When I was clerking on the federal district court in Chicago, there was an insurance dispute involving whether the insurer would pay under a director's and officer's liability policy for the defense of a firm that had pleaded guilty to a criminal antitrust violation and, as part of the settlement of a interstate transportation of stolen property (a custimer list) against two officers, paid a lot of money to the gov't.
I drafted the opinion, referring to the firm as a "beehive of criminal activity," talking about "the general atmosphere of criminal disregard of the law," and referring often to the criminal liability and criminal violations. It was a summary judgment motion, granted in part, denied in part, they settled, and then the firm asked the judge to _withdraw her published opinion_ (with this language). She said, "I don't issue advisory opinions." It's in the F.Supp. 2d., Richardson Electronics v. some or other insurance co. jks > > If they are caught red-handed by the cops, there's > another way -- plead > guilty or negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement > and ask the > government not to publicize the agreement. > > We've always suspected that these kinds of secret > settlement side deals > are happening, but never could put our finger on it. > > Until earlier this week, when we attended a "media > nosh" at the > Washington Legal Foundation. > > That's the group that takes out ads in the New York > Times ripping into > the Justice Department for prosecuting corporate > criminals. > > The title of the session: Is Creative Enforcement of > White Collar > Criminal Laws in the Public Interest? > > The message that the corporate-funded think tank > wanted to get out, as > one paper put it: "criminalizing business judgment > could stagnate the > U.S. economy." > > In the question-and-answer session, we asked the > distinguished panel of > white collar crime defense lawyers whether they > could name a recent > criminal prosecution of a corporation that should > not have been brought > because the theory of enforcement was too > "creative." > > Ira Raphaelson, a former federal prosecutor, and now > a white collar > defense attorney at O'Melveny & Myers, said he had > one, but couldn't > talk about it. > > What do you mean, you can't talk about it? > > I promised my client that I won't talk about it, he > says. > > It was a criminal prosecution and it's on the public > record, right? > > Yes, but I'm not going to tell you any more about > it. > > Was the case settled? > > Yes, he says. > > Did the Justice Department notify the press that the > case was settled? > > No, he says. > > The company completed the negotiations. A lot of > money was paid. I could > tell you about the case, but it would be to the > detriment of my client, > so I won't, he says. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
