Blame it on the “vultures.” That was part of the defense outlined by attorneys for Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling during opening statements of their trial Tuesday.The vultures in this case are short sellers. To hear defense attorney Mike Ramsey tell it, short sellers destroyed Enron for a quick profit. The short sellers themselves, of […]
The Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee said today that he believed the Bush administration had violated the law with its warrantless surveillance program and that its legal justifications for the program were “strained and unrealistic.” The program “is in flat violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” said the chairman, Senator Arlen Specter
American International Group Inc. will be the first insurer to settle an inquiry into bid-rigging when it pays about $1.6 billion to resolve state and federal probes of accounting and sales practices, said a person familiar with the negotiations. AIG, the world’s largest insurer, will compensate victims of price fixing as part of an accord
A private investigator, once hired by top Hollywood stars, has been charged with wiretapping and conspiracy for allegedly bugging the phones of Sylvester Stallone, Keith Carradine, and other high profile personalities. Anthony Pellicano is accused of monitoring conversations of celebrities who had initiated court cases, attempting to find incriminating information by searching law enforcement databases,
The news that an investment banker is talking to some of the largest firms about an AIM listing brings what is surely an inevitability one step closer. Once the white paper proposals on law firm ownership are passed, quite possibly later this year, the barriers to firms floating will have been removed. And the kudos
Nortel Networks Corp. said on Wednesday it has agreed in principle to pay $2.47 billion to settle two class-action lawsuits stemming from an accounting scandal that has rocked the telecommunications equipment supplier. Nortel said it wanted a settlement so that it could focus on rebuilding its business. It was hit with the lawsuits from shareholders
American International Group Inc., the world’s largest insurer, probably will announce a $1.6 billion settlement of U.S. state and federal regulatory investigations later today, people familiar with the matter said. The agreement would resolve New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s allegations that AIG used sham reinsurance contracts to hide losses and understate liabilities, two people
Lawyers for a death row inmate, including former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, sent fake letters from jurors asking California’s governor to spare the man’s life, prosecutors said Friday. The jurors denied they thought Michael Morales deserved clemency because some of the testimony at his trial may have been fabricated, said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for
Rohan Weerasinghe, head of the Wall Street law firm of Shearman & Sterling, received unwelcome news this month. Five partners, including the asset-management group chief, jumped to a New York rival. The turn of events was not entirely unfamiliar. Some partners were already heading for the exits when Weerasinghe became the head of Shearman in
The scandalous court case involving a Hollywood gumshoe accused of snooping on the stars has drawn in another high-profile suspect. Antony Pellicano, a private investigator, is being held in prison without bail while he waits to stand trial on 110 charges of illegal phone-tapping and accessing police records, in search of dirt on high profile
