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A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
FEATURED
April 15, 2025
A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
By: James Trusty
The Attorney General’s recent announcement that DOJ will seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione raises a host of interesting legal and philosophical issues, and it almost certainly reflects a dramatic about-face from the Biden administration’s approach towards federal prosecutions for death-eligible offenses. Aside from having personally prosecuted three death penalty trials while I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland and when I was Chief of the DOJ Organized Crime and Gang Section, I spent a number of years on the Attorney General’s Capital Review Committee (“CRC”). The Committee was comprised of a number of “grey heads” who had personally handled death penalty cases and who developed a solid working knowledge of the intricate field of capital litigation. Ultimately,…
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
April 14, 2025
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
By: Abbey Block
Last Sunday, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the season finale of White Lotus – a widely popular show that centers around the week-long vacation of several ultra-wealthy patrons of the fictional “White Lotus” resort in Thailand.[1] The show follows a dynamic cast of quirky characters as they navigate their opulent getaway. One of those characters in this most recent season was Timothy Ratliff…
Amending Arbitration Clauses – No Notice, Big Problem?
April 8, 2025
Amending Arbitration Clauses – No Notice, Big Problem?
By: Robert Ward
Many websites’ terms and conditions allow online service providers to make changes without providing prior notice to users. Often, the terms state that the user agrees to read the terms and conditions, and that continued use of the website constitutes acceptance of any modification. A recent Fourth Circuit decision highlights the potential risk that such unilateral change-in-terms provisions might pose to another common feature of…
Reid-Kyl Bill Would Legalize Online Poker at Federal Level
October 24, 2012
Reid-Kyl Bill Would Legalize Online Poker at Federal Level
By: Ifrah Law
A draft of the online poker bill that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) plan to introduce was released this week. The bill, known as the “Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012” would legalize online poker at the federal level, a step that became possible last December when the U.S. Department of Justice released an opinion…
DOJ Opinion on Key FCPA Issue Makes Sense, But What’s Next?
October 17, 2012
DOJ Opinion on Key FCPA Issue Makes Sense, But What’s Next?
By: Ifrah Law
We have previously advocated for the Department of Justice to employ a more narrow reading of the term “foreign official” in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Therefore, we were pleased to see that the DOJ recently issued an opinion that parsed the definition and came to the conclusion that a member of a foreign royal family was not a “foreign official” under the FCPA. Although…
Libya Loses Court Battle Over Its Own ‘Libyan Embassy’ Trademark
September 19, 2012
Libya Loses Court Battle Over Its Own ‘Libyan Embassy’ Trademark
By: Ifrah Law
In an interesting recent opinion, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rebuffed the Libyan Government’s bid to obtain a transfer to it of the domain name registration for libyanembassy.com from a “legalization expeditor” – a company that certifies documents as one step in the process of international legalization of documents (such as foreign birth certificates). The Libyan Government brought an action under…
Executive’s Internet Searches Give SEC the Road Map to Make an Arrest
August 17, 2012
Executive’s Internet Searches Give SEC the Road Map to Make an Arrest
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb with insider trading, citing his Internet searches as support that he tried to cover up his illegal acts. As a high-level executive in the treasury department at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Robert D. Ramnarine helped the company target, evaluate, and acquire other pharmaceutical companies. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New…
Judge Clamps Down on DOJ Efforts to Apply U.S. Law Abroad
August 6, 2012
Judge Clamps Down on DOJ Efforts to Apply U.S. Law Abroad
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent boasts about rigorous enforcement of the securities laws ran into a significant obstacle this month when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed part of a $50 million securities fraud case and accused DOJ prosecutors of overreaching. In an increasingly global economy, the case is a good measure of the limits on the ability of the United States government…
