In the News Archive

An acid attack on Pakistan’s former anti-corruption minister outside his Hertfordshire home is a timely reminder of the risks that political dissidents can face.

Trump's anticipated appeal would go to the intermediate New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department, which has the "extraordinary power to review not just the law, but also the facts," Scholl noted.

While it would be "unusual" for the First Department to "overrule a credibility finding of the trial judge, who is acting as judge and jury," the appellate court could "find the facts differently from Justice Engoron," he added.

Investigations into the protests and acts of violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have breathed new life into laws passed during the Reconstruction era, the period between 1865-1877 when significant reforms were passed in the wake of the Civil War.

A prominent Middle East-based lawyer sets out a prescription for progress in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. New economic opportunities based on a kind of UAE free zone development model could bring benefits to the Gaza Strip—and the Palestinian people at large—thus removing anti-Jewish animus.

Lawyers for the longest-held prisoner in the U.S. war against terrorism have begun a new legal offensive in multiple courts aimed at securing his release from Guantánamo Bay.

"Unlike in the last case, here, the government is alleging substantial payments made to Menendez and his wife in the form of cash, gold bars, and other direct gifts, such as a luxury car, by three businessmen," Scholl said. "Further, the government is alleging that it has better proof of direct things that Menendez and his wife did for those who paid them."

Marc Scholl told Law360 that because the "evidence could be viewed to show that Avenatti threatened to ruin Nike's reputation for personal gain, the extortion counts were necessarily affirmed."

In light of the severe consequences of running afoul of OFAC's directives, there has not been enough meaningful opportunity to challenge the scope and basis of OFAC's decision making, Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad argue in Law360.

New York federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence the minority owner of a financial institution to two years of probation for his failure to make sure the institution was following anti-money laundering regulations, saying he was less culpable than the company's compliance officer.

On July 21, 2023, an Annulment Committee at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), revived the claims of Mr. Edmond Khudyan against the Republic of Armenia.  The Committee also ordered Armenia to pay Mr. Khudyan’s legal fees and costs.  Only 5% of ICSID awards have been annulled in part or in full.

Rudy Giuliani's admission that he falsely accused two Georgia poll workers of rigging the 2020 election likely won't shield him from discovery requests in the defamation case and could even aid federal prosecutors in their election-interference probe of former President Donald Trump, experts say.

Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC [said], "It raises questions as to why Giuliani made these concessions and what discovery material that Giuliani has failed to produce may hold as to his culpability and the culpability of others, including Trump."

An arm of the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is trying to seize two paintings, including one by Andy Warhol, to satisfy $142 million in arbitral awards that it claims the Chinese restaurateur Zhang Lan has sought to avoid by concealing her assets.

Chambers Litigation Support 2023, a guide to leading litigation professionals, has again ranked Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss in its Global-Wide Asset Tracing & Recovery category.

"Willful blindness"? Marc Frazier Scholl was quoted in Law360 discussing potential arguments and counterarguments in the event Donald Trump is indicted in relation to the January 6 investigation.

Adam Kaufmann returned to NY1 to discuss the letter Donald Trump claims to have received informing him that he is a target of the DOJ's investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Tom Malinowski, two-term representative for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District and former vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is moving to an international litigation boutique to serve as senior policy consultant. 

"Not surprisingly, Trump's filing mentions no particular support to any challenge other than Trump wants to make a challenge," Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC said.

The Supreme Court held in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railroad that the assertion of general jurisdiction over an out-of-state corporation that has waived its jurisdictional defense as a condition to doing business in a state comports with Due Process.

In Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. U.S., the Supreme Court held that the FSIA did not provide immunity to a Turkish state-owned bank, Halkbank, for criminal charges, and that the bank could be prosecuted for evading U.S.-imposed economic sanctions against Iran.

Adam Kaufmann joined “Mornings On 1” to provide perspective on the Trump indictment in Florida.

In a recent wide-sweeping decision, Twitter v. Taamneh, the United States Supreme Court dramatically reshaped liability under the 2016 Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (“JASTA”), which imposes secondary, civil liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act (“ATA”) on persons who aid and abet or conspire to commit acts of international terrorism.

“My view is that while the law allows the prosecutor to play it close to the vest, it seems that best practice and fairness requires they reveal — to the extent they know — what the crimes are,” said Marc F. Scholl, who served in the district attorney’s office for nearly four decades in both trial and senior investigative roles. “And because it’s a matter of such public interest,” he added of the Trump case, “you really want to show the world you’re not hiding anything.”

Marc Scholl, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office, said that while Trump had a chance of success, it was more likely that the case would be sent back to state court.

"At the end of the day, New York is not trying to prosecute him for a federal crime or for anything he did in connection with his presidential duties," Scholl said. "But it's certainly a potential delaying tactic."

LBKM’s Middle East team is featured in The Legal 500 Private Practice Powerlist 2023 for Arbitration (Middle East). The publication is designed to highlight the region's leading arbitration counsel to Legal 500's broad international readership of private practice lawyers, in-house counsel, and expert witnesses.

The United States Supreme Court decided for the first time that foreign sovereigns and foreign-owned entities are subject to criminal prosecution in United States courts, rejecting the contentions of a Turkish state-owned bank that it was immune from prosecution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”).  

Cristián Francos, partner at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss and head of the firm’s Latin America practice, has again been recognized by Who's Who Legal as a global leader in the field of investigations.

According to recent policy announcements, the U.S. Department of Justice is increasing incentives for corporate cooperation to further its goal of prosecuting individuals rather than the corporations where they work.

While the DOJ has long pursued this goal, the recent changes create firm new incentives for corporations to report wrongdoing by their officers and employees.

Adam Kaufmann joined Dan Abrams on NewsNation to discuss the use and credibility of Michael Cohen as a witness in the Trump hush money case.

“The question is, should you prosecute or not,” John Moscow explained. “There’s some thought that falsifying business records is too small a crime. My thought is it is a very small crime. But your choices are to prosecute or not to prosecute, and if the evidence is there, you’ve got to prosecute.”

On March 2, 2023, the US government published a multi-agency notice setting forth red flags and warning of enhanced enforcement efforts related to third-party intermediary evasion of US Russia-related sanctions and export controls.  The Financial Times subsequently reported that a senior Treasury official stated that the UAE was a “country of focus” for US investigators.

Marc Scholl, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office, told Reuters that Trump being given an opportunity to testify suggests that the grand jury had heard evidence implicating him in a crime. "The invitation should mean the prosecutor is preparing to seek criminal charges."

The International Bar Association (IBA) has appointed partner Cristián Francos as Co-Chair of its Business Crime Committee for a two-year term.

Adam Kaufmann, who has served in the past as a top executive in the district attorney’s office and is now in private practice, said Pomerantz is exposing himself to “a lot of possible jeopardy from a bunch of different directions.”

The National Black Lawyers is an invitation-only professional development and networking association comprised of the top African American attorneys from across the country. 

Eric Lewis, a lawyer and expert on extraditions, said that Bankman-Fried’s decision to go along with extradition might have been due to his not wanting to spend months in a Bahamian jail, where conditions are notoriously bad. While Bankman-Fried has the legal right to challenge the extradition, prosecutors might view that negatively “when it comes time to look at both bail and a potential sentence.”

Adam Kaufmann and John Moscow, both former financial crimes prosecutors, are quoted in this article on the possibility that a judge will give Allen Weisselberg more jail time than the five months promised as part of his plea deal.

Art Middlemiss appeared on the Gatenox series "Crypto Compliance" to discuss the FTX scandal from a compliance perspective. 

El Departamento de Justicia de los Estados Unidos colocó en el ojo público la actividad de transferencia de dólares sin licencia habilitante en los Estados Unidos. Las repercusiones para la industria financiera de Uruguay fueron tratadas por Cristián Francos y Jean-Jacques Bragard Cooper en el siguiente artículo publicado en el diario El Observador.

Aisha Bembry, managing partner of LBKM's Washington office, was featured in Law.com's "How I Made It" series.

The Lafarge case illustrates the extent companies with operations in high-risk jurisdictions must be aware of increasing ATA-related risk, including the risk of civil litigation.

En una demanda por confiscación de fondos presentada ante una corte del Distrito Sur de Nueva York, los fiscales estadounidenses explicaron porqué el movimiento de esos dólares en su entrada y paso por el país norteamericano sería ilegal.

According to U.S. authorities, the U.S.-based activities of “blue dollar peso exchangers” are illegal, and those exchangers that maintain U.S. bank accounts are subject to asset forfeiture and criminal prosecution. The recent U.S. forfeiture case brought by U.S. authorities in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Partners Capital Investment (“PCI”) illustrates intense interest by U.S. authorities in the “blue dollar peso exchange,” and additional U.S. actions should be expected. 

OFAC, banking regulators and criminal enforcement authorities agree: there are big cases to be made in the crypto space. The latest example is OFAC’s October 2022 sanctions enforcement action against crypto-trading platform Bittrex, Inc.