December 2011 Archives

The war of words that's been stirring between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff could end in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

This week, the Second Circuit granted a temporary stay in the case between Citigroup and the SEC until January 17. Under Judge Rakoff's previous order, defendant Citigroup was supposed to respond to the SEC's complaint next week, reports Bloomberg.

The Iowa Caucus is less than two weeks away, which means the 2012 election cycle is officially upon us.

This year's presidential election will be the first employing the relaxed campaign expenditure restrictions from the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which has prompted a number of challenges to state and local campaign laws. This week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a contested New York City campaign finance law, rejecting arguments that the law imposed an unconstitutional burden to contributors' First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff gets peeved whenever the Securities and Exchange Commission settles a case with a mega-bank for minor bucks.

In 2009, Judge Rakoff blocked an initial SEC settlement with Bank of America over misleading disclosures because “the settlement did not resolve who was responsible for the violation,” reports The New York Times. In November, Rakoff similarly blocked an SEC settlement with Citigroup over a mortgage-bond deal because the SEC didn’t provide the court with facts “upon which to exercise even a modest degree of independent judgment.”

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals had bad news for Dooney & Bourke founder Frederic Bourke, Jr. on Wednesday: Two years after his Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) conspiracy conviction, it looks like Bourke is finally heading to jail.

Bourke was convicted in 2009 of conspiracy to violate the FCPA for his involvement in a scheme to illegally purchase Azerbaijan's state-owned oil company, SOCAR, by bribing the Azerbaijani president and other officials, reports The Washington Post. The FCPA prohibits bribing foreign government officials in order to obtain or keep business.

As another year comes to an end, we tend to indulge in introspective moments. We analyze our successes and failures, make resolutions anew, and inevitably end up humming David Bowie’s Changes. (As you may recall, some of us around here love David Bowie.)

And handily enough, ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are coming to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals starting January 3, 2012. The Second Circuit will begin using Pay.gov to accept electronic payment from attorneys for various fees that are charged and collected by the court.

First, let’s discuss how that applies to keeping you in front of the court.

If you a purchase a $200 sweater for $100, you have incurred a $100 charge on your credit card bill; it doesn’t matter what the sweater originally cost.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals says that same reasoning applies to a catastrophic care insurance policy: “Incurred” refers to the amount spent, not the value received.

The Supreme Court has declined to review a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision on church services in public schools. On Monday, the Court denied cert in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York.

The lack of action means that more than 60 religious groups that hold church services in New York public schools will be without worship facilities by February 12, 2012, reports The New York Times.

Galleon Group hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam may have to wait in jail for his insider trading appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The fallen financier is due to begin serving an 11-year sentence for securities fraud on Monday - the longest sentence ever ordered for insider trading violations.

The three-judge Second Circuit panel has not yet ruled in the case, but the judges seem concerned that former-billionaire Rajaratnam would pose a flight risk; Judge Dennis Jacobs expressed concern that Rajaratnam would rather be living a lavish lifestyle in his native Sri Lanka than serving time in the U.S.