Indiana probing JPMorgan’s church trust practices, sources say
Indiana securities regulators are investigating JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s handling of investments that benefited churches in the state, Bloomberg news reported, citing sources.
Investment/Estate Planning
Articles
Insider traders look to US Supreme Court for redemption
Some of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara’s biggest catches in a seven-year insider-trading sweep are clinging to one more hope of clearing their names.
Study commission repeal endangering probate code needs
Since the Probate Code Study Commission was eliminated as part of a 2014 law that reduced the number of interim study committees, certain legislators and attorneys have mounted an effort to get the commission reinstated.
Do-it-yourself dangers
Where there’s a will, there’s a way to do it yourself with Internet services such as LegalZoom, Nolo and Rocket Lawyer. But attorneys say relying on online form providers for long-term financial and estate planning may not be the wisest investment.
Investment broker’s plea deal erases 20 felony counts
An Indianapolis man accused of multiple felony securities fraud counts has reached a plea agreement with the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.
Justices again suspend Anderson attorney facing multiple theft counts
An Anderson lawyer suspended from the practice of law and accused of stealing from trust and estate clients sums that could total $500,000 has drawn another suspension order for failing to cooperate with three disciplinary investigations.
Fraud claims against insurers wrongly dismissed
Plaintiffs who purchased cash-value life insurance policies for their employees and deducted those contributions on income taxes that were later disallowed were wrongly denied their day in court against the insurers.
Veros investors out millions could recoup more than usual
The receiver appointed to recover investor losses from an alleged Ponzi scheme said he’s retrieved in five months about 20 percent of what investors were owed, a figure experts say is relatively high at this stage for such cases.
Ernst & Young faulted for relying on Madoff’s word, audits
Ernst & Young LLP erred by taking Bernie Madoff at his word when it signed off on audits of a fund that helped feed the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. The firm then stumbled by trusting the con man’s now-disgraced ex- accountant, a jury in the first trial of its kind was told.
Anderson estate attorney’s alleged thefts may top $500,000
Sarah Wilding wanted her church in Anderson to receive the bulk of her estate when she died in April 2012. The church is still waiting, and so are other beneficiaries who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to a lawyer accused of plundering their estates.
Case latest example of difficulty in prosecuting insider trading
The U.S. dropped insider-trading charges against Michael Steinberg, a former fund manager at SAC Capital Advisors LP who was convicted by a federal jury, in the latest fallout from a major appeals court ruling that made such prosecutions more difficult.
Trust and the troubled child
Estate planning attorneys occasionally draw the strong-willed client who wants to leave money to an heir – but only if the kid sobers up, quits getting in trouble with the law, gets a job, stops living beyond his means, or changes behavior in some other way.
Retzner: The family vacation home: harmony or chaos?
In most instances, vacation homes achieve the goal of family harmony. After the parents pass away, however, that family harmony can quickly turn to chaos.
Ernst & Young confronts Madoff’s specter in trial over audits
Ernst & Young LLP took Bernie Madoff at his word when it signed off on audits of a fund that helped feed the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. The firm must now defend that decision at the first trial of an auditor over losses tied to Madoff, who’s serving a 150- year prison term for stealing billions of dollars from thousands of investors.
Reversal: Court wrongly required $1.1M bond in estate spat
A trial court wrongly ordered an heir to an estate to post a bond of more than $1.1 million for a claim he submitted as he sought to block the sale of the family farm.
Legislative and judicial history settles feud over estate
Sisters arguing over the family estate failed to provide the court with “clear and convincing evidence” that their father’s intentions were different from his actions.
Justices suspend lawyer who defrauded seniors of $19M
An Indianapolis lawyer who pleaded guilty more than six months ago to four felony counts of securities fraud from a Hamilton County real estate Ponzi scheme was suspended from the practice of law Thursday.
Kissel: Keeping the business in the family
Passing the family business to the next generation is likely to be one of the biggest projects of the owner’s lifetime. Family business succession is the process of transitioning the governance and ownership of a closely held business to the next generation.
New laws shelter attorneys-in-fact from liability in settling estates
How long heirs have to initiate an action arising from an attorney-in-fact’s final accounting of an estate has been an open question in Indiana, but a recent change in state law settles it. Mostly.
Judge, attorney credited for robust recovery for victims of securities fraud
The more than 90 investors who lost $9.7 million in a securities fraud perpetrated by Fishers hedge fund manager Keenan Hauke will recover about 33 percent of their losses – a far better outcome than is typical in cases of its kind.