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White-Collar Sentencing Under the Amended Guidelines: Fewer Steps, Same Dance
FEATURED
November 12, 2025
White-Collar Sentencing Under the Amended Guidelines: Fewer Steps, Same Dance
By: Robert Ward
For years, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Guidelines Manual has guided courts through a three-step process to determine the sentence to be imposed. At a high level, that process looked like this: First, the court would calculate the guideline range based on relevant offense conduct and related factors, along with the defendant’s criminal history. Second, the court would consider the Sentencing Commission’s policy statements or commentary relating to “departures” from the guidelines as well as the defendant’s specific personal characteristics. Third, and finally, the court would consider the statutory factors set out in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) in determining the sentence to be imposed (whether within the guideline range or varying in either direction). As of November 1, 2025, this three-step…
Personal Information Flo-wing out of Control
October 20, 2025
Personal Information Flo-wing out of Control
By: Lauren Scribner
In September, a nearly $60 million settlement was reached in Frasco, et al v. Flo Health, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Google, LLC, and Flurry, Inc. The case,[1] a class action filed in 2021, alleged inter alia that Flo Health Inc. (“Flo”), a popular women’s health tracking application estimated to have over 38 million monthly users, invaded the privacy of its users by sharing personal and…
New Laws for AI Developers: California’s Fork in the AI Regulatory Road
October 16, 2025
New Laws for AI Developers: California’s Fork in the AI Regulatory Road
By: Steven Hess
AI Regulation and The Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act Artificial intelligence (“AI”) products have become an increasingly significant aspect of U.S. innovation, growth, and development. Generative AI is being used to predict the structure of proteins and other biomolecules in pharmaceutical research,[1] to simulate wargames for the U.S. military,[2] and to drive an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars of growth in sectors from…
Federal Indictment in Maryland Reflects Continuing Crackdown on Gaming
May 24, 2011
Federal Indictment in Maryland Reflects Continuing Crackdown on Gaming
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing its crackdown on the online gaming industry. On May 23, 2011, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland unsealed an indictment that charged several poker and gambling sites with illegal gambling and money laundering. Those indicted were ThrillX Systems, Ltd., d/b/a BetEd; Darren Wright; and David Parchomchuk, both of British Columbia, Canada, as well as K23 Group Financial…
Barney Frank’s Advice to Poker Players After ‘Black Friday’
May 9, 2011
Barney Frank’s Advice to Poker Players After ‘Black Friday’
By: Ifrah Law
In the wake of the catastrophic consequences of last month’s “Black Friday” for online poker players in the United States, many players are wondering about their next step. Pocketfives.com recently interviewed Congressman Barney Frank and although he agreed that is “difficult to figure out what to do,” he still had some concrete advice for the online poker player universe. Frank felt that the events of…
Bank Hit With FCA Complaint Over Mortgage Lending
May 3, 2011
Bank Hit With FCA Complaint Over Mortgage Lending
By: Ifrah Law
On May 3, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil case against Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, asserting that Deutsche Bank was liable for more than $1 billion to the U.S. government for its statements and actions during the mortgage meltdown of the last few years. This case is one of the few that has emerged from the mortgage crisis, and like many…
The Disintegration of White-Collar Criminal Bernie Madoff
April 27, 2011
The Disintegration of White-Collar Criminal Bernie Madoff
By: Ifrah Law
In December 2010, Bernie Madoff contacted the Financial Times to say that he was ready for his second prison interview. It had been two years since news broke of Madoff’s 16-year, $65 billion Ponzi scheme, and just 17 months since he began serving his 150-year sentence. By the time he was interviewed, his oldest son, Mark, had hanged himself on the second anniversary of Madoff’s…
DOJ Shows Its Continuing Strong Interest in FCPA Violations
April 21, 2011
DOJ Shows Its Continuing Strong Interest in FCPA Violations
By: Ifrah Law
Over the course of several years, officials of the United States Department of Justice have made clear the Department’s intent to enforce vigorously the dictates of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In general terms, the FCPA prohibits the offering or giving of things of value to any foreign official to assist in obtaining or retaining business. Last November, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer warned…
