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Ruth Madoff Could be a Conspirator in Ponzi Scheme
Court Watch |
2009/02/12 11:32
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Ruth Madoff, the wife of disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff could face conspiracy charges if it is proven that she knew about her husband’s massive Wall Street money scam and purposely tried to hide assets before he was arrested.
“I fully expect her to be named [in civil lawsuits] shortly,” said Adam Rabin, a Florida attorney who represents individuals victimized by Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
New court documents released Wednesday revealed Ruth Madoff, 67, withdrew $10 million from one of her husband’s company bank accounts on Dec. 10, 2008, the day before he was arrested on federal fraud charges. Two weeks earlier, on Nov. 25, 2008, she withdrew $5.5 million from the same account.
“It certainly raises questions,” said the Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who discovered the wire transactions as part of an investigation into the Boston-based company Cohmad Securities which Bernard Madoff co-owns. Secretary Galvin has determined that Cohmad was an extension of Madoff’s New York investment firm funneling in as much as $67 million a month from investors.
“In order to be guilty of a conspiracy [either criminal or civil] you don’t have to know all the details of a scheme,” said attorney Ryon McCabe, Rabin’s partner and former federal prosecutor. McCabe argues that if prosecutors want to hold Ruth Madoff legally responsible “all the government would have to do is prove that she knew [about the scam] and on at least one occasion took part” by withdrawing money just before the scheme was exposed.
As of right now, Ruth Madoff is not named in the federal case against her husband. However, Rabin believes that could change. The new revelations “could be used to put pressure on her to assist with the investigation.”
This is not the first move by Ruth Madoff that has raised eyebrows. A CBS News investigation that aired on Jan. 30 discovered Bernard Madoff's wife also took steps before her husband’s arrest to protect their $9.5 million Palm Beach, Florida home from being taken away in a bankruptcy proceeding. A unique Florida “homestead” law allows some homes to be shielded from creditors. Property records, obtained exclusively by CBS News show Ruth tried to get "homestead" status in 2006 at the same time federal authorities were probing Bernard Madoff. Her initial application in 2006 was rejected. She then reapplied on September 18, 2008, less than two months before federal authorities detained her husband.
“She may have been trying to get the homestead status to protect her home from civil creditors,” said Ryon.
Attorney Ira Lee Sorkin who represents both Bernard and Ruth Madoff declined to comment. |
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Pro Life Lawsuit - "Infanticide" Claims
Headline Legal News |
2009/02/11 10:11
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A Chicago-based pro-life law center has launched a law suit against staff of a clinic involved in a botched late-term abortion in hopes it will result in charges of "infanticide" and "change public opinion" about this controversial procedure.
The Thomas More Society said the law suit was filed last month on behalf of a young woman, Sycloria Williams, whose baby was allegedly killed by staff members of Hialeah clinic, Worthy News learned Tuesday, February 11.
The Florida Board of Medicine already revoked the license of Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique on charges of medical malpractice, delegation of responsibility to unlicensed personnel and failing to keep an accurate medical record.
Renelique arrived too late at a Hialeah clinic to perform an abortion on eighteen year-old Williams back on July 20, 2006, who instead managed to deliver her live baby.
The civil lawsuit claims that that while the baby, Shanice Osbourne, was still trying to breathe, Belkis Gonzalez – a staff member who had no medical license – came into the room and cut the umbilical cord. Gonzalez then allegedly "scooped up the baby” and the afterbirth, placed everything in a red biohazard bag, sealed it and tossed the bag into the trash.
A series of anonymous calls led police to discover the baby's body in a cardboard box in a clinic closet one week later, according to investigators. An autopsy apparently revealed that Williams' baby had air in her lungs and was trying to breath; the cause of death was said to be extreme prematurity.
"Its infanticide," said Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, which investigated the case. "We're trying to make sure we don't tolerate infanticide here," Brejcha told the Baptist Press news agency. "The baby was gasping for air. They used a pair of shears and didn't tie (the cord) up so the baby was going to bleed to death. They treated the baby like a piece of garbage."
The suit against Renelique, Gonzalez and other clinic staff claims wrongful death, medical negligence and personal injury; it was filed by a local counsel hired by the Thomas More Society.
Brejcha said the suit is intended to "pressure prosecutors to file murder charges," but to date, no criminal charges have been filed in the case. However, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is reportedly investigating the matter.
"Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, we can all agree that this is tragic and morally reprehensible," Florida State House Majority Leader Adam Hasner said in a statement, monitored by Worthy News Tuesday, February 11. "Administrative action against the physician by the Department of Health is not enough, anything less than murder charges being filed is unacceptable."
State Representative Rachel Burgin added that Florida's safe-haven law would have allowed the baby to be dropped off anonymously at any hospital and eventually adopted if she survived.
Williams was originally scheduled to receive a dilation and evacuation, which involves dismembering the baby while still in the womb, Worthy News learned.
"The degree of barbaric medical malpractice in this case is absolutely astonishing," explained Brejcha. "And that's something that pro-life people should not be hesitant to let the world know about, because the abortion industry is keeping that quiet and talking about safe, legal abortion. It's never safe for the baby." |
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Facebook & ConnectU Settlement Figure Revealed
Legal Business |
2009/02/10 10:34
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When the founders of ConnectU agreed last year to settle their 2004 lawsuit charging Facebook with stealing its idea for a social networking site, one of the key provisions was that the amount Facebook paid would be a secret.
And it remained secret--until ConnectU's former firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, published the settlement figure ($65 million) in a brochure touting its litigation wins from 2008, according to this fantastic story in the Recorder, an Am Law Daily sibling publication.
Firm chair John Quinn told the Recorder that the figure's inclusion was an oversight and asked the paper not to publish the story. It's even more than an oversight, considering ConnectU fired Quinn over the firm's $13 million fee request in the Facebook case. The firm and its former client currently are in arbitration in New York over the matter, according to the Recorder. |
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Securitized Life Insurance Fraud Scheme - $400M Demand
Topics in Legal News |
2009/02/09 12:00
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The Coventry Group sold securitized life insurance polices for hundreds of millions of dollars "through a pattern of bribes, bid-rigging, fraud, and falsification of documents" in 45 states, Ritchie Risk-Linked Strategies Trading says in a $400 million demand in Federal Court.
Coventry has been sued for this by the attorney general of New York and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, according to the complaint.
Ritchie claims Coventry, a buyer and seller of securitized life insurance policies in the secondary market, fabricated documents, falsified documents, paid kickbacks, and violated securities laws across the country.
"In approximately October 2006, plaintiffs learned that many if not all the life insurance policies they had purchased from LST likely had been purchased by defendants in violation of federal, state, and local law and regulations," according to the complaint. "Plaintiffs learned at the same time that there had been proceedings by government agencies threatened against or affecting defendants that could adversely affect plaintiffs' possession of clean and unencumbered title to the policies, contrary to the representations and warranties contained in the MPPAs."
Defendant LST I is a wholly owned subsidiary of defendant Montgomery Capital, and an alter ego of the Coventry Group, according to the complaint. Ritchie claims Coventry and Montgomery are "under common control with the other defendants."
According to the complaint, "Coventry First is a buyer in the secondary market for life insurance policies. It entered the market as a buyer in 2001, and by 2005 it or its affiliates had purchased 1,138 life insurance policies representing more than $3 billion in death benefits."
Ritchie is represented by Jeffrey Liddle with Liddle & Robertson.
Attached to the 22-page complaint are 58 pages of attachments, including then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's colorful 33-page complaint against Coventry and Montgomery in New York County Court, filed in October 2006; and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's 18-page "Notice and Order to Show Cause" of May 2007. |
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Two Sago Mine Disasters Settle
Court Watch |
2009/02/03 09:31
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Two families of dead mine workers form Sago Mine disaster settle death claims.
Charlotte, NC (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–Documents filed in the Kanawha Circuit Court in West Virginia claim lawyers, for the estates of two mine workers killed in the Sago Mine explosion, have settled their wrongful death claims. The West Virginia Gazette reported this week a total of six Sago MIne families may have resolved lawsuits involving the fatal mine explosion on January 2, 2006.
The deadly explosion happened at the Sago Mine owned by Wolf Run Mining a subsidiary of International Coal Group. The wrongful death lawsuits were filed by family members when a sealed underground tunnel exploded in the Sago Mine south of Buckhannon. A fire boss, Terry Helms, died after the blast from carbon monoxide poisoning and 12 remaining miners took shelter awaiting rescue. Only one man survived the more than 40 hours it took for rescue workers to reach the trapped miners.
Families of the deceased miners, who died from inhaling toxic fumes and smoke resulting in carbon monoxide poisoning, settled with two of the mine companies suppliers. Burrell Mining Products manufactured concrete foam blocks used to seal abandoned areas of the mine, like the sealed tunnel that exploded, and Raleigh Mine and Industrial Supply distributed the concrete foam blocks. |
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