Standly Hamilton Settles $11.5 million Qui Tam Case
A West Texas federal False Claims Act case that focused on the corporate marketing of a medical device has settled out of court for $11.5 million.
SEC FW: Longwei Petroleum & CFO Violated Federal Securities Laws
The SEC's Fort Worth Office accused China-based Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding and its American-based CFO, Michael Toups, with falsifying public statements in 2013 that substantially overstated potential capacity at the company’s fuel storage depots in China.
Updated – Lawyer: Breitling Energy CEO & ‘Frack Master’ Chris Faulkner ‘Denies Emphatically’ SEC Allegations of Fraud
The SEC charged Dallas-based Breitling Energy Corp. and its CEO, “Frack Master” Chris Faulkner, of fraudulently spending tens-of-millions of dollars of investors money on lavish meals, expensive cars, strippers and escorts. The SEC claims that Faulkner masterminded an elaborate $80 million oil and gas fraud that included Breitling, Crude Energy and Patriot Energy and eight executives, including Breitling General Counsel Jeremy Wagers.
Dallas Judge Freezes Assets in Fraud Case Involving Sports Stars (Updated)
SEC Fort Worth Regional Director Shamoil Shipchandler unveiled federal charges Tuesday against a former managing director of Dallas-based investment advisory firm RGT Capital Management for “secretly siphoning" $33 million from two Major League Baseball star pitchers and an NFL star quarterback, in order to fund an online ticket service. RGT also filed a federal securities lawsuit against its former partner and the online ticket operations.
HayBoo and Kirkland Win Billion-Dollar Defense Ruling in False Claims Trial
A federal jury in Dallas late Thursday rejected claims by an internal pharmaceutical industry whistle-blower that giant Abbott Laboratories wrongly induced physicians and hospitals to submit hundreds of millions in falsely coded claims to Medicare.
Updated – SEC Settles Uni-Pixel’s Investment Fraud Case, Charges Two Former Execs
California-based Uni-Pixel agreed Wednesday to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $750,000 to resolve allegations that the technology company fraudulently misled investors about its operations. At the same time, the SEC filed charges against two former Uni-Pixel executives for their role in a scheme in which “materially misleading” statements about the production and sales of a touch-screen sensor product were made public.
Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of the Defense in the BP Criminal Trial
Last Thursday's not guilty verdict against former BP Macondo site leader Robert Kaluza ended a six-year legal battle fought by Houston trial lawyers David Gerger and Shaun Clarke. The pair dismantled the government’s case in every one of the 22 counts of manslaughter and the single count of water pollution against their client Gerger and Clarke spent more than 8,000 hours working on the case, reviewed more than 90 million pages of evidence and did battle over a 164-year-old law. They converted guest rooms on the 21st floor of the Loews Hotel in downtown New Orleans into office space. Their success in this case should be taught in law schools and CLEs.
DMN: United Development Says Top Officers Got Federal Grand Jury Subpoenas
Embattled residential finance and investment firm United Development Funding says its top officers have been subpoenaed to provide a federal grand jury with documents related to the operation of the company.
FCPA Blog: Low Oil Prices Hurt FCPA Compliance Efforts
Energy and natural resource executives highlight specific areas of concern in a KPMG International survey.
Dallas Judge Approves BDO’s $40 million Payment to Stanford Investors
U.S. District Judge David Godbey ruled Wednesday that accounting firm BDO USA’s agreement to pay $40 million to victims in the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme “is a fair settlement amount.”
Exclusive: SEC Selects Shamoil Shipchandler to Lead Regional Office
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to announce this week that former East Texas federal prosecutor Shamoil Shipchandler is the agency’s next director of the Texas region, The Texas Lawbook has learned from multiple sources. The article has all the details.
DMN: SEC Investigates McKinney-based Servergy in Ken Paxton Litigation
A small technology firm in McKinney with 22 employees, Servergy came into public view last week when a Collin County grand jury announced the indictment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton related to a deal he had made to sell the company’s stock. But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating the company before Paxton's name surfaced. The Dallas Morning News takes an in-depth look at Servergy.