Articles tagged with case

Mon, May 21, 2012

Judge rejects part of IndyMac fraud case

By Aruna Viswanatha

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday dismissed parts of a securities fraud case against two top executives of failed mortgage lender ...

Mon, May 21, 2012

EU offers Google last chance in antitrust case

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's antitrust chief on Monday ratcheted up the pressure on Google, giving it a matter ...

Sun, May 20, 2012

Flurry of arguments starts Gupta insider-trading trial

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta "threw away his duties" by divulging bank secrets to hedge fund manager ...

Fri, May 18, 2012

Review so far shows mad cow case was atypical

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investigators are searching for a dozen herdmates of the elderly California dairy cow that had mad cow disease, the Agriculture Department said ...

Fri, May 18, 2012

(Reuters) - Canadian patent licensing company Wi-Lan Inc said a U.S. judge had allowed its patent suit to proceed against eight companies, including units ...

Thu, May 17, 2012

Analysis: A curious case of German risk and safety

By Swaha Pattanaik

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors can't seem to buy enough German government bonds and yet the cost of insuring against a German ...

Thu, May 17, 2012

Wi-Lan says court rules in its favor in patent case

(Reuters) - Patent licensing company Wi-Lan Inc said a U.S. judge had ruled in its favor in a patent infringement claim related to handset ...

Thu, May 17, 2012

Arguments due in ex-US Senator Edwards' campaign finance case

By Colleen Jenkins

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Attorneys are scheduled to give their closing arguments on Thursday in former U.S. Senator John Edwards ...

Wed, May 16, 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rock singer Bret Michaels has settled a lawsuit he filed against the Tony Awards and CBS for damages to his head ...

Tue, May 15, 2012

HP loses $190 million tax case against IRS

By Lynnley Browning

(Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co. on Monday lost a battle with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for more than $190 million in ...

Mon, May 14, 2012

By Michelle Conlin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that could undo hundreds ...

Wed, May 09, 2012

State Street loses bid to dismiss Arkansas case

(Reuters) - A judge in Boston has denied a motion by State Street Corp to dismiss claims that the custody bank overcharged an Arkansas pension ...

Tue, May 08, 2012

Thu, May 03, 2012

U.S. handling of Chen case is Obama's "day of shame": Romney

By Steve Holland

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney slammed the Obama administration on Thursday for its handling of Chinese dissident Chen ...

Thu, May 03, 2012

Key witness in Clemens perjury case could testify Tuesday

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key witness in the federal perjury trial of Roger Clemens, his former trainer, could testify on Tuesday, a ...

Wed, May 02, 2012

By Catherine Bosley and Ben Hirschler

ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - A new lung and heart drug from Actelion beat expectations in a key clinical trial ...

Sun, April 29, 2012

Tom Cruise had Rock of Ages get-out clause just in case he couldn't sing

The movie star plays outrageous rocker Stacee Jaxx in the upcoming movie musical, and director Adam Shankman reveals Cruise wanted to make sure he ...

Sun, April 29, 2012

Clinton heads to China and into dissident drama

By Arshad Mohammed and Chris Buckley

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left on Monday on a high-stakes trip to Beijing, where ...

Sat, April 28, 2012

Tom Cruise had Rock of Ages get-out clause just in case he couldn't sing

The movie star plays outrageous rocker Stacee Jaxx in the upcoming movie musical, and director Adam Shankman reveals Cruise wanted to make sure he ...

Fri, April 27, 2012

Tom Cruise had Rock of Ages get-out clause just in case he couldn't sing

The movie star plays outrageous rocker Stacee Jaxx in the upcoming movie musical, and director Adam Shankman reveals Cruise wanted to make sure he ...

Fri, April 27, 2012

Goldman Sachs censured, no further penalty on 2011 warrants case

By Lawrence White

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs on Friday received an official censure, but no further penalty, from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange following the ...

Thu, April 26, 2012

Illinois man's ire over Martin case prompts hate crime -police

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An 18-year-old black man has been charged with a hate crime after he told police he punched and kicked a white man ...

Thu, April 26, 2012

Buyers of U.S. beef keep importing after mad cow case

By Charlie Dunmore and Theopolis Waters

BRUSSELS/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Major export markets for U.S. beef from Canada to Japan stayed open after the ...

Wed, April 25, 2012

Ex-brokerage chief to serve 30 months in BOM case

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former chief executive of Optionable Inc commodities brokerage was handed a prison term of 2-1/2 years ...

Wed, April 25, 2012

By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service took too much time to try to collect ...

Tue, April 24, 2012

By David Sheppard

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators' $14 million settlement with high-frequency trading firm Optiver over oil price manipulation in 2007 is ...

Fri, April 20, 2012

Texas judge weighs 'difficult' Planned Parenthood case

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lawyers for Planned Parenthood told a federal judge on Thursday that the healthcare of 40,000 women would ...

Thu, April 19, 2012

Judge tosses jury nullification case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge tossed out a criminal charge on Thursday against a retired, 80-year-old chemistry professor who distributed pamphlets outside a federal ...

Thu, April 19, 2012

UK phone hacking lawyer brings News Corp case to U.S.

By Yinka Adegoke

(Reuters) - The News of the World phone hacking scandal moved closer to the United States after British lawyer Mark Lewis teamed ...

Thu, April 19, 2012

Handyman queried in prominent New York missing child case

By Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York investigators have interviewed a former handyman about the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, and spent ...

Thu, April 19, 2012

Goldman wins mortgage case appealed by German bank

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc and investment adviser TCW have survived an appeal by a German bank that sued ...

Thu, April 19, 2012

GENEVA (Reuters) - India has launched a trade dispute to challenge duties on certain steel products, the World Trade Organization said on its website on ...

Thu, April 12, 2012

Banker due back in court in cabbie hate crime case

By Michelle Conlin

STAMFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - William Bryan Jennings, the Morgan Stanley investment banker accused of a hate crime in the stabbing of an ...

Wed, April 11, 2012

Exclusive: SEC, Goldman to settle research case for $22 million: sources

By Sarah N. Lynch and Aruna Viswanatha

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators are preparing to announce that Goldman Sachs will pay $22 million ...

Wed, April 11, 2012

Mexico's Pemex files fresh suit in stolen fuel case

By Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's state oil company Pemex has filed a fresh lawsuit against a dozen oil companies including units ...

Wed, April 11, 2012

Police say Houston death not criminal, case closed

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beverly Hills police said on Wednesday they had closed their investigation into the death of singer Whitney Houston in a hotel ...

Wed, April 11, 2012

Jury selection is expected to be completed Tuesday in Chicago in the trial of the man accused of killing three members of Jennifer Hudson ...

Mon, April 09, 2012

NY equities boss pleads guilty in $66 million mortgage fraud case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The president of a New York brokerage firm pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy in a $66 million mortgage fraud scheme ...

Mon, April 09, 2012

Judge in Penn State abuse case issues "gag" order

(Reuters) - The judge overseeing former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky's child sex abuse trial has barred attorneys involved from speaking to ...

Mon, April 09, 2012

Prosecutor rules out grand jury in Trayvon Martin case

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The special prosecutor investigating the shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin on Monday ruled out using ...

Mon, April 09, 2012

Trial in Jennifer Hudson Family Murder Case Begins Monday

The trial of William Balfour , who's charged with murdering Jennifer Hudson 's mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew in 2008, begins Monday in Chicago ...

Sun, April 08, 2012

De La Hoya case thrown out

De La Hoya was hit with legal action in January (12) from Angelica Cecora, 25, who alleged they romped in his luxury suite at ...

Sat, April 07, 2012

De La Hoya case thrown out

De La Hoya was hit with legal action in January (12) from Angelica Cecora, 25, who alleged they romped in his luxury suite at ...

Fri, April 06, 2012

By Philip Shishkin and David Henry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase & Co will pay $20 million to settle charges that it unlawfully handled customer segregated funds at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

The action comes as the CFTC and other regulators continue to probe what happened to segregated customer funds in the October 2011 collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd , a commodity trading firm that also did business with JPMorgan.

In the Lehman case, the CFTC said that for about 22 months, ending with Lehman's bankruptcy in September 2008, JPMorgan had improperly extended intra-day credit to Lehman Brothers based in part on customers' segregated funds Lehman had deposited at the bank.

JPMorgan also violated rules by refusing to release customers' segregated funds for nearly two weeks after the bankruptcy, the CFTC said.

In a statement, JPMorgan said it "mistakenly factored the balance in the account into a daily calculation of (Lehman) assets to determine the amount of credit the firm was willing to extend to (Lehman)."

JPMorgan went on to say that "no customer funds were ever used to satisfy any (Lehman) debt to JPMorgan, nor were any funds in these accounts lost."

Lehman spokeswoman Kimberly Macleod declined to comment.

The issue of how JPMorgan handled customer funds of another brokerage also emerged in the ongoing investigation into MF Global. JP Morgan played an important role in MF Global's final hours, as the firm struggled to meet its trading commitments amid a growing customer unease over the brokerage's big bets on European sovereign debt.

When MF Global filed for bankruptcy in October, regulators said its customer accounts were short nearly $1.6 billion. Customer funds are legally required to be held separate from the firm's own cash.

The CFTC is under pressure to add safeguards to customer accounts as thousands of MF Global customers, including many farmers who use futures to hedge risks, try to recover their lost money.

An array of federal regulators are investigating the disappearance, and JPMorgan recently came under scrutiny from congressional investigators over a $175 million transfer that MF Global made to cover an overdraft at JPMorgan just days before the firm's collapse.

That money, congressional investigators said, appeared to come from an MF Global customer-segregated account.

JPMorgan asked MF Global to sign a letter certifying that the transfer was proper, but MF Global never signed it. JPMorgan hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing in this case.

MF Global and its employees have also not been formally accused of wrongdoing.

Some of MF Global's former clients who lost money in the firm's collapse have been angry at JPMorgan over its role in the firm's final days.

Speaking about the fine in the Lehman case, James Koutoulas, who represents many those former MF Global customers, said in an e-mail, "it's yet another data point in JPMorgan's systematic disregard for the law and for the safety of client assets." Koutoulas heads the Commodity Customer Coalition, a group of former MF Global customers who lost money in the collapse of MF Global.

Koutoulas also complained about the size of the fine. "$20 million will not deter JPMorgan from continuing the conduct in the slightest," he said. "U.S. regulators need to drastically increase their fines."

JPMorgan said that it cooperated with the regulators and that the latest settlement doesn't say it "intentionally violated the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC regulations." JPMorgan has consistently denied acting inappropriately in the MF Global case.

The CFTC's order requires JPMorgan to implement reforms to ensure the proper handling of customer segregated funds in the future and to release customer funds upon notice and instruction from the CFTC.

JPMorgan had 2011 net income of $19 billion and recorded $4.9 billion in litigation expenses.

(Reporting by Philip Shishkin and Karey Wutkowski in Washington and David Henry in New York.; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and ...

Tue, April 03, 2012

Former "Sheriff of the Year" jailed in Colorado sex-for-drugs case

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - A retired Colorado lawman once named national "Sheriff of the Year" was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 30 days ...

Mon, April 02, 2012

Prosecutor denies interfering in Florida shooting case

By Daniel Trotta and Barbara Liston

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida prosecutor who removed himself from the investigation into the shooting death of black ...

Sun, April 01, 2012

Australia settles patent suit in U.S. wi-fi case

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's scientific research agency has reached a multi-million dollar out-of-court settlement in the United States over the use of its wireless ...

Sat, March 31, 2012

Florida teenager's hometown turns out in Miami protest

By David Adams

MIAMI (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters gathered in a downtown bayfront park on Sunday demanding the arrest of the neighborhood watch volunteer ...

Fri, March 30, 2012

California campaign treasurer expected to plea in fraud case

By Greg Lucas

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A Democratic campaign treasurer accused of draining over $7 million from the coffers of her clients, including U.S ...

Fri, March 30, 2012

Harry Potter and the "strange" case of Oscars snub

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - One of the few places where the Harry Potter movies failed to weave their magic was the Oscars, and ...

Thu, March 29, 2012

China firm fights to stay out of court in U.S. spy case

By Basil Katz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Chinese steel firm accused by the United States with industrial espionage targeting chemical giant DuPont will ask ...

Thu, March 29, 2012

Public information restricted in case of slain teen

By Daniel Trotta

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A special prosecutor investigating the death of an unarmed black teenager in Florida invoked an exemption on Thursday ...

Thu, March 29, 2012

U.S. court presses Dow Co in tax credit case

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An appeals court heard arguments from Union Carbide and the U.S. government on Thursday as the company ...

Wed, March 28, 2012

Analysis: If Trayvon Martin family pursues civil case

By Andrew Longstreth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As uncertainty swirls around any criminal prosecution of George Zimmerman, the shooter of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in an ...

Wed, March 28, 2012

Teen guilty in British tourists' deaths in Florida

By Ileana Morales

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida jury found a teenager guilty on Wednesday of gunning down two British tourists in the coastal ...

Wed, March 28, 2012

Supreme court limits damages in HIV-infected pilot's case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a pilot from San Francisco, whose status as HIV-infected was ...

Tue, March 27, 2012

"Person of interest" in Alaska barista case pleads innocent to fraud

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - A man police have called a "person of interest" in the abduction of an 18-year-old barista from an Alaska ...

Tue, March 27, 2012

Analysis: French shooting case shows counterterrorism limits

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mohamed Merah, the French gunman who killed Jewish children and French soldiers and then died in a firefight with ...

Tue, March 27, 2012

Fox pulls movie ads due to Trayvon Martin case

LILLE, France (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was questioned by three judges on Monday over his role in a prostitution ...

Mon, March 26, 2012

Justice will prevail in shooting case: Florida Governor

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott on Monday cautioned against a rush to judgment in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin ...

Mon, March 26, 2012

Supreme court refuses tobacco firm appeal in smoker case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it will not hear an appeal by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco ...

Mon, March 26, 2012

Pacquiao vows to "fight to the finish" in tax case

MANILA (Reuters) - Manny Pacquiao, widely regarded as the world's best pound-for-pound boxer, said on Monday he would fight charges filed against him by ...

Sun, March 25, 2012

Police investigation stalls in Lohan hit-and-run case

The Mean Girls star has denied claims she bumped her Porsche into a man identified as Thaer Kamal as she left The Sayers Club ...

Sat, March 24, 2012

Police investigation stalls in Lohan hit-and-run case

The Mean Girls star has denied claims she bumped her Porsche into a man identified as Thaer Kamal as she left The Sayers Club ...

Fri, March 23, 2012

Brazil may shift jurisdiction of Chevron case

By Jeb Blount and Joshua Schneyer

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A judge in Campos, Brazil, could shift the criminal charges filed against Chevron and ...

Fri, March 23, 2012

Virginia Tech loses wrongful death case from 2007 rampage

By Matthew A. Ward

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday found Virginia Tech negligent in the 2007 massacre at the university by being ...

Wed, March 14, 2012

Jury weighs hate crime in gay bullying case

By Jonathan Allen and Aman Ali

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A New Jersey jury on Wednesday ended its first day of deliberations without ...

Wed, March 14, 2012

"Tax" dodge boomerangs on Obama in healthcare case

By Donna Smith

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is preparing to defend itself should the United States and other countries take its rare earth export restrictions to the World ...

Mon, March 12, 2012

Sheriff pleads guilty to reduced charge in spousal-abuse case

By Laird Harrison

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, in a deal that would allow him to keep his badge and gun ...

Mon, March 12, 2012

Defense wraps up case in Rutgers gay bullying trial

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - The defense wrapped up its case on Monday in the gay bullying trial of a former ...

Sun, March 11, 2012

Pacquiao caught up in tax case

The fighter faces two years behind bars if he's found guilty.

Pacquiao has reportedly failed to submit the documents following warnings and a ...

Sun, March 11, 2012

Aubry's child endangerment case dropped

Child minder Alliance Kamdem, hired by both Berry and Aubry, filed a police report against the model in January (12), claiming she was pushed ...

Sat, March 10, 2012

Pacquiao caught up in tax case

The fighter faces two years behind bars if he's found guilty.

Pacquiao has reportedly failed to submit the documents following warnings and a ...

Sat, March 10, 2012

Aubry's child endangerment case dropped

Child minder Alliance Kamdem, hired by both Berry and Aubry, filed a police report against the model in January (12), claiming she was pushed ...

Fri, March 09, 2012

Pacquiao caught up in tax case

The fighter faces two years behind bars if he's found guilty.

Pacquiao has reportedly failed to submit the documents following warnings and a ...

Fri, March 09, 2012

Aubry's child endangerment case dropped

Child minder Alliance Kamdem, hired by both Berry and Aubry, filed a police report against the model in January (12), claiming she was pushed ...

Thu, March 08, 2012

Morgan Stanley puts broker on leave in madam case

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley said it has placed broker David S. Walker on leave, after prosecutors said a 44-year-old ...

Thu, March 08, 2012

Prosecution rests in Rutgers student case

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - The prosecution rested its case on Thursday against a former Rutgers University student accused of using ...

Tue, March 06, 2012

Stanford guilty of bilking investors of billions

By Anna Driver

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Allen Stanford was convicted on Tuesday of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, a verdict that caps a riches-to-rags ...

Mon, March 05, 2012

Ex-Met Lenny Dykstra sentenced to prison in car theft

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former New York Mets star and World Series hero Lenny Dykstra was sentenced to three years in state ...

Mon, March 05, 2012

NY Mets owners dealt blow in Madoff case

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Owners of the New York Mets struck out as a federal judge refused to dismiss a $386 million lawsuit by ...

Fri, March 02, 2012

Rambus loses first round of patent case at ITC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chipmakers LSI and Mediatek Inc and chip design house STMicroelectronics NV did not violate Rambus Inc's patented chip technology, a judge ...

Fri, March 02, 2012

Goldman CEO Blankfein deposed in insider case

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein was interviewed under oath last week as a witness in the insider-trading ...

Fri, March 02, 2012

Credit Suisse to face National Century fraud case

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A federal judge rejected Credit Suisse Group Inc's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by National Century Financial Enterprises bondholders ...

Wed, February 29, 2012

Goldman manager investigated in insider trade case: source

By Grant McCool and Lauren Tara LaCapra

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are investigating David Loeb, a managing director of Goldman Sachs Group ...

Wed, February 29, 2012

American in NYC bomb case indicted

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jose Pimentel, an American Muslim convert accused of building a pipe bomb, has been formally indicted by a ...

Wed, February 29, 2012

Egypt to lift travel ban on U.S. democracy activists

By Marwa Awad and Tamim Elyan

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has decided to lift a travel ban preventing American pro-democracy activists from leaving the country ...

Tue, February 28, 2012

Witness in Rutgers case "overwhelmed" over missing student

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former Rutgers student became "overwhelmed with emotions" when she learned another student was missing and ...

Tue, February 28, 2012

Supreme Court hears corporate human rights case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A number of Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism on Tuesday that corporations can be sued in the United States ...

Tue, February 28, 2012

U.S., Egypt lurch into risky limbo on NGO case

By Andrew Quinn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. hopes for a quick end to its dispute with Egypt over pro-democracy groups have been put on ...

Mon, February 27, 2012

Student in webcam case said unfazed by roommate's sexuality

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former Rutgers University student on trial for allegedly spying on the homosexual tryst of his ...

Mon, February 27, 2012

Rutgers student in webcam case unfazed

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former Rutgers student on trial for allegedly spying on the homosexual tryst of his roommate ...

Sun, February 26, 2012

American in NYC bomb case will likely face charges

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for an American accused of building a pipe bomb said on Sunday they expected an indictment against ...

Fri, February 24, 2012

Supreme Court to hear corporate human rights case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court will weigh next week whether corporations can be sued in the United States for suspected complicity ...

Fri, February 24, 2012

Trial opens in Rutgers webcam kiss case

By Jonathan Allen

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Friday opened the trial of a former Rutgers University student who used a webcam ...

Mon, February 20, 2012

U.S. Senators in Cairo want swift end to NGO case

By Patrick Werr

CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Senators said in Cairo on Monday they hoped for a swift end to a row over U ...

Fri, February 17, 2012

Supreme Court to hear military medal lying case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. law making it a crime to lie about receiving a military medal goes before the Supreme ...

Fri, February 17, 2012

Kinnucan charged, ex-exec guilty in insider case

By Jonathan Stempel and Katya Wachtel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An outspoken research analyst who made waves by refusing to cooperate in the U.S ...

Tue, February 14, 2012

Guess loses bid to dismiss Gucci trademark case

(Reuters) - A federal judge rejected Guess Inc's bid to dismiss a trademark infringement lawsuit by Italian luxury goods company Gucci.

U.S. District ...

Mon, February 13, 2012

SEC drops Lonza-Arch insider trading case, for now

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A U.S. market regulator is for now dropping insider trading cases against three Swiss asset managers, despite accusations that ...

Mon, February 13, 2012

Two former Bear Stearns managers settle SEC case

By Jessica Dye

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former Bear Stearns fund managers, who were acquitted of criminal charges over the demise of their mortgage-laden ...

Sun, February 12, 2012

U.S. presents evidence to grand jury in Avon case: report

(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors have presented evidence to a grand jury against U.S. executives of cosmetics company Avon Products , in a case that probes ...

Sat, February 11, 2012

Top U.S. general discusses NGO case in Cairo

By Marwa Awad

CAIRO (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer met Egypt's ruling generals in Cairo Saturday and discussed the case of ...

Fri, February 10, 2012

Swiss bank Wegelin is "fugitive" in tax fraud case

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, was declared a fugitive after failing to show up in a U.S. court to answer a criminal charge that it conspired to help wealthy Americans evade taxes.

At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Friday suggested that U.S. prosecutors enlist the help of diplomatic authorities, including perhaps the State Department, to advance the case.

The indictment of Wegelin, which was founded in 1741, was the first in which the United States accused a foreign bank, rather than individuals, of helping Americans commit tax fraud.

Wegelin was accused of helping clients hide more than $1.2 billion in offshore bank accounts. The case is part of a U.S. crackdown on alleged tax fraud, including efforts to pierce the tradition of Swiss bank secrecy.

"Occasionally in these situations, progress is made through diplomatic channels," Rakoff told Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Levy at the hearing. "Unlike an individual, arresting a company is somewhat difficult, other than in science fiction."

Rakoff spoke after Levy said "we have no proposal" for how to get Wegelin to formally answer the charge.

Wegelin issued a statement from Switzerland saying it has not been served with a criminal summons and therefore was not required to appear in court.

"The circumstances create a clear dilemma for Wegelin & Co," it said. "If it were to adhere to current U.S. legal practice aimed at Swiss banks, it would have to breach Swiss law."

It said it would nonetheless "make every effort to resolve this matter within the boundaries of respectful cooperation with the U.S. and obedience to Swiss law."

Prosecutors charged Wegelin on February 2, one month after bringing conspiracy charges against three bankers in its Zurich branch: Michael Berlinka, Urs Frei and Roger Keller.

According to prosecutors, more than 100 U.S. taxpayers conspired with the defendants and other conspirators between 2002 and 2011 to hide money from the Internal Revenue Service.

The government also seized more than $16 million from an account that Wegelin held in Stamford, Connecticut with the Swiss bank UBS AG .

Wegelin has no branches outside Switzerland, and followed the common industry practice of using correspondent banking services to handle money for U.S. clients.

In 2009, UBS paid $780 million and entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department to resolve allegations that it helped Americans evade taxes.

Wegelin effectively broke up last month by selling its non-U.S. operations to the Swiss bank Raiffeisen.

It also moved most of its workers, clients and 21 billion Swiss francs (US$22.9 billion) of assets to Notenstein Privatbank, set up specifically for the break-up.

No further proceedings are scheduled in the Wegelin criminal case.

The case is U.S. v. Wegelin & Co et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-cr-00002.

(US$1 = 0.918 Swiss francs)

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Thu, February 09, 2012

Intel settles NY antitrust case for just $6.5 million

By Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Intel Corp agreed to pay just $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit in which New ...

Wed, February 08, 2012

Ericsson sued for $330 million in trade secrets case

(Reuters) - Ericsson, the world's largest telecommunications network equipment maker, has been sued for more than $330 million by Airvana Network Solutions Inc, which ...

Wed, February 08, 2012

Judge orders misconduct report in Sen. Stevens case released

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered that a 500-page special report detailing federal prosecutors' misconduct in the 2008 corruption trial of ...

Tue, February 07, 2012

Plea deal in drowning case at murky Massachusetts pool

By Zach Howard

(Reuters) - Two former Massachusetts recreation officials admitted in a plea deal on Tuesday that they allowed swimmers to frolic in a ...

Tue, February 07, 2012

U.S. prosecutors weigh dropping bribery sting case

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. Justice Department officials are weighing whether to drop a major case that involved a sting operation ...

Mon, February 06, 2012

UBS loses case to recoup bonus from ex-broker

By Suzanne Barlyn

(Reuters) - A former broker of a UBS AG unit can keep $1 million of a signing bonus he received when joining ...

Fri, February 03, 2012

Army drops charges against last soldier in Afghan murder case

By Laura L. Myers

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has dismissed all charges against the last of five soldiers to face a court-martial ...

Thu, February 02, 2012

Court sanctions lawyers behind September 11 conspiracy case

By Terry Baynes

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court sanctioned two California lawyers on Thursday over a lawsuit they filed, dismissed as frivolous, that accused ...

Thu, February 02, 2012

Precedent warning as Assange extradition case ends

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Supreme Court risks jeopardizing extraditions to many neighboring countries if it stops WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being ...

Thu, February 02, 2012

Citigroup unit to pay $500,000 in age bias case

By Suzanne Barlyn

(Reuters) - A unit of Citigroup must pay $500,000 to a former branch manager who alleged the company fired him because ...

Mon, January 30, 2012

Ex-Secret Service agent acquitted in bribery case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Secret Service agent who ran a body armor company was acquitted on Monday on charges that he tried to bribe ...

Mon, January 30, 2012

By Ross Kerber and Carmel Crimmins

BOSTON/DUBLIN (Reuters) - - A legal dispute in Boston pits researchers' academic freedom against a police quest to solve ...

Tue, January 24, 2012

New York police officer pleads guilty in civil rights case

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City police officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges that he violated an African-American ...

Mon, January 23, 2012

Former Red Sox catcher wins case against Merrill

By Ashley Lau

(Reuters) - Former Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli has earned another victory, this time off the field.

An arbitration panel ruled on ...

Mon, January 23, 2012

Marine spared from jail time in Iraq killings

By Mary Slosson

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine accused of leading a 2005 massacre of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city ...

Sun, January 22, 2012

Firm stops file sharing after Megaupload case

(Reuters) - FileSonic, a website providing online data storage, has disabled its file sharing services following a U.S.-led crackdown on a rival website ...

Sun, January 22, 2012

Two more arrested in Europe over Megaupload case

AUCKLAND (Reuters) - Two men sought worldwide in connection with a U.S.-led crackdown on the online file-sharing website Megaupload have been arrested, a ...

Sat, January 21, 2012

Flamboyant online tycoon kept low profile in rural NZ

By Michael Perry

COATESVILLE, New Zealand (Reuters) - Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's online profile was larger-than-life, with fast women, faster cars and chartered planes ...

Fri, January 20, 2012

Victim identified in Hollywood severed head case

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man whose severed head, hands and feet were found in the hills below the famed Hollywood sign ...

Thu, January 19, 2012

Police identify victim in Hollywood severed head case

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Authorities have identified the man whose severed head, hands and feet were found in the hills below the ...

Thu, January 19, 2012

J&J to pay $158 million to settle Texas Risperdal case

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday it will pay $158 million to settle a Texas lawsuit accusing the drugmaker of improperly marketing its Risperdal anti-psychotic drug to state residents on the Medicaid health program for the poor.

The settlement fully resolves all Risperdal-related claims in Texas, the company said. The agreement is specific to the state of Texas and does not involve other ongoing state or federal Risperdal litigation.

The deal settles claims brought by Texas in 2004 and involves alleged Medicaid overpayments during the years 1994 to 2008 "and will circumvent potentially lengthy and costly appellate activities," according to a statement from J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit.

The settlement will be paid to the original plaintiff, his attorneys, the state of Texas and the federal government, which provides Medicaid reimbursements, the company said.

The complaint against J&J and several of its units filed in U.S. district court in Texas had alleged company representatives "targeted every level of the Texas Medicaid Program with misrepresentations about the safety, superiority, efficacy, appropriate uses and cost effectiveness of Risperdal."

"Janssen ran amok," Allen Jones, the Pennsylvania-based whistleblower on J&J's marketing practices who was a plaintiff along with state of Texas, told reporters in the Austin courthouse.

"They trashed the Johnson & Johnson credo and they misused Texas and, I believe, well-meaning officials, to further their marketing aims," Jones said. "They subverted science and they induced others to betray the people they were supposed to be taking care of. To me that is reprehensible."

The deal marks the first Risperdal settlement with any U.S. state, Janssen spokeswoman Teresa Mueller said.

J&J's once sterling reputation has been battered in the past two years over quality control problems at several of its plants and manufacturing errors that led to massive recalls of a wide variety of its products, including hip replacements, contact lenses, insulin cartridges and heart devices.

Its biggest black eye came from its McNeil consumer healthcare unit, which in a series recalls was forced to pull hundreds of millions of bottles and packages of popular medicines, such as Children's Tylenol, Motrin, Rolaids and Benadryl.

J&J shares were down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $65 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; additional reporting and writing by Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson in New York; editing by Michele Gershberg ...

Wed, January 18, 2012

Analysis: U.S. payday lenders point fingers to blunt crackdown

By Alexandra Alper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Payday lenders facing oversight from the new consumer protection agency are warning that tough regulations may push customers into ...

Wed, January 18, 2012

Death row inmate wins missed deadline case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a new hearing for a convicted murderer on death row in Alabama who ...

Wed, January 18, 2012

Judge denies new trial in Connecticut home invasion case

By Mary Ellen Godin

NEW HAVEN, Conn (Reuters) - A judge on Wednesday rejected convicted killer Joshua Komisarjevsky's requests for a new trial in ...

Wed, January 18, 2012

U.S. charges 7 in $62 million Dell insider-trading case

By Basil Katz and Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged seven people, described as a circle of friends who formed a ...

Tue, January 17, 2012

Judge rejects Madoff trustee appeal in Mets case

By Grant McCool

New York (Reuters) - The Madoff trustee suing the owners of the New York Mets may not appeal last summer's ruling ...

Sun, January 15, 2012

FBI seeks possible burial site of missing teacher

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - The FBI on Sunday asked landowners in parts of Montana and North Dakota to check for possible burial sites in ...

Fri, January 13, 2012

Claimants challenge holdback in BP oil spill case

By Andrew Longstreth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a flurry of court filings this week, lawyers for claimants before the $20 billion BP oil spill ...

Fri, January 13, 2012

UK student faces U.S. extradition in copyright case

By Georgina Prodhan

LONDON (Reuters) - A London court ruled on Friday a British student can be extradited to the United States for breaching U ...

Thu, January 12, 2012

Suspect arrested in Arkansas grandmother ankle "bomb" case

By Suzi Parker

LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - Authorities have arrested a man who forced a 73-year-old grandmother to enter an Arkansas bank in a ...

Thu, January 12, 2012

Obama's uncle back in court in drunk driving case

By Lauren Keiper

FRAMINGHAM, Mass (Reuters) - An attorney for President Barack Obama's uncle asked a Massachusetts court on Thursday to suppress evidence from ...

Wed, January 11, 2012

Amish sect members plead not guilty in beard-cutting case

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Twelve members of an Amish splinter group in Ohio pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges stemming from a ...

Tue, January 10, 2012

Exclusive: Ex-SEC lawyer said to settle Stanford-linked case

By Sarah N. Lynch and Aruna Viswanatha

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Spencer Barasch is expected to settle Department of Justice ...

Mon, January 09, 2012

Lawyer defends Native American adoption law in toddler case

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - The birth father of an adopted 2-year-old Cherokee girl at the center of a custody battle loves ...

Mon, January 09, 2012

Plea deal sought for American in NYC pipe bomb case

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prosecutors said on Monday they were considering a plea deal for Jose Pimentel, the American accused of building ...

Sun, January 08, 2012

Police release victim sketch in Long Island serial killer case

By Aman Ali

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police released a sketch of a third unidentified victim in the hunt for a possible Long Island serial ...

Sat, January 07, 2012

Venezuela will not recognize World Bank ruling in Exxon case

By Daniel Wallis

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his country would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank ...

Fri, January 06, 2012

Green Beret released on bond in airport bomb case

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - An Army demolitions expert who was arrested New Year's Eve for trying to carry explosives onto a ...

Fri, January 06, 2012

NYT, Huffington Post settle parenting blog case

By Jonathan Stempel

NORTHAMPTON, Mass (Reuters) - Nearly two decades after a 10-year-old girl went missing while on vacation in Massachusetts and was later found dead, officials said ...

Tue, January 03, 2012

Prosecutors open case against Egypt's Mubarak

By Marwa Awad

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian prosecutors seeking a conviction against Hosni Mubarak on charges of ordering the killing of protesters took the stand ...

Sun, January 01, 2012

Mother of Los Angeles arson suspect arrested in German case

Deutsche Telekom in $95 million bribery settlement

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - German phone company Deutsche Telekom AG and a Hungarian unit will pay more than $95 million to settle U.S ...

Wed, December 28, 2011

Actavis settles Medicaid fraud case for $84 million

(Reuters) - Actavis Group has reached an $84 million settlement with Texas to resolve civil claims that it defrauded the state's Medicaid program by ...

Wed, December 28, 2011

Actavis settles Medicaid fraud case for $84 million

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - Actavis Group has reached an $84 million settlement with Texas to resolve civil claims that it defrauded the state's ...

Wed, December 28, 2011

Whistleblower documents illuminate case against BNY Mellon

By Carrick Mollenkamp

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Child molestation charges against a former Penn State coach have sparked an unprecedented awareness of sexual abuse marked by ...

Wed, December 21, 2011

Sandusky case triggers jump in U.S. abuse calls

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Child molestation charges against a former Penn State football coach have sparked an unprecedented awareness of sexual abuse marked ...

Wed, December 21, 2011

BofA's Countrywide to pay $335 million over bias case

By Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp's Countrywide Financial unit agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $335 ...

Wed, December 21, 2011

LONDON (Reuters) - A former UBS trader accused of unauthorized dealing that cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion was expected to enter a plea ...

Mon, December 19, 2011

Five families awarded $1.5 million in OSHA violation case

By Robert Boczkiewicz

DENVER (Reuters) - The company that employed five workers killed in a 2007 fire at a Colorado hydroelectric plant was ordered on ...

Mon, December 19, 2011

Apple scores limited victory in smartphone patent war

By Clare Jim and Poornima Gupta

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple Inc scored a narrow victory against Taiwan's HTC Corp in a patent lawsuit over ...

Fri, December 16, 2011

South Carolina has first human rabies case in 50 years

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A middle-aged woman in South Carolina has contracted the state's first case of human rabies in ...

Fri, December 16, 2011

Experts may be allowed to back John Edwards' case at trial

By Colleen Jenkins

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday left the door open for former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to ...

Fri, December 16, 2011

Analysis: AT&T case could dash Diageo's U.S. whiskey dreams

By David Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - If Diageo -- the world's biggest spirits company -- wants to be a leading player in American whiskey, the experience ...

Thu, December 15, 2011

Prosecutors link Manning to WikiLeaks' Assange

By Alina Selyukh

FORT MEADE, MD (Reuters) - Military prosecutors sought to link U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning directly to WikiLeaks founder Julian ...

Thu, December 15, 2011

Penn State officials to stand trial in abuse case

By Mark Shade

HARRISBURG, Pa (Reuters) - A judge ruled on Friday that two former senior Penn State officials must stand trial on charges of ...

Thu, December 15, 2011

Retired professor arrested in Oklahoma child porn case

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested a retired college professor in Pennsylvania on charges he conspired with an Oklahoma elementary school teacher to ...

Thu, December 15, 2011

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky appears determined to hold out for a trial on explosive child sexual ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

Former student in Rutgers suicide case rejects no-prison deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Rutgers University student accused of bullying his gay roommate, who later killed himself, turned down a plea deal on ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

Motorola wins German patent case ruling vs Apple

(Reuters) - Motorola Mobility won a preliminary injunction against Apple Inc in Germany, which could bar the sales of iPhones and iPads in the country ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

Labor board says Boeing case is closed

(Reuters) - The National Labor Relations Board said on Friday it dismissed a high-profile labor case that accused Boeing Co of illegally opening a non-union ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

Convicted Connecticut murderer sentenced to death

By Mary Ellen Godin

NEW HAVEN (Reuters) - A Connecticut jury handed down a death sentence on Friday to a man convicted of killing a ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

Labor board says Boeing case is closed

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The National Labor Relations Board said on Friday it dismissed a high-profile case that accused Boeing Co of illegally opening a non-union ...

Fri, December 09, 2011

AT&T, rivals delay legal fights over T-Mobile

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp asked a U.S. court on Tuesday to delay hearings in their private litigation over whether the telecommunications giant can buy T-Mobile USA, and the judge promptly agreed.

The request was similar to one that AT&T and the Justice Department made on Monday regarding the government's antitrust suit, which U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle also promptly signed.

An identical request was agreed in a case against AT&T brought by small regional phone company C Spire Wireless.

AT&T's agreement to delays in the cases, after previously insisting on expediting them to prevent Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA from deteriorating in limbo, have led to pessimism that the $39 billion deal will be completed.

AT&T has also set aside $4 billion in reserves for what could eventually be a $6 billion deal breakup payment to T-Mobile.

AT&T and Sprint asked for the next hearing in the case to be January 18, at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), the same time as the next hearing in the Justice Department's case against AT&T.

Huvelle has ordered AT&T and T-Mobile USA to tell the court by noon on January 12 whether they plan to continue to pursue their agreed deal or an amended one and to give an update on their plans for seeking necessary approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Both the Justice Department and the FCC have objected to the deal on the grounds that it would hurt competition in the U.S. wireless market. The purchase of No. 4 U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile USA would vault No. 2-ranked AT&T into first place in the U.S. market.

By Terry Baynes

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of five leaders of an Islamic charity on charges of funneling ...

Wed, December 07, 2011

Cigarette butt leads to arrest in 31-year-old Maine murder case

(Reuters) - DNA evidence from a discarded cigarette butt has led to an arrest in a 31-year-old Maine murder case, in which a young woman ...

Wed, December 07, 2011

Jury considers death penalty in Connecticut home invasion case

By Mary Ellen Godin

NEW HAVEN (Reuters) - A Connecticut jury on Wednesday began its third day of deliberating whether a man convicted of killing ...

Tue, December 06, 2011

Jury considers death penalty in Connecticut home invasion case

By Mary Ellen Godin

NEW HAVEN (Reuters) - A Connecticut jury ended on Tuesday its second day of deliberating whether a man convicted of killing ...

Mon, December 05, 2011

Jury deliberates death penalty in home invasion case

NEW HAVEN (Reuters) - A Connecticut jury began deliberating on Monday whether a man convicted of killing a mother and her two daughters in a ...

Mon, December 05, 2011

Accused New York bomb plotter's case delayed

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An accused devotee of the late Islamist militant leader Anwar al-Awlaki will wait until January to learn whether ...

Mon, December 05, 2011

Supreme Court to hear Cheney-Secret Service case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Monday it will decide whether a man arrested after touching then-Vice President Dick Cheney ...

Sun, December 04, 2011

China services data may bolster case for further easing

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's services sector contracted in November, mirroring similar weakness in the country's giant manufacturing sector and underlining expectations that Beijing ...

Fri, December 02, 2011

New York judge rules in inmate legislative districting case

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A New York law that requires prison inmates to be counted as residents of their hometowns for the purposes of ...

Fri, December 02, 2011

Ex-Colorado sheriff hit with more charges in drug case

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - A former Colorado sheriff accused of trading methamphetamine for sex was charged on Friday with additional counts of soliciting ...

Fri, December 02, 2011

Three men in Amish beard-cutting case waive hearing

(Reuters) - Three men from an Amish splinter group facing hate crime charges over beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio waived their right to ...

Thu, December 01, 2011

Delaware men settle $7 million church sex abuse case

By Jason Tomassini

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - Fourteen Delaware men who said they were sexually assaulted as children have reached a $7 million settlement with ...

Thu, December 01, 2011

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has agreed to pay a record $270,000 fine to settle charges it violated federal animal welfare laws.

Feld Entertainment Inc., of Vienna, Virginia, did not admit wrongdoing or violating U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations in settling the dispute over handling of performing animals, it said in a Monday statement.

"We look forward to working with the USDA in a cooperative and transparent manner that meets our shared goal of ensuring that our animals are healthy and receive the highest quality care," Kenneth Feld, chief executive of Feld Entertainment, said in the statement.

The USDA said the $270,000 fine was the biggest assessed under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

Feld also agreed to set up a compliance officer's position on its staff by the end of February 2012. Employees who work with animals also must undergo AWA compliance training, the USDA said in a statement.

In one episode logged by USDA inspectors, Banko, a 35-year-old female Asian elephant, was required to perform in July in Los Angeles despite pain from probable sand colic.

A circus veterinarian said Banko had seemed comfortable enough to perform and that to separate her from the group would have been more distressing to her, the report said.

USDA inspectors reported in 2008 that wheelbarrows used to carry meat to tigers were also used to transport waste. Inspections also turned up allegations of worn pens and feeding areas, poor medical record-keeping, improper fencing and failure to control elephants.

The allegations followed complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals about abuse of elephants and tigers at the circus, including physical punishment.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Tue, November 29, 2011

Facebook settles privacy case with FTC

By Diane Bartz and Alexei Oreskovic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook will be required to get user consent for certain changes to privacy settings as part ...

Tue, November 29, 2011

Home prices decline in September: S&P

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices declined in September, highlighting the fragility of a market that is struggling to get back on its feet, a ...

Mon, November 28, 2011

Nigerian-American sentenced to time served in stowaway case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Nigerian-American man who pleaded guilty to stowing away on a commercial airline flight from New York to Los Angeles was ...

Mon, November 28, 2011

Ex-fiance named as suspect in "The People's Court" case

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - Police on Monday named a Florida man as the prime suspect in the disappearance of his ex-fiancee on ...

Mon, November 28, 2011

HSBC proposes amended settlement in Madoff case

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc has proposed a revised $62.5 million settlement with investors in an Irish fund that lost money ...

Wed, November 23, 2011

Judge says NY Mets case over Madoff deserves jury

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims has a constitutional right to have his $386 million lawsuit against ...

Tue, November 22, 2011

All judges in Penn State's county recused in abuse case

By Ian Simpson

STATE COLLEGE, Pa (Reuters) - All of the judges in Penn State University's home county have recused themselves from the child ...

Tue, November 22, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's Supreme Court opened the way on Thursday for gay marriage opponents to defend California's same-sex marriage ban in ...

Wed, November 16, 2011

Judge dismisses case against Selena Gomez stalker

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A judge on Wednesday dismissed the case against an Illinois man who was accused of stalking actress and singer Selena Gomez ...

Wed, November 16, 2011

Kansas City priest, bishop sued in child porn case

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - A priest accused of producing child pornography was welcomed into a young victim's home and included ...

Wed, November 16, 2011

Rambus loses antitrust lawsuit, shares plunge

By Dan Levine and Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Rambus Inc was dealt a major defeat on Wednesday as a jury rejected its claims ...

Wed, November 16, 2011

Supreme Court asked to broadcast healthcare case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cable TV network and a senior Republican senator asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to allow its first live ...

Tue, November 15, 2011

Australia court to hear Samsung-Apple case in March

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court has agreed to hear in March a case brought by Samsung Electronics to ban sales of Apple Inc's ...

Mon, November 14, 2011

Charity linked to Penn State abuse case cleans house

By James B. Kelleher and Edith Honan

STATE COLLEGE (Reuters) - The charity founded by a former assistant football coach at Penn State University who ...

Thu, October 13, 2011

Apple must show patents valid in Samsung case: judge

By Dan Levine

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said that Samsung Electronic's Galaxy tablets infringe Apple Inc's iPad patents ...

Wed, October 12, 2011

Lehman loses first broker bonus case

By Ashley Lau

(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc suffered its first loss in the firm's effort to win back portions of upfront bonuses ...

Wed, October 12, 2011

FBI charges man in Hollywood celebrity hacking case

By Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal officials on Wednesday arrested a Florida man and charged him with 26 counts of cyber-related crimes against ...

Tue, October 11, 2011

Australia court to rule on Apple v Samsung case on Thursday

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court will hand down its judgment on Thursday on Apple's request to ban the sale of Samsung Electronic's ...

Tue, October 11, 2011

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for high-profile death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal to get a new sentencing hearing for the ...

Mon, October 10, 2011

Jury hits Teva, McKesson, Baxter in Propofol case: report

(Reuters) - A Nevada jury ordered a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd unit and two other healthcare companies to pay $162.5 million in punitive damages ...

Mon, October 10, 2011

Grand jury seeks TV interviews in missing baby case

By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - A Kansas City television station has received a grand jury subpoena for interviews it conducted in covering ...

Sun, October 09, 2011

Former Miss Iceland got $2 million reward in Bulger case

(Reuters) - A former Miss Iceland who met Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger and his girl friend in California was paid a $2 million ...

Fri, October 07, 2011

FBI searches landfill for clues in missing baby case

By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - Investigators searched a landfill on Friday for clues in the disappearance of a 10-month-old Kansas City girl ...

Thu, October 06, 2011

New York court clears woman of murder in battered-wife case

By Aman Ali

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York jury cleared a woman who shot dead her retired police officer husband of murder on ...

Thu, October 06, 2011

Rambus asked about shredded records in Nvidia case

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chip technology company Rambus Inc was quizzed in court about destroyed documents and its own use of its patents ...

Thu, October 06, 2011

Oracle to pay $199.5 million to resolve false claims case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has agreed to pay $199.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that the software giant failed to give promised ...

Thu, October 06, 2011

Expert to resolve discovery disputes in AT&T case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent dispute resolution expert has been picked to sort out any problems over evidence in the Obama administration's antitrust lawsuit ...

Wed, October 05, 2011

Top court hears fired teacher church-state case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether the federal government can examine employment practices of religious groups, a case ...

Tue, October 04, 2011

Court hears death row inmate missed deadline case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic on Tuesday to an Alabama death row inmate who missed a filing deadline for ...

Tue, October 04, 2011

U.S. urges Egypt to free U.S.-Israeli in spy case

CAIRO (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on Egypt Tuesday to release a U.S.-Israeli dual national who was detained in June on ...

Tue, October 04, 2011

Analysis: Knox case shines spotlight on Italian police methods

By Barry Moody

(Reuters) - The overturning of the murder conviction and jail sentence against Amanda Knox has shone a spotlight on the methods of ...

Mon, October 03, 2011

Insight: China's foreign lawyers argue case from the gallery

By Don Durfee

BEIJING (Reuters) - Ten years after lawyers helped forge an agreement to bring China into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a step ...

Mon, October 03, 2011

Supreme Court won't review drug case text message search

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling that the police can search text messages from an arrested ...

Mon, October 03, 2011

Supreme Court rejects Internet music download case

By James Vicini

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court let stand on Monday a ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute ...

Fri, September 30, 2011

Judge dismisses part of fraud case against Citi

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge dismissed part of a case brought by European bond investors accusing Citigroup Inc and its directors of misrepresenting ...

Fri, September 30, 2011

Gibson Guitars wood imports case raises concerns

By Tim Ghianni

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - The chief executive of Gibson Guitars wants to talk to prosecutors about U.S. allegations the legendary guitar ...

Fri, September 30, 2011

CONWAY, Mass (Reuters) - An uncle of President Barack Obama returned to a Massachusetts court on Thursday for a hearing in his drunk driving case ...

Thu, September 29, 2011

Knox "crucified" in murder case, lawyer says

By Deepa Babington

PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) - American student Amanda Knox was a naive young woman publicly "crucified" and "impaled" to justify wrongly imprisoning her ...

Wed, September 28, 2011

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pfizer said on Tuesday it had filed a patent infringement suit in a Moscow court against Teva Pharmaceutical to prevent the rival ...

Mon, September 26, 2011

SEC mulls charges against S&P in CDO case

By David Henry

(Reuters) - Regulators disclosed they may take action against Standard & Poor's for securities law violations after the ratings agency gave top grades to a package of securitized mortgages in 2007 that quickly soured.

The possible action could be the first by the United States against one of the major credit rating agencies, which have been accused of enabling the lending excesses that led to the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008.

The disclosure follows S&P's downgrade of the debt of the U.S. government in August, an unrelated move that was not followed by other rating agencies and that drew darts from the Obama administration and a bipartisan group of politicians.

The disclosure came in a statement Monday from McGraw-Hill Cos Inc , parent company to Standard & Poor's, which said it had received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 22.

Wells notices give potential defendants an opportunity to explain why civil charges should not be brought. The company said SEC staff are considering recommending that commissioners take action against S&P for violating securities laws in its ratings of a 2007 collaterized debt obligation known as "Delphinus CDO 2007-1."

While Wells notices are not always followed by lawsuits from the SEC, they represent a serious threat. "A Wells notice ups the ante," said Alan Palmiter, professor, Wake Forest University School of Law, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "It is clear the SEC has identified something it sees as a problem with ratings issued during the subprime mortgage heyday."

If the SEC presses charges, McGraw-Hill would likely try to settle them, and may have to change its ratings practices, Palmiter added.

S&P warned it might have to pay civil penalties in the case.

Shares of McGraw-Hill fell as much as 3 percent on Monday, but recovered to close up 0.63 percent at $43.20.

McGraw-Hill earlier this month announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies to satisfy activist investors unhappy with its depressed value.

S&P is the flagship business of the ratings and market information services company that will be spun off. The other business is being structured around McGraw-Hill's textbook publishing business.

Institutional shareholders, led by Jana Partners, have pushed the conglomerate to take further steps, including completely severing the ratings business from the company's analysis and information operations.

A Senate subcommittee report in April cited the Delphinus deal as a "striking example" of a CDO moving from top ratings to junk in a matter of months.

Spokesmen for Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, which also rated the CDO, said their companies have not received Wells notices in the case.

WHEELS OF JUSTICE GRIND

S&P issued the CDO ratings in question at a time when the credit boom that had lifted mortgage lending and house prices was already collapsing, said Janet Tavakoli, a structured finance expert at Tavakoli Structured Finance in Chicago.

S&P ratings covered at least $947 million of liabilities in the Delphinus CDO and were issued August 2, 2007. By December, S&P had started downgrading top-rated bonds from the CDO, according to the Senate panel report. By January 4, the deal was in technical default, according to a notice S&P issued at the time. By the end of 2008, S&P's AAA ratings on the bonds were marked down to junk.

The CDO was largely backed by subprime-mortgage securities, according to a Fitch report.

"There is no excuse for rating these deals in the way they were," said Tavakoli.

The CDO was underwritten by Mizuho International, a unit of the big Japanese bank of the same name, according to records kept by Moody's.

Mizuho was among the banking clients that S&P analysts felt pressure to satisfy with more lenient ratings criteria, according to an email cited in the Levin report.

The CDO was among more than two dozen structured finance vehicles used by hedge fund Magnetar Capital LLC to make bets on the mortgage market, according to ProPublica, a non-profit news organization. The deal was managed by Delaware Asset Advisers, according to Moody's.

Tavakoli said "it is a shame" that the SEC investigations are still going on four years after the events in question and months after the Senate subcommittee report came out. "The wheels of justice move much too slowly," she said.

S&P is facing other regulatory pressure as well. Last month a source said the U.S. Justice Department was investigating S&P and Moody's Investors Service actions on mortgage securities.

The major agencies have long successfully defended themselves against lawsuits over flawed ratings by citing their First Amendment rights to state their opinions. So far, they have withstood legal assaults mounted by private lawyers to recover money investors lost in the credit crisis.

"This is yet another challenge to that defense," said Lawrence J. White, a New York University economics professor. White noted that the SEC's investigation of S&P follows steps by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act to make the agencies more responsible for their judgments.

Wake Forest's Palmiter said it is unlikely that McGraw-Hill would settle an SEC case with any admission of liability that might make it more vulnerable to private lawsuits.

Goldman's Tourre seeks appeal in SEC fraud case

By Grant McCool

(Reuters) - Lawyers for the only Goldman Sachs employee charged over the Abacus subprime mortgage transaction have asked a judge for permission ...

Wed, September 21, 2011

Lawyer details last hours of executed Georgia man

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Defense attorneys for executed Georgia inmate Troy Davis described on Thursday his final hours, a day after he died ...

Tue, September 20, 2011

Supreme Court grants stay of execution in Texas case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a stay of execution for a Texas death row inmate, Cleve Foster, a 47-year-old former Army ...

Tue, September 20, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Silicon Valley sales manager was found guilty of conspiracy charges on Tuesday in connection with the government's crackdown ...

Mon, September 19, 2011

Federal court reviewing Arkansas desegregation funding case

By Suzi Parker

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - A federal appeals court began reviewing a lower court order on Monday that would end state payments ...

Mon, September 19, 2011

Defense in Connecticut home invasion case aims to shift blame

By Mary Ellen Godin

NEW HAVEN, Conn (Reuters) - Attorneys for a man accused in a grisly home invasion sought on Monday to attach much ...

Mon, September 19, 2011

News International to pay $4.7 million to settle hacking

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON (Reuters) - News International is expected to pay three million pounds ($4.7 million) to settle hacking claims by the family ...

Mon, September 19, 2011

Judge tosses Francis gambling debt case

The soft porn boss was charged with felony and fraud in February (11) over the alleged debt he owes Las Vegas casino boss Steve ...

Mon, September 19, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for Steve Carell

Everyone knows Steve Carell is funny. Even if you don't like the movies he chooses to make (like Date Night or Evan Almighty ...

Sun, September 18, 2011

Strauss-Kahn apology seen contrived, staged

By Vicky Buffery

By Jonathan Stempel

Third man pleads guilty in North Carolina case of militant case

By Ned Barnett

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - The son of a man accused of being ringleader of a North Carolina Islamic militant group pleaded ...

Wed, September 14, 2011

DuPont wins $919.9 million damages in Kevlar case

By Ernest Scheyder and Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal jury awarded DuPont $919.9 million in damages on Wednesday, ruling that a ...

Wed, September 14, 2011

Christmas Day bomber statements can be used at trial: Judge

SAP reaches plea deal in Oracle criminal case

By Dan Levine

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - SAP AG agreed to plead guilty to unspecified charges in a criminal case involving unauthorized access to computers ...

Thu, September 08, 2011

Judge in Oracle, Google case wants a CEO session

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The judge overseeing a potential billion dollar patent case between Oracle and Google is angling for a summit of Silicon Valley ...

Thu, September 08, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for 'Modern Family'

Being part of any family is never easy. They're loud, obnoxious, and always in your business. But like it or not, their DNA ...

Wed, September 07, 2011

Ex-NY Met Dykstra pleads innocent in exposure case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he exposed himself to a string of women ...

Wed, September 07, 2011

U.S. judge rejects an HSBC settlement in Madoff case

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge rejected HSBC Holdings Plc's proposed $62.5 million settlement with investors in an ...

Wed, September 07, 2011

Ohio reduces convictions in closely watched school-choice case

By Jo Ingles

The most important thing to note about this boundlessly impressive series is that Boardwalk Empire delivers everything it promises—in spades.

The most important thing to note about this boundlessly impressive series is that Boardwalk Empire delivers everything it promises—in spades.

The most important thing to note about this boundlessly impressive series is that Boardwalk Empire delivers everything it promises—in spades.

The most important thing to note about this boundlessly impressive series is that Boardwalk Empire delivers everything it promises—in spades.

Boardwalk Empire is ...

Sat, September 03, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making A Case For Jon Hamm

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Sat, September 03, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for Kristen Wiig

There's a special dedication to the craft of humor that exists in a select few comedians and comic actors—what separates the good ...

Sat, September 03, 2011

The Emmys aren't exactly known for awarding underdogs which is why the fact that Louis CK is even nominated for Lead Actor in ...

Fri, September 02, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for 'Boardwalk Empire'

The most important thing to note about this boundlessly impressive series is that Boardwalk Empire delivers everything it promises—in spades.

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for Kristen Wiig

There's a special dedication to the craft of humor that exists in a select few comedians and comic actors—what separates the good ...

Wed, August 31, 2011

Hedge fund Diamondback to pay $1 million to settle insider case

Results of bellwether cases may foreshadow the potential outcomes of other, similar lawsuits.

Merck has said it faced roughly 1,650 Fosamax-related cases in various courts as of June 30, including 910 before Keenan.

It won two of the earlier bellwether trials, while a jury ordered it to pay $8 million to the plaintiff in the third case.

Keenan later reduced that payout to $1.5 million, prompting the plaintiff, Shirley Boles, to request a new trial on damages. Merck appealed a separate legal issue to the federal appeals court in New York.

Timothy O'Brien, a lawyer representing Secrest and Boles, said in an email that the same claims were dismissed in both cases, and that the $8 million Boles verdict was based solely on a defective design claim.

Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said: "We are satisfied with today's ruling, and we will vigorously defend the company on the remaining claim."

Secrest had claimed her use of Fosamax from 1998 to 2005 caused her to develop ONJ, and that she also suffered other injuries in her jaw and oral cavity.

In his 42-page decision, Keenan said there was no evidence that Secrest's prescribing doctor would have told her to stop using Fosamax in 2004 and 2005, at the time of her alleged injury, had Merck included a warning on its label.

The judge also said punitive damages were inappropriate because no reasonable jury could conclude that Merck breached any legal duty either intentionally or with a "conscious disregard or indifference" to its customers' health.

Merck's sales of Fosamax fell to $926 million in 2010 from $3.05 billion in 2007, prior to the start of generic sales.

The case is Secrest v. Merck & Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 06-6292. The main case is In re: Fosamax Products Liability Litigation in the same court, No. 06-md-1789.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by John Wallace ...

Tue, August 30, 2011

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Mon, August 29, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making A Case For Jon Hamm

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Sun, August 28, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making A Case For Jon Hamm

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Sat, August 27, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making A Case For Jon Hamm

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Fri, August 26, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making A Case For Jon Hamm

It's not easy to become an icon, but Jon Hamm seems to have done it. His role as Don Draper on Mad Men ...

Thu, August 25, 2011

Mom in California baby-dropping case on suicide watch

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The arraignment for a California mom accused of pushing her 7-month-old baby to his death from a parking ...

Wed, August 24, 2011

Florida couple sentenced to prison in deadly python case

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - A young Florida mother and her boyfriend were sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years each in prison on manslaughter charges stemming ...

Wed, August 24, 2011

Analysis: Tobacco warnings latest business free-speech case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tobacco companies are the latest of several corporate groups to assert a right to free speech in a high-profile ...

Wed, August 24, 2011

Analysis: Tobacco warnings latest business free-speech case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tobacco companies are the latest of several corporate groups to assert a right to free speech in a high-profile ...

Wed, August 24, 2011

China vows to appeal raw materials WTO case

By Langi Chiang and Michael Martina

BEIJING (Reuters) - China vowed on Wednesday to appeal a recent World Trade Organization ruling against its raw materials ...

Tue, August 23, 2011

Timeline: Events in the Strauss-Kahn case

(Reuters) - A New York judge dismissed sexual assault charges against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday.

Here is a timeline of ...

Tue, August 23, 2011

Timeline: Events in the Strauss-Kahn case

(Reuters) - (Updates with appeal)

Aug 23 (Reuters) - A New York judge dismissed sexual assault charges against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on ...

Tue, August 23, 2011

Primary Global CEO tied to insider case: filing

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chief executive of expert networking firm Primary Global Research LLC has been implicated in the government's ...

Mon, August 22, 2011

MP3tunes wins end to part of EMI copyright case

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday narrowed a lawsuit by EMI Group Ltd and 14 record companies and music ...

Mon, August 22, 2011

Strauss-Kahn accuser's lies torpedo case

By Joseph Ax and Basil Katz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who hoped to be the next French president ...

Mon, August 22, 2011

NFL's Haynesworth pleads no contest in fondling case

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Washington Redskins football player Albert Haynesworth pleaded no contest on Monday to an assault charge for fondling a ...

Sat, August 20, 2011

Strauss-Kahn criminal sexual assault case dropped

By Joseph Ax and Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge dropped all criminal sexual assault charges against former IMF chief Dominique ...

Fri, August 19, 2011

John Edwards replaces legal team in campaign violations case

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former presidential candidate John Edwards has replaced the legal team defending him against criminal charges of campaign fund violations.

Edwards has ...

Fri, August 19, 2011

Strauss-Kahn accuser mulls dropping case for money: report

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for the woman who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault have explored a deal ...

Fri, August 19, 2011

Lawyer Goldfarb gets 3 years prison in insider case

By Andrew Longstreth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer caught up in the government's massive insider trading investigation was sentenced to three years in ...

Fri, August 19, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for Jon Cryer

The supporting men in the hit comedy show Modern Family have certainly swept the Emmy nominations over the last few years, and rightly so ...

Fri, August 19, 2011

Analysis: Smarting firms push case for India policy breather

By Abhijit Neogy and Henry Foy

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - A. Chandra Shekhar, the CEO of a small alternative energy solutions firm at the ...

Thu, August 18, 2011

Analysis: "Rape" report won't transform Strauss-Kahn case

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When a French magazine reported on the leaked medical records of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's accuser earlier this week ...

Thu, August 18, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for Jon Cryer

The supporting men in the hit comedy show Modern Family have certainly swept the Emmy nominations over the last few years, and rightly so ...

Wed, August 17, 2011

Trenton diocese pays $1 million settlement in sexual abuse case

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Catholic Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, has agreed to pay $1 million to five men who said they ...

Tue, August 16, 2011

U.S. castration convict arrested in child porn case

BIRIMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - A man who served a previous jail term after admitting to castrating five men without a license to perform surgery has ...

Mon, August 15, 2011

Judge ends TV coverage of Mubarak case, angering opponents

By Marwa Awad and Dina Zayed

CAIRO (Reuters) - The judge presiding over the trial of Hosni Mubarak on Monday ordered TV cameras out of ...

Sat, August 13, 2011

Italy and UK press case for deeper euro zone fiscal ties

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister called for some form of fiscal union to resolve the euro zone's debt crisis on Saturday, while ...

Fri, August 12, 2011

Film producer Jon Peters accused in harassment case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood producer Jon Peters' former personal assistant testified on Friday that he crawled into bed with her uninvited at an Australian ...

Fri, August 12, 2011

"No-fly" list used as threat in U.S. militancy case: defense

By Basil Katz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for a New York man accused of pledging allegiance to al Qaeda in Yemen are asking a ...

Fri, August 12, 2011

Ex-Merrill banker loses appeal in Enron barge case

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Merrill Lynch & Co banker lost an appeal on Friday of his conviction on perjury and obstruction charges over his role in an Enron Corp fraud that involved the sham sale of Nigerian power plant barges.

James Brown, the former banker, alleged the government violated his right to due process by withholding evidence that could have exonerated him.

But a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the evidence at best might have marginally helped Brown and would not likely have changed the result.

Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Brown, said she plans to appeal Friday's decision to the entire 5th Circuit.

"Brown is innocent and the government hid evidence that proved that he was innocent," she said.

A jury had convicted Brown and other Merrill bankers in 2004 of helping Enron in 1999 engineer a sham sale of the barges to help the energy trader meet analysts' fourth-quarter earnings forecasts.

Prosecutors said Enron disguised a $7 million loan as sale proceeds, while secretly promising it would within six months buy back the barges, located off Nigeria's coast.

Brown served one year in prison before being released. The 5th Circuit previously overturned his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges.

In his appeal of the obstruction and perjury counts, Brown said the government should have produced evidence, including FBI notes from an interview with former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, and Senate investigators' notes from an interview with former Treasurer Jeffrey McMahon.

But the 5th Circuit said some of the evidence in fact helped the government's case, while other evidence would have had little impact.

"The favorable evidence that Brown points to is not, even cumulatively, sufficient to give us a definite and firm conviction that it establishes a substantial probability of a different outcome," Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the court. "There was considerable evidence of Brown's guilt."

Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

The case is U.S. v. Brown, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 10-20621.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Andre Grenon)

Thu, August 11, 2011

Emmys 2011: Making a Case for 'Game of Thrones'

Game Of Thrones had a phenomenal first season. The HBO series garnered heaps (the standardized measurement unit, equal to 2.35 buckets) of critical ...

Wed, August 10, 2011

Strauss-Kahn civil case will need more than accusations

By Jeff Roberts and Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - While civil suits have wider latitude of what may be introduced in court, a judge ...

Wed, August 10, 2011

Media-savvy lawyer for maid in Strauss-Kahn case

By Leigh Jones and Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It was Kenneth Thompson's starring role in the prosecution of New York police accused ...

Tue, August 09, 2011

Nigerian-American man pleads guilty in stowaway case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Nigerian-American man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stowing away on a commercial airline flight from New York to Los Angeles ...

Tue, August 09, 2011

U.S. requests panel to decide Guatemala labor case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was requesting a dispute settlement panel to hear its year-old complaint that Guatemala has failed ...

Mon, August 08, 2011

Congressman subpoenas NLRB documents in Boeing case

CHICAGO (Reuters) - House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on Monday issued a subpoena to the National Labor Relations Board for documents pertaining to the ...

Fri, August 05, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (KDAL) - A Minnesota district court on Wednesday issued a final ruling in a trial concerning AT&T’s attempt to place a ...

Tue, August 02, 2011

Post-Katrina police shooting case goes to jury

By Kathy Finn

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Prosecutors told a New Orleans jury on Tuesday that testimony showed police officers had gone on an "an ...

Mon, August 01, 2011

Hotel maid in Strauss-Kahn case speaks out

By Noeleen Walder

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York hotel maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempting to rape her said ...

Fri, July 22, 2011

Analysis: Struggling Indian economy hardens case to end policy

By Tony Munroe

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India is nearing the end of its credit tightening cycle, as 10 interest rate increases since March 2010 exact ...

Thu, July 21, 2011

Case of accused Ohio serial killer goes to jury

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The fate of accused Ohio serial killer Anthony Sowell, charged with killing 11 women whose remains were dumped around ...

Wed, July 20, 2011

Chiesi gets 2-1/2 years prison in insider case

By Jonathan Stempel and Basil Katz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Danielle Chiesi, a former hedge fund trader and key defendant in the sprawling Galleon Group ...

Mon, July 18, 2011

U.S. man gets 22 years in Ponzi case targeting Jews

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former private equity executive was sentenced on Monday to nearly 22 years in prison, the maximum term ...

Mon, July 18, 2011