|
|
|
Sallie Mae $25 billion buyout ends up in court
Court Feed News |
2007/10/10 12:10
|
The planned $25 billion buyout of U.S. student lender Sallie Mae has ended up where many said it would -- in court. Sallie Mae said late on Monday that it filed a lawsuit seeking a breakup fee of $900 million from the consortium led by J.C. Flowers & Co, which last week proposed to cut its bid price for the lender citing a recent credit market squeeze and legislation that slashes subsidies to student lenders. Sallie Mae's lawsuit seeks a declaration that the buyer group has reneged on the merger agreement, that no "material adverse change" has occurred, and that Sallie Mae may terminate the takeover and collect the $900 million. A material adverse change (MAC) is a condition that could cause a substantial reduction in earnings power and it can give buyers or lenders a "walk right" from their obligations. The lawsuit is being seen by many as a hard-ball attempt by Sallie Mae to force the buyer group to stick to the original deal, in which the group offered $60 a share, or come up with something closer to it than its revised proposal of $50 a share, or $20.6 billion offer, plus extra payments depending on how the company performed. "We are prepared to close under the contract the parties signed in April," said Sallie Mae chairman Albert Lord in a statement late on Monday. "Sallie Mae has honored its obligations under the merger agreement. We ask only that the buyer group do the same."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Giuliani law firm sued by high profile Texan
Court Feed News |
2007/10/09 09:18
|
A prominent Texas Republican has sued Rudy Giuliani’s law firm and a close friend and partner of Giuliani’s, Kenneth Caruso, alleging that Caruso, the firm and others "schemed and conspired to steal $10 million." J. Virgil Waggoner, a Houston businessman and philanthropist, filed the in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in July. He alleges that Caruso, his former lawyer, conspired with Waggoner’s investment adviser to cover up the disappearance of $10 million Waggoner invested through a Caribbean bank, the British Trade & Commerce Bank. Waggoner claims Caruso "may have also been romantically involved"with the investment adviser. The Caribbean bank was shut down after its handling of Waggoner’s investment came to light, and its president was later jailed for money laundering. Caruso, Bracewell & Giuliani, and Caruso’s two former firms — all named as defendants — have filed motions to dismiss the complaint on largely procedural grounds, and Caruso’s personal defense lawyer, Fred Warder, called it "meritless." "It’s a pretty familiar tale of a deal gone bad and the principal trying to scapegoat his lawyers,"Warder said. "We expect it will go away on motions." The Waggoner lawsuit is the latest messy allegation to hit Giuliani’s private businesses, which include the law firm and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, located five blocks from each other in Midtown Manhattan. His former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, left the consulting firm after his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security collapsed amid questions about his personal ethics. Kerik was convicted and fined in 2006 for illegally accepting gifts and failing to report a personal loan while running the police department. Giuliani and his firm have also faced protests for employing a Giuliani childhood friend and Catholic priest, Alan Placa, who was barred from priestly duties after being accused of molesting boys more than two decades ago. Placa has insisted the charges are false, and Giuliani has stoutly defended him. Caruso, who joined Bracewell & Giuliani in 2005, was, like many of the former New York mayor’s tight inner circle, an assistant U.S. attorney when Giuliani was U.S. attorney for the Southern District in the Reagan administration. Later, he worked on Giuliani’s mayoral campaigns. In Giuliani’s book, "Leadership," he describes Caruso as "a close friend"whose advice he sought when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000. |
|
|
|
|
|
Watada's second court-martial on hold
Court Feed News |
2007/10/06 00:07
|
The Tuesday court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada at Fort Lewis has been put on hold by a U.S. District Court judge, who issued his ruling late today. This would have been the second trial for Watada, who faces up to six years in military prison for his refusal to deploy to Iraq, and separate charges of conduct unbecoming an officer. Watada's first court-martial, which gained international attention, ended in a mistrial earlier this year. U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle wants time to consider whether a second trial would violate Watada's constitutional rights that protect him from "double jeopardy" that is a guarantee against being twice put to trial for the same offense. "This Court has not been presented any evidence showing that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim lacks merit," Settle wrote. "On the contrary, the record indicates that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim is meritous." For Settle, another key issue is whether a civilian court has the right to step in and block a military trial. Settle said that, as a general rule, civilian courts should not step in to rule on military trials. But in this case, all of the appeals to military courts had been exhausted, so a civilian judge could become involved. |
|
|
|
|
|
E*TRADE hit with class action
Court Feed News |
2007/10/05 10:02
|
Coughlin Stoia LLP yesterday filed a class-action suit against E*TRADE Financial Corp., accusing the company of violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The firm is filing suit on behalf of E*TRADE’s investors who purchased common stock in the firm between Dec. 14, 2006 and Sept. 25, 2007. E*TRADE’s CEO Mitchell H. Caplan and Robert J. Simmons, CFO and principal accounting officer, were also named as individual defendants in the suit. In its complaint, San Diego-based Coughlin Stoia alleged that E*TRADE failed to disclose that it was experiencing high delinquency rates in its mortgage and home equity portfolios. Instead, the suit alleges that E*TRADE had an overvalued securities portfolio with mortgage-backed assets. They also allege that the firm kept investors in the dark about the falling mortgage market, which made the value of E*TRADE’s shares plummet. Furthermore, throughout August, while the credit markets crashed and E*TRADE’s stock price dropped, the company continued insisting that was financially sound and that concerns on its market capitalization were unfounded, the suit said. The financial services company, which originated mortgages and subprime loans, pulled from its wholesale mortgage business on Sept. 17. Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP was founded by William S. Lerach, the famed class-action lawyer. A spokeswoman from E*TRADE said that the company does not comment on pending litigation. |
|
|
|
|
|
Brothers plead guilty to mortgage fraud
Court Feed News |
2007/10/04 15:04
|
Two brothers whose convictions for running a mortgage scheme in suburban Rochester were recently overturned pleaded guilty Wednesday to mortgage fraud to avoid a new trial. Robert Amico, 45, and his 36-year-old brother, Richard Amico, were convicted in 2003 of defrauding mortgage lenders out of $58.5 million for homes built in Monroe, Ontario and Wayne counties from 1994 to 2000. Prosecutors called it the largest case of mortgage fraud ever prosecuted in western New York.
A federal appeals court in May overturned the Amicos' convictions, ruling that the judge who presided over their trial should have recused himself when a prosecution witness claimed he had once helped the judge fraudulently obtain a mortgage.
In exchange for their guilty pleas, the Amicos will avoid a new trial and receive lighter sentences than the ones they received after they were convicted.
Robert Amico, who originally was ordered to prison for 17 1/2 years, will be sentenced to at least 10 years under the plea agreement. He has served more than four years already.
Richard Amico, who received an original prison term of nine years, will get a maximum of five years. He has already served more than three years.
The brothers will receive credit for the time they've already served and remain free until they are sentenced in January. |
|
|
|
|
|
Friedman appeals to reverse sex abuse guilty plea
Court Feed News |
2007/10/04 13:03
|
Jesse Friedman's last chance to clear his name of child molestation charges now rests in the hands of a federal judge who heard evidence on his case at a hearing yesterday. Friedman, 38, is trying to reverse his 1988 guilty plea to sexually abusing children as a teenager with his father in Great Neck, a case that was notorious at the time and gained national attention again in 2003 with the Oscar-nominated documentary, "Capturing the Friedmans."
In court papers, Friedman's attorneys argue that Nassau prosecutors withheld evidence revealed later in the movie - a child who accused Friedman made statements to police after hypnosis.
Magistrate Judge Joanna Seybert heard evidence yesterday on a technical issue - whether Friedman filed his federal appeal in time to beat the statute of limitations. She did not say when she would rule.
Nassau County prosecutors and police have stood by Friedman's arrest and conviction. Joseph Onorato, a prosecutor on the 1988 case, refused to shake Friedman's extended hand yesterday outside the courtroom.
State courts have twice rejected Friedman's appeals in the past three years. If Seybert rejects his case, the plea stands.
With his wife, Elisabeth, 28, standing at his side, Friedman said he was "very optimistic."
"I'm not a child molester and I'm not ever going to rest until I prove to the courts and to the world that I'm not a child molester," said Friedman, who in 2001 was released from prison on parole.
In 1987, Friedman, then 18, and his father, Arnold, then 56, were charged with sodomizing 17 children who attended computer classes at their home. They both pleaded guilty, and the father was sentenced to 10 to 30 years; the son 6 to 18 years. Arnold Friedman committed suicide in 1995. The Friedmans proclaimed their innocence from prison but never appealed their guilty pleas.
At issue in yesterday's hearing was when Jesse Friedman learned of the victims' hypnosis and whether his federal case was filed in the next year, as the law requires.
Assistant District Attorney Judith Sternberg argued that Friedman learned of the hypnosis on Jan. 10, 2003, the night he first saw "Capturing the Friedmans." Because his state appeal was filed 362 days later on Jan. 7, 2004, and rejected on March 10, 2006, Sternberg said Friedman had to file his federal appeal within three days of the rejection. The federal case was filed June 23, 2006.
Friedman's attorney, Ron Kuby of Manhattan, contended that the statute of limitations did not begin until July 2003, when Friedman received access to transcripts of the documentary's interviews with anonymous accusers and confirmed their identity.
If Seybert rules in Friedman's favor, she will then hear evidence on whether the hypnotizing of the victim was proper and should have been revealed to Friedman's attorneys. |
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|