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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 03, 2020 at 07:42:00

Rothstein racked up 20 Million AMEX points

Posted on January 12, 2010
Damn....In other news, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts -- the confrontation case from last term that said lab reports were subject to Crawford and the Confrontation Clause -- may be on the chopping block. From Tony Mauro at Law.com:Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was not on the Court for the Melendez-Diaz case, sent out mixed signals on whether she would provide the vote needed for reversal...

Jose Padilla case to be argued in the 11th Circuit this week

Posted on January 11, 2010
And SDFLAers, you won't be able to watch it unless you are in Atlanta tomorrow.The DBR previews the argument here. Both sides have appealed -- the defense has appealed the conviction and the government has appealed the sentence. Should be interesting to see what the court is focused on during the oral argument...

Government: No actual conflict with Mark Nurik

Posted on January 08, 2010
Here's the government's response to Judge Cohn's inquiry regarding whether Marc Nurik is under investigation: he's not. The government explains that he isn't a target or subject in the investigation. But it says:The government perceives two areas in which Mr...

Congrats to the Hawk

Posted on January 07, 2010
Hometown hero Andre Dawson made the Hall. Sweet!In SDFLA news, the Scott Rothstein plea has been set, but before Judge Cohn will conduct the change of plea hearing, he is having a McLain hearing next week and requiring the government to state in writing whether it is investigating Rothstein's lawyer Marc Nurik...

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Lots going on

Posted on January 05, 2010
Thanks to all my peeps for sending lots of tips the last couple of days. There's lots going on:1. Judge Zloch is in the news. From not letting Bradley Birkenfeld -- the UBS informant -- push off his surrender date to spanking Loring Spolter. The 60 Minutes gambit by Birkenfeld didn't pay off, I guess...

Shocking news

Posted on January 05, 2010
Scott Rothstein to plead guilty. Here's Curt Anderson from the AP: Disbarred South Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein is negotiating a guilty plea with federal prosecutors on charges of orchestrating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme using faked legal settlements, his attorney said Tuesday...

Judge Graham and Judge Ungaro go to Uganda

Posted on January 04, 2010
Judges Graham and Ungaro recently participated in a training program for Judges, lawyers, law enforcement personnel, court administrators and others in Jinja, Uganda. Beth Sreenan also participated as the DOJ representative. From what I understand, it was a great experience...

Let's hit it -- 2010

Posted on January 03, 2010
Okay, we're back -- Happy New Year!Batteries charged and all that. Ready for twenty-ten. Not ready for the traffic after the holiday weekend...Last year we had Ben Kuehne, Scott Rothstein, and of course, Paris Hilton. Who will we have in 2010?Lots of end-of-year blogging:The White Collar Blog has some fun end of year posts here and here...

Holiday Blogging

Posted on December 23, 2009
Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week -- I've actually been swamped... Soooo, we're gonna close down the blog until the new year unless something big comes up (For example, if I win the blog fantasy football championship this weekend against RichRodisCuban, I will post about it!)...

Innocent people pleading guilty

Posted on December 20, 2009
It's one of the criminal justice system's dirty little secrets -- innocent people plead guilty because the risk if you lose at trial is too high. The Wall Street Journal covers this phenomenon here:A surprise twist in the criminal case against Broadcom Corp...

RIP Joan Grady

Posted on December 18, 2009
Joan Grady -- longtime assistant to Kathy Williams at the FPD's office -- has passed away. Joan was an incredibly hard worker, and was always available to the lawyers in the office and the CJA lawyers looking for help. She was really loved by everyone and we'll all miss her.

Silly

Posted on December 18, 2009
Here's something to make you laugh this weekend -- it's the second most downloaded video of 2009.

Miami's worst kept secret is out

Posted on December 17, 2009
Rumpole and the DBR finally broke what people have been talking about for weeks now -- that the White House is actively vetting Kathy Williams for the open judge seat and Willy Ferrer for U.S. Attorney. Congrats to these two very well-deserving candidates...

Louie the interpreter retiring

Posted on December 16, 2009
No doubt that longtime court interpreter Angel Luis Nigaglioni "has seen it all." Here's a nice Herald article about him and his career.The longest serving interpreter in U.S. federal court -- whose voice was also known to millions of Spanish speakers worldwide as that of late President Ronald Reagan en espa�ol -- has retired...

We're #1!

Posted on December 15, 2009
The American Tort Reform Association has ranked South Florida as the #1 "Judicial Hellhole" in the nation. How silly. Here's what they say:South Florida, the home of WhoCanISue.com, is known for its medical malpractice claims, never-ending tobacco lawsuits and generous verdicts...

The U

Posted on December 14, 2009
The buzz around town this morning is the documentary "The U," which played Saturday night on ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 series. I have discussed it a bit in prior posts, but I had no idea how unbelievable the movie was going to be. I had very high expectations, but the movie far exceeded anything I could have hoped for...

"The defendant here isn't exactly Tinker Bell."

Posted on December 14, 2009
That was Judge Turnoff today in presiding over the bond hearing for Robert Antoine, a former Haitian government official charged in a telecom bribery scheme involving Haiti's state-owned telecommunications company. Judge Turnoff set a 10% bond at $1 million, meaning that Antoine will have to post $100,000 with the court...

Kim Rothstein in the news

Posted on December 11, 2009
That's her high school yearbook picture. Brittany Wallman of the Sun-Sentinel has a great in-depth piece on Kim Rothstein. Bob Norman's wife scooped him!From the article:A health crisis struck when she was 12. She collapsed at a Plantation Central Park karate tournament...

Quick Hits

Posted on December 10, 2009
Sorry for the slow blogging. I'm getting killed over at work. But quickly:1. Josephus Eggelletion pleads guilty to money laundering, will resign (via Miami Herald).2. Liberia victims to face Taylor's son in US court (via AP).3. Obama's acceptance speech (via London Times)...

Ben Kuehne thanks his supporters

Posted on December 10, 2009
It was a packed event tonight as judges, former prosecutors, defense lawyers, and many others in the community came to celebrate with Ben. To the left is a picture of Ben from the party. And here are his remarks:?Let there be Justice, and then no one will ask for anything unjust...

AUSA David Haimes named Broward Circuit Judge

Posted on December 09, 2009
Congrats to long-time federal prosecutor David Haimes on his appointment to the state bench. Here's Gov. Crist's press release:Governor Charlie Crist today announced the appointment of David A. Haimes of Plantation to the 17th Judicial Circuit Court...

"Gotta get away from my lawyer. Sit tight. Say nothing. Write nothing. Brooklyn to bronx. I'll make u famous."

Posted on December 07, 2009
That was Scott Rothstein texting with Sun-Sentinel reporter Mike Mayo. They had nicknames for each other and everything. Rothstein kept up a con with Mayo, promising him that he would get the exclusive Rothstein interview -- I guess to keep Mayo from writing anything too critical about him...

Ben Kuehne event and other weekend news

Posted on December 06, 2009
This should be something:BENEDICT P. KUEHNEIn Grateful Appreciation of theOverwhelming Community Support of his InnocenceInvites the Community to hisAPPRECIATION RECEPTIONOn the Occasion of his VindicationSky lobbyBank of America tower100 S.E. 2nd StreetMiami, Florida 33131Thursday, December 10, 20095:30 p...

Ho hum

Posted on December 04, 2009
Well, it's a Friday in December. Awfully quiet around town.I found interesting this Herald article about a state judge and a defendant being Facebook friends:Several weeks ago, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Yvonne Colodny accepted a new friend request on the social networking site Facebook -- from Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones...

See you all at this event

Posted on December 04, 2009
The Steve Chaykin Fellowship event is coming up:When: Saturday, January 9, 2010 6:30 pm -- Cocktail Reception8:15 pm -- Concert Where: Gusman HallUniversity of MiamiCoral Gables CampusOn Saturday evening, January 9, 2009, a Reception and Concert by Grammy Nominated Jazz and Blues Artist Marcia Ball, will be held at the Gusman Concert Hall, on the University of Miami Campus...

Did Scott Rothstein surrender or was he arrested?

Posted on December 02, 2009
There has been some debate about whether Rothstein was arrested or whether he was permitted to surrender. The answer is really neither. When a defendant surrenders, he is permitted to show up at magistrate court for his first appearance on his own (not in handcuffs)...

Scott Rothstein to be arrested tomorrow (Tuesday) -- NUMEROUS UPDATES BELOW

Posted on December 01, 2009
The Herald broke the story here:Scott Rothstein, the flashy Fort Lauderdale attorney who authorities say ran a $1 billion investment scam while acting like a philanthropic tycoon, is expected to be arrested Tuesday on a federal racketeering charge, sources familiar with the case said...

Would you do 40 months for a billion bucks?

Posted on November 30, 2009
Bradley Birkenfeld would. He's the UBS banker who helped the government makes its case against UBS and all the tax cheats. Here's the New York Times story:Bradley C. Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes...

Thanksgiving weekend blogging

Posted on November 28, 2009
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians was certainly thankful to Judge Seitz on Thanksgiving Day. Just hours before we all headed home on Wednesday to defrost our turkeys, Judge Seitz issued an order stating that she was ?convinced that the Tribe will succeed on the merits? after a two-day preliminary injunction hearing last week seeking to halt construction on 21-mile ?Loop Road? in the Everglades...

Breaking!!

Posted on November 25, 2009
The case against Ben Kuehne and the co-defendants has been dismissed by the Feds. Happy Thanksgiving.UPDATE -- The government moved to dismiss the pending appeal against Gloria Velez and also moved to dismiss the entire indictment in the district court against Velez, Oscar Saldarriaga, and Ben Kuehne...

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