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Former CEO guilty in 'Ponzi' scheme
Court Feed News |
2011/08/18 12:11
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The former CEO of an Austin-based investment firm was found guilty on Wednesday on federal charges that he schemed and defrauded investors out of millions of dollars.
Triton Financial CEO Kurt Branham Barton was named in a 39-count indictment alleging he used former NFL stars and church contacts to raise $50 million fraudulently from investors.
The counts against Kurt Branham Barton included money laundering, wire fraud and securities fraud. He is accused of using the money raised from investors "to support an expanding Ponzi scheme" and to enrich himself and the chief financial officer of his Triton Financial firm.
“It is regrettable that selfish, greedy individuals devise schemes to make themselves rich by victimizing honest and innocent people, often depriving the victims of their life savings," U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy said. "These con artists are usually very accomplished salesmen taking advantage of trusting investors, who unfortunately will never be made whole again."
Evidence presented during the eight-day trial showed that from December 2005 and December 2009, Barton devised a scheme to obtain money from investors under false pretenses. |
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Man found guilty in Atlanta of killing boxer
Criminal Law Updates |
2011/08/18 09:59
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A Fulton County jury has found DeMario Ware guilty of felony murder and other charges in the shooting of former world champion boxer Vernon Forrest.
The jury acquitted Ware on a malice murder charge.
The 22-year-old Ware did not fire the gun that killed the 38-year-old welterweight, but was charged with malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault. He could be sentenced to life in prison.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that in a police interview played for the jury, Ware admitted pointing a loaded gun at Forrest on the night of July 25, 2009, and taking the boxer's gold championship ring and Rolex watch. Police say Forrest chased Ware but failed to catch him and wound up being shot to death by Charman Sinkfield, one of Ware's codefendants. |
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NY man suing Facebook must explain missing items
Legal Career News |
2011/08/18 09:12
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A judge gave Facebook access to the personal email accounts of a man suing for half ownership of the social networking website and ordered him to explain why he can't produce documents its lawyers believe are evidence.
Proof that Paul Ceglia's case is a fraud has been sitting on a Chicago law firm's email server since 2004, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder told the federal judge on Wednesday.
An email that Ceglia sent to a former business associate at the firm includes a scanned version of the two-page contract he and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg signed, Snyder said. Unlike the one Ceglia filed, it doesn't mention Facebook, only a street-mapping database Ceglia had hired Zuckerberg to work on, he said.
"The noose is tightening around the neck of this plaintiff, and he knows it," Snyder said during a four-hour procedural hearing that had each side accusing the other of dirty tricks.
Snyder said Ceglia had artificially aged his "phony" contract with light and chemicals, backdated computer files and transferred others to portable storage devices, which he'd likely tossed into Lake Erie.
Ceglia's attorney, Jeffrey Lake, countered that Facebook had tried to "poison the jury pool" by releasing what should have been confidential documents and implied Facebook had planted damning evidence on Ceglia's computers, a statement he backed away from after the hearing. |
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EPA settles with owners of Mass. chemical plant
Legal Career News |
2011/08/17 17:29
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The owners of a suburban Massachusetts chemical plant that exploded in 2006, destroying dozens of homes, have agreed to pay the federal government an estimated $1.3 million to help cover the cost of cleaning up the hazardous waste that was left behind.
The Environmental Protection Agency said a consent decree unveiled Monday requires the companies to pay for some of the $2.7 million spent by the agency to clean up the site after the explosion in Danvers, a town about 25 miles north-northeast of Boston.
The EPA said the action resolves claims against former operator CAI Inc. and property owners Sartorelli Realty LLC and Roy Nelson, of the Nelson Danvers Realty Trust.
The EPA also announced that CAI will pay $100,000 to settle allegations that conditions at the facility violated the federal Clean Air Act. The $1.3 million includes cash and the net proceeds from the sale of the property, assuming the property sells for its appraised value, the agency said.
A series of explosions at the ink and paint factory shared by CAI and Arnel Co. Inc. on Nov. 22, 2006, damaged 270 local homes and businesses. No one was killed or seriously injured. |
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HTC sues Apple in latest round of patent dispute
Court Feed News |
2011/08/17 17:26
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HTC filed the latest lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., where Apple Inc. had sued HTC a year ago. Both companies also have brought complaints before the U.S. International Trade Commission, which has the power to block imports of devices and parts found to infringe on a company's intellectual property.
In the latest case, HTC sought unspecified damages and a ban that would prevent Apple from using the technologies in question. HTC said affected products include the iPhone, the iPad tablet computer, Mac notebook and desktop computers and iPod music players. HTC's patents cover such things as integrating a device's computing and communications functions — something basic to all smartphones. |
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2 enter guilty pleas in GOP corruption case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/08/17 17:24
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Two people who worked for former House Speaker John Perzel have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a public corruption investigation of the House Republican Caucus.
Samuel Stokes, a former House employee and brother-in-law to Perzel, pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest and one count of criminal conspiracy.
Don McClintock, a former campaign aide to Perzel, entered a guilty plea for one count of criminal conspiracy.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
Stokes and McClintock were facing at least a dozen counts charging them with conflict of interest, theft and conspiracy, but agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of other defendants as part of an agreement with the state attorney general's office.
Paul Towhey, Perzel's former chief of staff, was expected to enter a guilty plea on Friday.
Perzel, Rep. Brett Feese, and five other current and former aides were charged in November 2009 after a grand jury found they used taxpayers' funds, employees and resources for political campaign purposes. |
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