Articles

Prosecutors: Deeply-in-debt Michael Avenatti sought payday

Prosecutors say high-profile California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort  up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain. Both sides made the assertions in court papers filed late Tuesday in advance of a Jan. 22 criminal trial in Manhattan.

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UPDATE: Former Celadon COO, CFO indicted on multiple fraud charges

The former chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Indianapolis-based trucking firm Celadon Group Inc. have been indicted for their alleged roles in what the U.S. Department of Justice describes as a “complex securities and accounting fraud scheme that resulted in a loss of more than $60 million in shareholder value.”

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Fraudster Durham wins hearing on whether lawyer’s $1M fee created conflict

Fair Finance fraud felon Tim Durham will get a chance to grill his former trial attorney over whether his $1 million wire fraud defense representation fee created a conflict of interest between money the lawyer could pocket versus paying for witnesses Durham claims could have testified in his favor. A federal judge recently granted a new hearing on that and other grounds as Durham seeks to chisel away at his 50-year prison sentence.

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Divided COA tosses suit against lawyers over tax sale proceeds as untimely

A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against two lawyers filed by their opposing party in long-running litigation, the current case over proceeds from a tax sale that the lawyers distributed to their clients. The majority ruled that the lawsuit — filed one day outside the two-year statute of limitations — should be dismissed.

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Nurse pleads guilty in Medicaid fraud case

An Indiana nurse was sentenced to three years, with most of the time suspended, for multiple counts of forgery and ordered to pay nearly $8,000 in restitution to the Indiana Medicaid Program as part of plea agreement reached in Marion Superior Court.

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