The CEO of 4M Pharmaceuticals, Mohamed Mokbel, is facing 15 charges related to his alleged role in a Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said involved call centers in Egypt and the Philippines, targeted elderly individuals and resulted in a $160 million fraud on the government. Mokbel’s attorneys told jurors Tuesday their client was operating within the bounds of the law with his business plan, which involved payments to a third-party lead generator.
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CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 7 Firms, 144 Lawyers, $2.4B
The Dallas Fed each quarter surveys executives from six different business sectors. The Fed’s surveys for the third quarter were released last week. The CDT Roundup looks at the one on energy, which reveals a peculiar lack of enthusiasm for a sector rampant with M&A. That, and the usual review of the firms and lawyers behind last week’s modest number of transactions.
How to Get a Case Into and Out of Texas’ New Courts
Texas’ new business court and Fifteenth Court of Appeals are now open for business. But how do you get your case into — or out of — those courts? And how do you move your case between divisions within the business court?
Litigation Roundup: Details on Four Recent Jury Verdicts
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we’ve got updates in legal disputes involving hip hop and rap artists Cardi B and T.I., EOG Resources wins a $15.6 million verdict in a dispute with a Webb County ranch owner, and private equity firm Welsh Carson gets dismissed from an antitrust lawsuit.
Amber Energy Acquires CITGO in Court-ordered Sale
A special master for a federal court in Delaware has named Amber Energy Inc. as its court-approved bidder for CITGO, one of the largest refiners and distributors of petroleum products in the U.S. The sale, which values Houston-based CITGO at $7.28 billion, is aimed at settling some of the $21.3 billion in claims against CITGO’s former owners, the state-controlled energy company of Venezuela.
AT&T Sells DirecTV to TPG for $7.6B; DirecTV acquires rival Dish for $1 and $9.75B Debt
The two-deal parlay by TPG, which formally ends AT&Ts $49 billion venture into the home entertainment business, was advised by Gibson Dunn, Ropes & Gray, Cleary Gottlieb, Steptoe & Johnson, HWG, Crowell & Morning, White & Case and Mintz, Levin.
Jackson Walker Bankruptcy Fee Cases Reassigned After Judge Isgur’s Recusal
In the week since U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur recused himself from all disputes involving Jackson Walker and the U.S. Trustee — related to the firm’s failure to disclose a former bankruptcy partner had a romantic relationship with a sitting bankruptcy judge — they have been officially reassigned to other bankruptcy judges sitting in the Southern District of Texas, court records show.
Arnold & Itkin Wants AZA DQ’d in Hurricane Zeta MDL
In 13 days, Arnold & Itkin has filed two motions to disqualify Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing from representing Transocean in the multidistrict litigation stemming from alleged injuries suffered by offshore workers during 2020’s Hurricane Zeta. The most recent motion alleges a former law clerk for Arnold & Itkin “improperly took confidential and proprietary information” with her when she went to work for her current employer, AZA.
Lawyers, Guns and Money: An occasional series on movies, TV and other stories about lawyers and the law — Dark Waters (2019, Dir. Todd Haynes)
Todd Haynes has made an homage to ‘50s melodrama (Far From Heaven), a lesbian love story based on a Patricia Highsmith novel (Carol) and a boldly prismatic study of Bob Dylan (I’m Not There), among other movies. Regardless of subject, there’s always something a little unstable at the core of his films, something bordering on horror without actually crossing into that realm. Haynes is a poet of isolation and distance, an acute conveyor of loneliness that threatens to bleed into something more tragic.
This quality permeates Dark Waters, Haynes’ 2019 legal drama based on the true story of Rob Bilott, an environmental lawyer who made it his mission to hold DuPont accountable for poisoning the people of West Virginia with chemical waste in the local water supply.
OAG Alumnus Justice Blacklock Rips Texas’ Briefing in State Fair Gun Ban Case
Justice Jimmy Blacklock, who, prior to his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court in 2018, formerly served as the general counsel to Gov. Greg Abbott and before that as an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, did not hold back on his view that briefing from Texas was insufficient to secure the relief that was sought. The five-page concurrence issued Thursday stands out both for its tone and because of its author.