U.S. v Langford is about a politician who went bad. Langford took more than $240,000 in bribes in the form of cash, clothing, and jewelry from codefendant William Blount while serving as a county commissioner in Jefferson County Alabama. Blount ran investment banking firm that specialized in underwriting and marketing…
In U.S. v. Barrington, the defendant and some friends at Florida A & M University decided to improve their grades for graduate school applications. They devised a plan to access the school’s internet based grading system using keylogger software, a program which captures every keystroke made on a computer. A…
The defendant business in U.S. v. Chaplin’s was a jewelry store in Atlanta from which the defendant, an employee, sold jewelry on a cash basis to persons he knew to be drug dealers. In one instance an undercover IRS agent posing as a narcotics trafficker purchased expensive jewelry in cash…
Bradley and codefendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering along with other federal statutes. Bradley, the lead defendant, owned “Bio-Med Plus,” a pharmaceutical wholesaler that purchased and sold blood-derivatives (intravenous immune globulin) used to treat patients with HIV. The fraud Bradley committed was…
In U.S. v. James the defendant appealed his conviction and sentence of 262 months for possession with intent to distribute less than 5 grams of cocaine. James was convicted following a trial on the lesser charges that he distributed more than 5 grams. There were two issues raised in this…
In Gilbert v. U.S. the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled en banc that the savings clause of 28 U.S.C. §2255 does not permit a federal prisoner to challenge his sentence through a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. §2241 if he was otherwise barred by §2255 from filing second or…
This is one of those rare cases where the court of appeals found a Rule 29 motion should have been granted because the facts were insufficient to support a conviction of the charges. In U.S. v Friske the defendant was charged with attempting to obstruct a forfeiture proceeding by attempting…
This case involves parental kidnapping by a father in Florida who took his son out of the country on a 32 foot sail boat. In U.S. v. Martikainen the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of international parental kidnapping (18 U.S.C. §1204(a)), for leaving his the United States with his…
The federal mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. §1341, makes it a federal crime to use the mail in any way to advance a fraud. The federal wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. §1343, makes it a federal crime to use any interstate wire communication to advance a fraud. The defendants here…
Alicia Rodriguez pled guilty to a Federal Medicare fraud conspiracy involving 19 million dollars in bogus Medicare claims. In exchange for her cooperation, the prosecutor filed a motion pursuant to §5K1.1 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. It is the prosecutor’s discretion to file this motion if and when the prosecutor…