White-Collar/Regulatory Archives

Collaboration, Coaching and Exxon’s Winning Securities Class Action Defense

In the counsel of many, there is wisdom.

That is a paraphrase of an Old Testament quote that I used in the opening of the securities class action we tried to a jury earlier this month in Judge Ed Kinkeade’s court in Dallas. It applied to our securities class action defense, which was rooted in the good faith efforts of the hard-working people of ExxonMobil. But it also applied to the trial team that won the case, a combination of firms and lawyers that came together to produce a winning result in a very rare circumstance where unexpected events intervened.

May 27, 2026 Tom Melsheimer

Dallas Jury Clears ExxonMobil in Securities Fraud Case

A Dallas jury deliberated for more than three hours after a 14-day trial in U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade’s courtroom before finding ExxonMobil did not have any intent to commit the fraud it was accused of. The lawsuit was filed nearly a decade ago.

May 15, 2026 Alexa Shrake

David Gerger to Defend Indicted Cargo Ship Engineer

The chief engineer of the Singaporean container ship MV Dali has hired prominent Houston criminal defense attorney David Gerger to represent him against federal charges filed Tuesday involving the ship’s March 2024 crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge that killed six people and caused billions of dollars in damages.

May 12, 2026 Mark Curriden

Litigation Roundup: Verizon Beats Back $175M Infringement Verdict

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a lawsuit Mercuria Energy American filed against a former trader won’t be going to trial after all, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gets a $7 million final judgment in a case against a forex trader from Houston it alleged was operating a Ponzi scheme.

April 27, 2026 Michelle Casady

Surveillance by Design? How the California Invasion of Privacy Act Threatens Texas Businesses

The California Invasion of Privacy Act stands out because it allows for both criminal charges and civil lawsuits for statutory violations. This sets CIPA apart from more recently enacted consumer privacy laws in both California and Texas, which do not include civil enforcement. This has turned CIPA into the go-to law for attorneys looking to challenge web privacy practices in court.

CIPA’s broad reach brings Texas companies into the crosshairs, with Texas companies becoming increasingly aware of and worried about potential claims under CIPA.

April 23, 2026 Mia Crossen

SEC Names Dallas Lawyer as Nation’s Top Corporate Enforcement Cop

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has named Dallas lawyer David Woodcock as its new director of enforcement, overseeing the agency’s federal civil corporate securities and fraud investigations and prosecutions.

Woodcock is taking a multimillion-dollar pay cut by leaving Gibson Dunn, where he has been a partner in Dallas since 2023.

April 8, 2026 Mark Curriden

There’s a New Sheriff in Town — Texas as Privacy Regulator

For many years, the privacy community took the position that the state of California was the leading data privacy regulator. The state of New York, with its active cyber enforcement by the New York Department of Financial Services, was a close second. However, in the past two years, Texas has emerged not only as a significant privacy regulator but also as an aggressive enforcer of its laws.

Texas has passed a comprehensive series of laws relating to consumer and children’s data privacy, artificial intelligence and data brokers, among other things. And the state’s attorney general has secured multibillion-dollar settlements against major technology companies for alleged violations of state laws. While the federal government and many other states have taken a light-touch approach to privacy and AI, Texas has been out front.

March 20, 2026 Garrett Lance

Goldman Sachs Accused of Age Discrimination, Wrongful Termination in Arbitration Claim

Dallas-based Rogge Dunn Group has filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration claim against Goldman Sachs, alleging that it committed age discrimination, wrongful termination and unlawful withholding of earned deferred compensation. The complaint seeks more than $2 million in damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

March 18, 2026 Alexa Shrake

Dallas Government Enforcement Partner Hired by Bradley

Scott F. Mascianica, a government enforcement and investigations partner, has joined Bradley in Dallas from Hilgers PLLC. He will focus on government enforcement proceedings, internal investigations and related litigation involving securities, regulatory and white-collar matters.

March 5, 2026 Elle Grinnell

Judge: Plano Surgeon Sentenced to 8.5 Years ‘More Involved’ Than Admitted in $196 Million Scam

A federal judge sentenced a Plano orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Michael Taba, to 8.5 years in prison for his role in one of the biggest healthcare fraud cases in Texas history that prosecutors said bilked the U.S. government out of nearly $200 million through unnecessary compound drug prescriptions.

U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay handed down the sentence on Tuesday in Dallas after a jury convicted Taba more than two years ago of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and three counts of aiding and abetting healthcare fraud.

February 24, 2026 Mark Smith

‘Are You Kidding?’: Ex-Prosecutor Defends 81-Year-Old Former Doctor in Tossed Kickback Case

Katten's Brandon N. McCarthy said he was perplexed when his client, retired Dr. David Wolf of Houston, was indicted on an alleged kickback scheme that was ultimately dismissed against 10 doctors.

“This was perplexing as my client was 81 years old and had retired from medicine over half a decade ago,” McCarthy said. “He had a 50-year career as a doctor with a perfect record. No medical board issues. No criminal record. My first thought was, ‘What in the world are they doing?’"

February 23, 2026 Mark Smith

Federal Judge Dismisses Texas Kickback Indictment Involving 10 Doctors, Pharma Executives

A Texas federal judge tossed a superseding indictment accusing 10 doctors, two pharmaceutical executives and two business entities of a kickback scheme involving prescriptions that spanned six years from 2013 to 2019.

The defendants had moved to dismiss the superseding indictment on several grounds, including statute-of-limitations issues.

Rather than respond to that motion, the prosecutors moved to dismiss the case “in the interests of justice.”