Alberto Vilar, who built a fortune after arriving in America as a refugee from the Cuban revolution, loved the opera more than anything. And he loved giving his money away almost as much. The investor Alberto Vilar in his East Side apartment. He is charged with defrauding a client of $5 million. Mr. Vilar, a […]

The prosecution and defense in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial both ended their cases on Friday, opening the way for closing arguments as early as Wednesday. The prosecution rested its rebuttal phase of the trial after showing jurors a videotape of Jackson’s young accuser being questioned by police. Jackson’s lead attorney, Tom Mesereau, had

Linsday Murdoch was in the Denpasar courtroom as Schapelle Corby’s guilty verdict and 20-year jail sentence were handed down. As the judges neared the end of their summing up at Denpasar District Court, close-up footage of Corby showed her biting her lip, talking to herself as if in prayer and looking distressed. She appeared short

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York and the state’s Insurance Department filed a civil lawsuit this afternoon against the insurance giant American International Group and its former top executives, accusing them of manipulating the company’s finances to deceive regulators and investors. The lawsuit, which was filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, said A.I.G.’s

Stung by the mass defection of all of its partners in London and Moscow, New York-based Coudert Brothers is exploring a possible lawsuit against San Francisco’s Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, the firm that hired the partners away. Coudert Brothers has retained Barry Ostrager, the co-head of the litigation department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, to

Three years ago, West Palm Beach, Fla., plaintiffs attorney Jack Scarola was coming off a big civil fraud suit against Prudential Insurance in which three of his clients had received only $66,106 in damages and nine others had received nothing. At the time, a dejected Scarola described the verdict as “the highest-profile defeat I’ve sustained.”

British authorities have signed a court order after months of delay to extradite three former NatWest bankers to the US. The extradition order, requested by the Enron task force, comes after intense criticism of the Extradition Act 2003, rushed through parliament two years ago in the hope of expediting terrorist cases. The home secretary now

Jay Leno, the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” testified today that the young accuser in the Michael Jackson child molesting trial called him several times to say he was a big fan of the talk show host, but that he never asked him for any money. Mr. Leno’s testimony did not bolster the strategy

Fourteen Republican and Democratic senators announced this evening they had reached a compromise designed to prevent a showdown over President Bush’s judicial nominations. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), speaking for the group of seven Republicans and seven Democrats, announced the agreement at a news conference at 7:40 p.m. Under the deal, the Democrats agreed to accept

Depending on the math and the time of the telling, Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz have been accused of stealing $150 million from Tyco International or “looting” the company of as much as $600 million. But when you’re sitting through their criminal trial, it can be hard to get a grip on the details. First,