Three men charged with alleged $364 million Ponzi scheme in Maryland

Federal authorities in Maryland have charged three men with running a $364 million Ponzi scheme for more than five years.

Kevin Merrill, Jay Ledford, and Cameron Jezierski were arrested Tuesday and charged with using 30 companies and more than 55 bank accounts to bilk hundreds of investors.

"The defendants lured investors through an elaborate web of lies, duping them into paying millions of dollars into this Ponzi scheme," said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur of the District of Maryland in announcing the 14-count indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday. read more »

Securities Fraud Was Lurking in the Orca Pool

SeaWorld lied about "Blackfish." When it confessed, the stock dropped.

Blackfish criticized SeaWorld’s treatment of its orcas (killer whales) and received significant media attention as the film became more widely distributed in the latter half of 2013. The SEC’s complaint alleges that from approximately December 2013 through August 2014, SeaWorld and former CEO James Atchison made untrue and misleading statements or omissions in SEC filings, earnings releases and calls, and other statements to the press regarding Blackfish’s impact on the company’s reputation and business. read more »

JPMorgan Faces $6 Million Bribe Allegation From Libyan Oil Fund

The Libyan Investment Authority sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London, saying the lender paid more than $6 million in bribes to secure a $200 million bond deal. read more »

British inquiry widens Danske Bank money laundering scandal

Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal spread to Britain on Friday as the National Crime Agency said it is investigating the use of UK-registered companies.

Concern about the extent of possible money laundering involving Danske Bank’s Estonian branch is mounting and European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager joined a growing chorus of calls for a clampdown on the billions of euros alleged to have been “washed” through European banks.

“This is a giga scandal,” Vestager said, as Danske Bank’s already battered shares fell by more than 2 percent on the latest developments in the case. read more »

U.K. Corruption Trial to Hear from Big Oil

U.K. prosecutors will call a senior procurement officer from ConocoPhillips as a key witness in the London trial of four individuals charged with bribery to secure business related to the Jasmine gas field in the North Sea.

The energy industry is fertile ground for corruption because much oil and gas exploration occurs in developing countries, with significant involvement of government officials, and because of the industry's reliance on third-party providers. Three of the 10 largest settlements under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act were made with oil-related companies, and one of the largest corruption probes ever involves Brazil's state oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. read more »

No Legal Fees for Prolific Tax Whistleblower: Illinois High Court

The Illinois Supreme Court smashed the profit motive behind a pattern of tax false claims lawsuits by a prolific Chicago plaintiff attorney, ruling the “king of qui tam” can’t serve as both the whistleblower and counsel for the whistleblower in such actions.

In a 6-0 opinion, the high court upheld a June 2017 ruling from the Illinois Appellate Court that denied attorney’s fees to Stephen B. Diamond in an action under the Illinois False Claims Act. In so ruling, the court stripped Diamond of more than $600,000 in attorney’s fees awarded in a 2014 case he won against the retailer My Pillow Inc. read more »

35 Years in Prison for Running Pill Mill That Provided Unlawful Prescriptions for Millions of Doses of Opioids and Other Controlled Substances

A Houston physician and the owner of a pain management clinic were each sentenced to 420 months in prison today for their roles in running a pill mill that provided tens of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for millions of doses of opioids and other controlled substances. read more »