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The thin line of business criminality
In this earlier post regarding former Enron Broadband CFO Kevin Howard's recent plea deal, I predicted that the factual basis for the plea deal would barely describe wrongdoing, much less criminality. Turns out I was right. Check out paragraph...
Judge Hughes finalizes his Hyde Act ruling
These earlier posts reported on U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes' decision to sanction the Department of Justice under the Hyde Act for its sloppy indictment and handling of a criminal fraud prosecution of Oklahoma lawyer John Claro. The always alert...
More ripples from the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision
Amidst the publicity on the Andy Fastow sentence and the upcoming sentencing hearing of Jeff Skilling, the legal wrangling related to the conviction of former Enron Broadband executive Kevin Howard (previous posts here) has been flying somewhat under the radar...
An attempt to withdraw a guilty plea exposes a dirty secret of the Enron criminal cases
As noted in this previous post about the typical mainstream media view toward the Enron criminal prosecutions, most media accounts of the case have perpetuated the myth (see also here) that the Enron Task Force has done a good job...
Judge Hughes confirms Hyde Act sanction
Following on this earlier post, this Harvey Rice/Chronicle story reports that U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ordered the Justice Department to pay $390,000 in attorney's fees and expenses to an Oklahoma attorney as a Hyde Act sanction for a bad-faith...
Lynn Hughes strikes again
First, he hammered the FDIC with a record sanctions award in the long-running case against Maxxam chairman Charles Hurwitz. Then, he challenged the Enron Task Force's bludgeoning of a plea bargain from a mid-level former Enron executive. Now, U.S. District...
Leif Clark denies motion on grounds of incomprehensibility
The indefatigable Peter Lattman shares with us this hilarious opinion by Bankruptcy Judge Leif Clark of San Antonio, who cites a scene from the Adam Sandler movie, Billy Madison, in concluding that "[t]he court cannot determine the substance, if any,...
A Judge challenges the Enron Task Force's bludgeoning of a plea bargain
A frequent topic on this blog has been the unjust nature of the government's questionable tactic of bludgeoning business executives into plea bargains by playing on the executive's fear of a draconian prison sentence (often an effective life sentence) if...
Judge examining Lay-Skilling witness tampering charges
Following on this post from earlier this summer, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake gave his strongest indication to date that he is prepared to take action against the Enron Task Force's strategy to deny former Enron chairman Ken Lay, former...
Judge Hughes hammers the FDIC in the Hurwitz case
One of the more interesting (and longstanding) local civil lawsuits turned an interesting corner yesterday. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes -- unquestionably the Houston federal judge most likely to challenge the government's position in any case -- handed down this...
Port of Houston Wins Big Case at Fifth Circuit
The Chronicle reports today on a big case involving several large gas pipeline companies, the Port of Houston and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In this opinion, the Fifth Circuit recently overturned federal District Judge Lynn Hughes' summary judgment...
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