The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

Mark Smith

Frisco Clinic Owner Convicted in $17M TRICARE Fraud Scheme that Funded Gold-Plated Cybertruck

A Fort Worth federal jury convicted Kevin Curry on all nine counts of a healthcare fraud and kickback scheme that bilked TRICARE out of more than $17 million, with prosecutors saying he used stolen doctors' identities and fabricated records to bill for unnecessary treatments. Curry's case was one of seven North Texas prosecutions tied to a recent DOJ healthcare fraud takedown that charged 455 defendants in schemes exceeding $6.5 billion nationwide.

Mark Smith

Akerman Adds Former Texas Securities Regulator to Austin Litigation Team

Ronak Patel spent 14 years at the Texas State Securities Board, where he helped lead auction-rate securities investigations and took part in global settlement talks that Akerman says delivered about $50 billion in relief for investors. Now a litigation partner in Austin, he says he brings a regulator's view of enforcement to his work with financial services clients.

Mark Smith

Road to Ruin: Subprime Lender’s Troubles Include Many Turns

A year after Tricolor collapsed into bankruptcy, the SEC’s new fraud case is the latest multimillion-dollar turn in the problems faced by the subprime auto lender that have left it in liquidation and at the center of criminal fraud charges against its former executives. 

Mark Smith

Texas Immigration Court Backlog Tops 321,000 Amid Judge Shake-Up

Texas immigration courts are carrying one of the nation’s largest backlogs as the system has undergone a sweeping shake-up of more than 200 judges, coinciding with a rise in deportation orders. Nearly 3.2 million cases were pending before U.S. immigration courts as of June 2026, including 321,006 in Texas, the third-highest total in the country.

Mark Smith

Texas Regulator’s New Leader Targets Scams, Embraces Tech

Newly appointed Texas State Securities Board Commissioner Jeramy E. Heintz said he planned to ensure that the 69-year-old agency continues to modernize its operations by leveraging emerging technologies to remain a national model for other state regulators in protecting investors and markets.

Mark Smith

Oil Theft Ring Sold Stolen Permian Crude at Deep Discounts

Five men and a woman have pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal thousands of barrels of crude oil from Permian Basin producers and often selling it to other defendants in the conspiracy for a fraction of its value, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas.

Mark Smith

Texas Feels the Fallout as Federal White-Collar Cases Decline

Federal white-collar crime prosecutions generally have fallen both nationally and in Texas over the past three fiscal years, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data.

A Texas Lawbook review found that for crimes ranging from antitrust to tax fraud, the numbers have steadily declined both nationally and in the four judicial districts in Texas.

Mark Smith

Report: Reitz Named U.S. Attorney for SDTX

Aaron Reitz, a former Trump administration official and top lawyer for the Texas attorney general, has been selected as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, according to a Bloomberg Law report published late Tuesday night.

The Texas Lawbook's Mark Smith talked to Reitz during his campaign for Texas attorney general.

Mark Smith

© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.