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IMF head Lagarde in court in fraud probe
Topics in Legal News |
2013/05/21 11:00
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International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde is facing questions at a special Paris court Thursday over her role in the 400 million euro ($520 million) pay-off to a controversial businessman when she was France's finance minister.
The court hearing threatens to sully the reputations of both Lagarde and France. The payment was made to well-connected entrepreneur Bernard Tapie as part of a private arbitration process to settle a dispute with state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over the botched sale of Adidas in the 1990s. It is seen by many in France as an example of the cozy relationship between big money and big power in France.
Lagarde has earned praise for her negotiating skills as managing director of the IMF through Europe's debt crisis and is seen as a trailblazer for women leaders. Her decision to let the Adidas dispute go to private arbitration rather than be settled in the courts has drawn criticism, and French lawmakers asked magistrates to investigate.
Lagarde, smiling at reporters, left her Paris apartment Thursday morning and appeared at a special court that handles cases involving government ministers. She has denied wrongdoing.
At the time of the payment, Tapie was close to then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was Lagarde's boss. Critics have said the deal was too generous to Tapie at the expense of the French state, and that the case shouldn't have gone to a private arbitration authority because it involved a state-owned bank. |
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Texas EMT to plead not guilty to explosives charge
Court News |
2013/05/13 23:46
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A lawyer for a Texas paramedic arrested on charges of possessing bomb-making material says his client will plead not guilty and had no connection to the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month.
Waco attorney Jonathan Sibley said in a prepared statement Saturday that his client, Bryce Reed anxiously awaits his next court appearance Wednesday, which will include a detention hearing.
Authorities arrested Reed on Friday, but stressed that he has not been linked to the April 17 explosion in West.
The statement said Reed remained "heartbroken" about the explosion, in which he lost friends, and wants to continue to help his community rebuild.
OC grade school janitor guilty of bathroom filming
Criminal Law - POSTED: 2013/05/10 09:34
A janitor has been found guilty of hiding a video camera in the girls' bathroom of an Orange County elementary school.
A jury found 25-year-old Angel Rojas guilty Thursday of misdemeanor counts of secret filming and child annoyance.
He could get 18 months in jail and a $6,000 fine at his Tuesday sentencing, and will have to register as a sex offender for life.
In July 2012, Rojas was working as a summer janitor at a Santa Ana grade school.
Prosecutors say he closed several campus restrooms to direct women and girls to one where he had hidden an iPod Nano with a video recorder.
A woman working in the summer school program found |
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OJ bid for new trial starting in Las Vegas court
Headline Legal News |
2013/05/13 23:46
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O.J. Simpson is back in a Las Vegas courtroom to ask for a new trial in the case that sent him to prison in 2008.
The former football hero and a new set of lawyers hope to convince a judge during a hearing that began Monday that trial lawyer Yale Galanter had conflicted interests and shouldn't have handled Simpson's armed case.
Simpson appeared in court wearing a blue jail uniform. His hair was short and grayer than it was during a previous court appearance in 2008.
He entered the courtroom in handcuffs, flanked by guards and nodded toward people he recognized in the second row.
Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison. He's due to testify Wednesday.
Galanter is scheduled to testify Friday. He is declining comment before then.
Simpson says that Galanter knew ahead of time about his plan to retrieve what he thought were personal mementoes from two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel room in September 2007. |
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Top prosecutor in Del Norte County suspended
Court News |
2013/04/12 15:38
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The top prosecutor in Northern California's remote Del Norte County has been suspended without pay after a judge recommended he be disbarred.
The Del Norte Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in a closed session Friday to suspend District Attorney Jon Alexander.
The suspension comes after State Bar Judge Lucy Armendariz recommended that Alexander be disbarred after concluding Alexander had violated three rules of prosecutorial conduct - communication with a represented party, moral turpitude and suppression of evidence.
The judge ordered Alexander placed on inactive status, meaning he will not be able to practice law in California as of Sunday, pending a possible appeal. |
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NY top court OKs tax on online sellers like Amazon
Headline Legal News |
2013/04/02 12:31
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New York's highest court ruled Thursday the state can collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers, rejecting claims by Amazon.com and Overstock.com that the tax law violates the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause.
The Court of Appeals said in a 4-1 ruling that the 2008 amendment meets the U.S. Supreme Court test that the sellers have "a substantial nexus" with the taxing state. Taxes apply when the online retailers generate at least $10,000 in annual sales to New Yorkers from in-state websites that earn commissions by bringing in potential customers through links to the big retailers.
Amazon.com, with corporate offices in Washington state, has an "Associates Program" where others put such links on their websites. Overstock.com, based in Utah, suspended its similar "Affiliates" program in New York after the state statute was enacted.
New York's sales tax is 4 percent and all its counties and New York City add an additional tax ranging from 3 percent to near 5 percent. Both apply to applicable Internet sales, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. |
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