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Treasury risks overpaying law firms
Headline News |
2011/04/18 13:21
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The Treasury Department paid out more than $27 million to law firms overseeing the financial bailouts without requiring detailed bills or questioning the incomplete records that the lawyers provided, a government watchdog says.
Treasury's "current contracts and fee bill review practices create an unacceptable risk that Treasury, and therefore the American taxpayer, is overpaying for legal services," the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a report issued Thursday.
Treasury could not have adequately gauged whether the fees were reasonable because the records are so sparse, the report says.
The report criticizes so-called "block billing," in which law firms submit "vague and inadequate descriptions of work, and administrative charges — all of which should have been questioned before payment," the report says.
Treasury staff failed to question the charges for work that was described vaguely, the report says. |
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Court turns down appeal in murder plot case
Court Feed News |
2011/04/18 13:16
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The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal in a murder-for-hire plot after the star prosecution witness forged documents used at trial and lied about his military background.
The court said Monday it will not review a divided appeals court ruling that, by a 6-5 vote, upheld the conviction of Idaho businessman David Hinkson for plotting to kill a federal judge, prosecutor and tax agent. Hinkson is serving a 43-year prison term.
Earlier, a three-judge panel on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had decided that Hinkson deserved a new trial because the witness, Elven Joe Swisher, lied about his war record, including presenting forged documents.
Swisher later was convicted of defrauding the government of nearly $100,000 in veterans' benefits and wearing unauthorized military medals. |
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S&P cuts long-term outlook for US debt to negative
Business Law Info |
2011/04/17 16:17
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Standard & Poor's Ratings Service cut its outlook Monday on the United States' sovereign debt, saying there is a one in three chance it will downgrade the rating on the debt in the next two years.
The agency lowered the long-term outlook to "Negative" from "Stable."
It reaffirmed its investment-grade credit ratings on the U.S. long- and short-term debt itself, but said the ratings are at risk from the country's growing deficit.
S&P said the U.S. has a high-income, diversified and flexible economy that has helped it to encourage growth while containing inflation.
But the country's ballooning deficit could offset those positives over the next two years.
The agency noted that the deficit grew to 11 per cent of gross domestic income in 2009. That is much higher than the average of two per cent to five per cent in the previous six years.
S&P said it has little confidence that the White House and Congress will agree on a deficit-reduction plan before the fall 2012 elections. By that time, the measures won't go into effect until the fiscal year 2014.
"We see the path to agreement as challenging because the gap between the parties remains wide," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Nikola G. Swann.
Mary Miller, assistant secretary for financial markets, said S&P "underestimates the ability of America's leaders to come together to address the difficult fiscal challenges facing the nation."
President Barack Obama and Congress are working on ways to reduce budget deficits over the long term, she said. |
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Utah Supreme Court re-hears polygamy trust cases
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/04/13 19:10
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The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday wrestled with the issue of who has the final say over state law as part of a long-running battle for control of a communal land trust tied to Warren Jeffs' polygamous church. The question comes on the heels of a February federal court ruling, which found that the state of Utah violated the religious rights of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when it took over the church's land trust in 2005. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Dee Benson could undo some six years of decisions by a state judge. Attorneys for the FLDS believe the ruling should stand, while other parties dispute the right of a federal judge to meddle with a state judge's decision and to essentially override state law. "Somebody's got to sort this out," said Utah Justice Thomas R. Lee, noting that Benson's decision leaves the high court wondering which iteration of the trust is in place and which trust managers are in control. Valued at more than $114 million, the United Effort Plan Trust holds most of the land and homes of church members in Hildale, Utah, Colorado City, Ariz., and Bountiful, British Columbia. The Utah courts seized control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement by Jeffs and other church leaders. |
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Judge renews visits for former Aryan Nation lawyer
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/04/13 17:11
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A federal judge has amended an order granting visitation rights between a former Aryan Nations lawyer and the wife he's accused of trying to have killed. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill approved the highly monitored visits between 65-year-old Edgar Steele and his wife, Cyndi Steele, while he is being held in the Ada County jail pending trial. Edgar Steele has pleaded not guilty to hiring Larry Fairfax to kill his wife and claims he's a victim of a government conspiracy. Edgar Steele was allowed visits from his wife while being held in a Spokane, Wash. jail. His trial was moved to Boise last month, and Winmill's order permits one visit per week with his wife. They are barred from discussing the case. |
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Conn. doctor accused of hedge fund insider trading
Court Feed News |
2011/04/13 16:10
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A Harvard-trained physician who became a health care investment analyst has been charged in New York with evading $30 million in losses for a hedge fund by obtaining inside information from a fellow doctor. Charges against Joseph Skowron III were announced Wednesday in a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The Greenwich, Conn., resident is accused of gaining an advantage in his work as a hedge fund analyst through his meetings and conversations with a French doctor who knew inside information about clinical drug trials. Defense attorney James Benjamin said he had no immediate comment on the charges against his client.
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