that require their citizens’ data to be stored
within their borders. Such laws are intended to prevent that data from being compromised
in other countries and to ensure that it is accessible to the home country’s
government if it is needed during, for example, a criminal investigation.
International
Former
Colombia Anti-Corruption Chief Pleads Guilty to U.S. Bribery Charges: Luis
Gustavo Moreno Rivera, the former Director of Anti-Corruption in Colombia,
has pled guilty to soliciting a $132,000 bribe to undermine an investigation into
a Colombian politician. Rivera requested the bribe from former Córdoba, Colombia,
governor Alejandro Lyons Muskus. Muskus was, unbeknownst to Rivera, a cooperating
witness for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; during recorded conversations,
Rivera offered to inundate his prosecutors with work so that they would not be
able to focus on the investigation into Muskus.
Brazil
Police Seize $16m From Equatorial Guinea's VP Delegation: In a sign that he
was undeterred by his recent French corruption trial and the
forfeiture of $30 million in ill-gotten gains to the United States
in 2014, the vice president of Equatorial Guinea,
Teodorin Obiang Nguema, attempted to smuggle more than $16 million
worth of cash and luxury watches into Brazil. A French court
had sentenced Ngeuma to a three-year suspended sentence in October 2017 for money
laundering and embezzlement, and ordered the seizure of about $115 million in
assets. Switzerland and the Netherlands have
also seized items from Nguema, including a $120 million yacht.
Malaysia’s
Ex-Leader Najib Razak Is Charged With Money Laundering: Malaysian
authorities charged former prime minister Najib Razak with money
laundering, in connection with the 1MBD fund (1Malaysia Development Berhad), a
sovereign wealth fund that has also been the subject of investigations in the
United
States and Switzerland.
UK
Court Rules KBR Must Turn Over Documents in Unaoil Case: A court in the United
Kingdom is requiring the U.S.-based general counsel of KBR to disclose
documents in connection with a notice served on KBR by the U.K.
Serious Fraud Office (SFO). KBR had claimed that it would not make the documents
available to the general counsel and argued that the SFO notice did not reach
extraterritorially, but the court rejected both arguments.
U.S.
Company Manager Pleads Guilty in PDVSA Bribery Scheme: A Venezuelan
official and his U.S.-based briber have both pled guilty to conspiring
to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Petróleos de Venezuela,
S.A. (PDVSA) official Jose Orlando Camacho and Texan
Juan Carlos Castillo Rincon are among fourteen people who have
entered guilty pleas in connection with the scheme.
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