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Madoff's ex-controller pleads guilty in NYC
Court News |
2012/01/02 15:20
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The former controller for imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff blamed him Monday for directing her to deceive investors, regulators and the Internal Revenue Service as she pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges.
I did not know that Madoff and others were stealing investors' money, Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz said as she entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, becoming the sixth person to plead guilty and admit a role in a fraud that Madoff claimed he carried out alone. For that, I am terribly sorry.
Cotellessa-Pitz , 53, said she wanted investors and the public to know that she is cooperating fully with prosecutors. Besides conspiracy, she pleaded guilty to falsifying books and records and making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The charges carry a potential of up to 50 years in prison for a woman who admitted a major role in the multi-decade fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of the roughly $20 billion they invested with a man whose once-sterling reputation on Wall Street caused many people to feel honored to be allowed to rest their money with his private investment business.
Cotellessa-Pitz said she started working at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1978 while she was studying economics in college. She was named controller in late 1998. She said Madoff and others within months were directing her to put false entries in the company's books to make it appear profitable trades were being made and that losses were not incurred. |
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High court to hear environmental case from Idaho
Court News |
2012/01/02 15:19
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Mike Sackett remembers what he thought when he saw the eye-popping fines of more than $30,000 a day that the Environmental Protection Agency was threatening to impose on him over a piece of Idaho property worth less than one day's penalty.
If they do this to us, we're going to lose everything we have, Sackett said.
The EPA said that Sackett and his wife, Chantell, illegally filled in most of their 0.63-acre lot with dirt and rocks in preparation for building a home. The agency said the property is a wetlands that cannot be disturbed without a permit. The Sacketts had none.
They say they considered walking away from the property, near scenic Priest Lake, and a difficult fight with the federal government. Instead, they went to court and now the Supreme Court is hearing their case, with implications well beyond their property.
The justices are considering how and when people can challenge the kind of order the Sacketts got. The EPA issues nearly 3,000 administrative compliance orders a year that call on alleged violators of environmental laws to stop what they're doing and repair the harm they've caused.
Major business groups, homebuilders, road builders and agricultural interests all have joined the Sacketts in urging the court to make it easier to contest EPA compliance orders issued under several environmental laws. |
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Federal judge blocks Calif. low-carbon fuels rule
Legal News |
2011/12/30 13:20
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California officials say they will ask a federal judge to stay his ruling that blocks the state from enforcing the first-in-the-nation mandate for cleaner, low-carbon fuels.
In a decision issued Thursday, Fresno-based U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O'Neill said the low-carbon fuel rules favor biofuels produced in the state. He said that violates the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause by discriminating against crude oil and biofuels producers located outside California.
California Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern disagreed, saying the fuel rule is an evenhanded standard that encourages the use of cleaner low carbon fuels by regulating fuel-providers in California.
He said the board plans to ask the judge to stay the ruling, and appeal if necessary to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Out-of-state fuels producers hailed the decision as a win for California drivers. |
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Lawyer: Moms stole from Hawaii toy store for kids
Legal News |
2011/12/29 09:49
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Single mothers filled with regret were making arrangements to turn themselves after they were seen on surveillance footage taking toys from a Hawaii store before Christmas, according to a lawyer who referred to the theft as a desperate act.
Surveillance video from Dec. 1 and released by police last week showed five women and a man helping themselves to items in a Toys R Us display at Windward Mall in Kaneohe. Police said the group had hauled away about $1,000 worth of merchandise.
Attorney Myles Breiner said some of the women contacted him Friday, and he said the women knew what they did was wrong. He said he contacted police over the weekend and stored the items in his office.
Police on Tuesday took the items, which were brought gift-wrapped to Breiner's office, and returned them to the store manager, the lawyer said. Meanwhile, at least three women made arrangements to surrender to police Tuesday, and the others, including the man who has since contacted Breiner, were expected to surrender by the end of the week. |
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