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Recently, in the Miami area hijackers stole a UPS delivery truck, took the driver hostage, and engaged police in a high-speed chase.  The incident ended tragically in a shoot-out with police that resulted in the hostage and an innocent motorist dead as well as the suspected hijackers.  All appeared to have died as a result […]

A ponzi scheme is an investment fraud in which the longer-term investors receive payments from the contributions of recent investors. In a typical ponzi scheme the promoter will advertise investment returns that are literally to good to be true.  Such promised or guaranteed returns may be a 50% to 100% return in a matter of

Conspiracy is a crime that consists of an agreement between two or more persons to perform an illegal act or to perform a legal act in an illegal way.  Federal law recognizes conspiracy in several different criminal statutes.  The maximum penalties for these statutes range from five years to 20 or more years.  The crime

Five years ago, Eric Garner died on Staten Island while being arrested by New York City police.  Mr. Garner suffocated during the arrest.  Video of the encounter appeared to show that a police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, applied an unlawful chokehold on Mr. Garner.  Autopsy results indicated that death occurred due to an asthma attack precipitated

In a civil case tried before a judge without a jury the State of Oklahoma is suing pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson alleging the company is responsible for the opioid crisis facing residents of Oklahoma.  The suit seeks $17 billion over 30 years to address the effects of the opioid epidemic.  Oklahoma has charged that

How Federal Prosecutors Are Able to Charge Jeffrey Epstein Years after a Non-Prosecution Agreement Ten years ago the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida signed a non-prosecution agreement with financier Jeffrey Epstein.  The agreement required Epstein to plead to two state charges of solicitation, register as a sex offender, and serve a

In the aftermath of the testimony from Special Counsel Robert Mueller before Congressional committees this week, we can view the Russian investigation and the hush money investigation in the Southern District of New York from a bit of a distance.  In each case the President appears to have benefited from a Department of Justice guideline

Dialecti Voudouris, a hematologist associated with Lenox Hill Hospital and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.  The conviction resulted from a scheme by Insys Therapeutics, Inc., to pay kickbacks to doctors for prescribing the company’s fentanyl spay to cancer