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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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Man pleads not guilty in Oakland bank bomb case
Topics in Legal News |
2013/03/14 15:45
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A 28-year-old former Marine has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to blow up an Oakland bank with a car bomb.
The Oakland Tribune reports Matthew Aaron Llaneza of San Jose entered the plea Friday in federal court. If convicted, he could face life in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
LLaneza's attorney says his client was found to suffer from significant mental illness but was competent to stand trial.
Authorites say Llaneza tried to blow up a Bank of America branch last month and ignite a civil war by blaming the bombing on anti-government militias.
LLaneza has been held in jail since he was caught in an FBI sting operation involving an agent posing as a member of the Taliban. |
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Top lawmakers consider new court to monitor drones
Topics in Legal News |
2013/02/08 13:21
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Senator Dianne Feinstein says it's time to lift the secrecy off the CIA drone program that targets al-Qaida operatives so that U.S. officials can acknowledge the strikes and correct what she says are exaggerated reports of civilian casualties.
The California Democrat and Senate Intelligence Committee chairman says she and other lawmakers may explore setting up a special court system to regulate strikes, similar to the special courts that signs off on government surveillance in espionage and terror cases.
Feinstein spoke after the confirmation hearing for CIA nominee John Brennan, who defended the drone program, saying policymakers only used lethal strikes as a last resort.
She says the CIA allows her staff to monitor the top secret Predator program, but she believes it's now too public to keep under wraps. |
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Lawyer for NY man suing Facebook wants out of case
Topics in Legal News |
2012/11/06 10:41
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The latest lawyer to represent a New York man in what authorities now say is a fraudulent lawsuit against Facebook is seeking to withdraw from the case.
Dean Boland, in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, did not publicly say why he wants off Paul Ceglia's case, instead providing the reason in a private document to the judge.
The Lakewood, Ohio, lawyer did say, however, it has nothing to do with any belief that Ceglia engaged in fraud.
Given media coverage of the case, Boland wrote, "it is important to emphasize in the strongest terms possible, that the reasons underlying this request, provided to the court for its review, have nothing to do with any belief by the undersigned that plaintiff is engaged in now or has been engaged in during the past, fraud regarding this case."
Boland is among more than a half dozen lawyers and law firms to have signed on and then withdrawn from Ceglia's 2010 lawsuit. Ceglia claims in the suit that he's entitled to half-ownership of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook based on a 2003 contract with founder Mark Zuckerberg when he was still at Harvard. |
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High court uphold WV congressional districts
Topics in Legal News |
2012/09/29 15:31
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld West Virginia's congressional redistricting plan against a challenge that small population variations among its three congressional districts violate the Constitution.
The justices, in an unsigned opinion, reversed a lower federal court ruling that struck down the plan because of the population differences.
The high court said the West Virginia plan easily passes muster and said the population variations are too small to trigger constitutional concerns about the principle of one person, one vote. In addition, the court said the plan adopted by the West Virginia legislature served other legitimate goals, including keeping counties intact and not pitting incumbents against each other.
"It is clear that West Virginia has carried its burden," the high court said.
The justices had previously blocked the ruling to allow the state to conduct elections under the map approved by state lawmakers.
The lower court still can consider challenges to the plan under the state Constitution.
Both the state House and Senate passed the map with bipartisan and nearly unanimous margins. The difference between the smallest and largest districts was about 4,900 people.
The Jefferson County Commission, encompassing Charles Town and Harpers Ferry, challenged the redrawing, which moved one county from one congressional district to another.
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