In the News Archive

Colleges and universities must recognize the risk of potential corruption in their admissions process, and build intelligent controls to guard against fraud. Lewis Baach’s Arthur D. Middlemiss explains that schools should employ cost-efficient compliance measures and warns of the dangers in failing to do so.

“This action should be a wake-up call to advisory firms who deliberately make false material assertions on a Form ADV,” said Lewis Baach partner Jason Berland. “This is particularly true when a firm blatantly fails to designate an appropriate individual to be responsible for administering compliance programs. In a situation, such as the one here, where one of the chief compliance officer designees was allegedly unaware he was designated, civil money penalties should be a real concern.”

The On The Rise program recognizes ABA young lawyer members who exemplify a broad range of high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and legal and community service.

Art Middlemiss heads a team of attorneys representing Good Morning America Co-Anchor, Lara Spencer against the fraudulent use of her name and likeness in skincare ads. “If I tell you that I'm selling you one thing, but I really sell you another thing, that's fraud,” Middlemiss told GMA. “I'm telling you that I'm selling you a product that's endorsed by a celebrity, when it hasn't been endorsed by a celebrity. That's a fraud.”

Mr. Lewis reflecting on what he looks forward to each day in his job:  "One of the things I like about our firm and a firm our size is the continuity and trust of the people I work with, most of whom I've worked with for a long time. I think all of us buy into the concept we have here, which is being very public spirited, very flexible, very supportive, and trying to use our skills not only on commercial matters but also trying to do some good as well.”

Anthony Capozzolo and John Moscow are quoted in ABC News about the recent Manafort cooperation agreement and sentencing issues.

"Puerto Rico es un centro financiero sofisticado que forma un centro natural entre América Latina y los Estados Unidos", dijo Art Middlemiss, un profesional de cumplimiento y socio de Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss. "La conferencia mostró el compromiso de la comunidad bancaria internacional de Puerto Rico con las mejores prácticas internacionales de cumplimiento y su reconocimiento de sus responsabilidades como miembros del sistema financiero global".

Partners Manuel Varela and Cristián Francos authored a paper on the Argentine Notebooks investigation which was quoted in Argentina’s La Nación.

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP must turn over documents relating to its former representation of two failed Platinum Partners hedge funds to the Cayman Islands-based liquidators who are now winding the funds down, a New York bankruptcy judge said Thursday over the firm's objections. The liquidators are represented by Jack Gordon and Bruce Grace.

“A fundamental issue arises when an advisory firm’s financial interests are in direct conflict with the financial interests of its clients,” said Lewis Baach partner Jason Berland. “Although a conflict is not always fatal, where there is no disclosure or where it appears that a
firm is placing its own financial interests over that of its clients, such as wrongly using fund money to benefit a parent company at the expense of the fund, the conflict becomes a breach of a fiduciary duty and exposes an advisor to significant penalties.”

©2018 ACA Insight and ACA Compliance Group. All rights reserved. Reproduced with written permission of the publisher.

« Au cours de l’enquête, BNP Paribas ne s’est pas révélée très coopérative, beaucoup moins que d’autres banques », se souvient le procureur en chef de la division des enquêtes financières, Adam Kaufmann. 

“All of this smells like a crime,” said Adam S. Kaufmann, a former chief of investigations for the Manhattan district attorney’s office who is now a partner at the law firm Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss. While the statute of limitations has long since lapsed, Mr. Kaufmann said the Trumps’ use of All County would have warranted investigation for defrauding tenants, tax fraud and filing false documents."

Mr. Cohen’s apparent change of heart on buying Ms. Clifford’s silence, after the “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced and nearly capsized Mr. Trump’s campaign, could help investigators make the link, said Anthony Capozzolo, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn who handled corruption cases. [...] “Access Hollywood” tape “is exactly the kind of evidence that beats that argument,” by helping prosecutors frame the Clifford payment as a response to the damage the tape inflicted on Mr. Trump’s campaign, said Mr. Capozzolo.

The IRS can take action in cases of exorbitant compensation, but it rarely does.

Jeff Tenenbaum, head of the nonprofit practice at the DC-based law firm of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC, said for 501(c)(3)s, the IRS can levy penalty taxes on those receiving excessive compensation as well as those who approved it.

He said for 501(c)(6)s such as the CPA institute, “revocation of tax-exempt status is the IRS’ only remedy — and one rarely utilized.”

American Law Institute's Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance incorporates a number of 'black letter' provisions that are more favourable to assureds

Other practitioners aren't so sure about the APA argument. “You can't generalize about the procedural propriety of revenue procedures,” Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a nonprofit attorney at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC in Washington, told Bloomberg Tax. “It depends on the substance of the revenue procedure.”

Tenenbaum said Montana's APA position “may be a bit of a stretch.” The lawsuit, filed July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, “certainly highlights the fact this seems to be a political dispute dressed up in procedural arguments—on both sides,” he said.

Still, Tenenbaum said, states “absolutely” have a legitimate argument for the IRS to provide them with information they need to enforce their own standards for entities’ tax-exempt status.

Ms. Plochocki is quoted in the article as addressing the court saying, “We’re not asking for the court to revisit drone policy, we’re not taking a run at the drone program,” she says. “Plaintiffs [just] want an opportunity to be meaningfully heard, just as… if they were designated for economic sanctions or told that they couldn’t board a flight to Cleveland.”

SAS Institute v Iancu ended the PTAB’s practice of partial institution for inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.

“We are gratified that the court recognized that, as a U.S. citizen, Mr. Kareem has the right to be heard in court before his government can decide to kill him, and we look forward to these proceedings continuing to a final resolution,” said Tara J. Plochocki, partner with the Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss law firm.

“The AICPA did a thorough and highly detailed job not only in pointing out needed areas for improvement and refinement of the Form 990, but also in supplying the specific verbiage needed to effectuate the changes,” Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a nonprofit attorney with Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC in Washington, told Bloomberg Tax.

Non-US insurers with exposures to Iran-related business face a difficult six months to bring their business into compliance with US president Donald Trump’s newly reinstated snap-back sanctions

A government coverup of the Cohen reports “makes no sense,” said Aaron Wolfson, a lawyer who previously oversaw suspicious activity reporting for JPMorgan Chase. “I find that laughable.”

Plaintiffs attorney Tara J. Plochocki likened the case instead to challenges from people who say they were wrongly placed on U.S. no-fly lists or hit with economic sanctions. The men were also represented by Reprieve, a human rights group based in London and New York City.

Plochocki argued that when Awlaki’s father tried to sue on his son’s behalf while he was still alive, another federal judge in Washington in 2010 ruled that nothing prevented the designated terrorist Awlaki from peacefully presenting himself at a U.S. embassy and asserting his rights in court.

“We’re taking [the judge] up on that offer,” Plochocki said, such as by asserting their innocence in a sworn affidavit, court filing, administrative hearing or other means.

Tara Plochocki of the firm Lewis Baach noted that her clients do not seek review of the legality of the drone program, and are only seeking narrow due-process relief afforded by the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Plaintiffs want an opportunity to be meaningfully heard,” she said.

The complaint was filed to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) by civil rights legal organisation Muslim Advocates and litigation specialist law firm Lewis Baach…Waleed Nassar, a partner in Lewis Baach, said: “This complaint is to ensure that a clear and unequivocal message is sent worldwide to any airline that chooses to contract with United States citizens and to offer flights to the United States: discrimination against any United States citizen on any basis – be it racial, religious, perceived ethnic origin or sexual orientation – is simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

“Associations have the right to apply reasonable restrictions [on firearms] that go beyond local law since their events are private,” said Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum, Sr. Counsel, Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC, an association law expert. Similarly, he noted, sporting events, concerts and other private happenings regularly ban firearms and employ various manners of security for entry. 

Erika Levin has been recognized as a member of the 2018 International Arbitration Law360 editorial advisory board whose purpose is to provide feedback on Law360's coverage and gain insight from experts in the field on how best to shape future coverage.

“The SEC’s latest settlement with Voya Financial is another example of the SEC’s trend over the past few years to crack down on conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty,” said Lewis Baach partner Jason Berland.

©2018 ACA Insight and ACA Compliance Group. All rights reserved. Reproduced with written permission of the publisher.

“We are very pleased that the Board ruled in favor of WAG in these IPRs,” Abramson told Law360 via email. “The rulings reflect that the real party-in-interest and privity provisions in 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) constitute a serious limitation on the time frame available for interrelated parties to challenge patents through inter partes review.”

Manuel Varela, especializado en derecho penal en Washington, cree que las consecuencias de este caso para el grupo español pueden ser "gravísimas"

“We are pleased to have several claims that have survived IPR attack, such that Makor’s patent infringement case in the district court can go forward at least as to those claims,” Ron Abramson, an attorney for Makor, told Law360 on Tuesday. “As I am sure you are aware, current statistics show that the large majority of instituted IPRs result in invalidation of all challenged claims. We are pleased to be in the exception to that rule in the present cases.”

[Makor is represented by Ronald Abramson and Ari J. Jaffess ]

If the patent owner can make the case that there is a factual issue about whether the invention is conventional, "that'll almost always get you out of summary judgment," said Ronald Abramson of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC. "This opens up a big can of worms to avoid summary judgment."

Recent brain studies investigating CTE create uncertainty for defendants and their insurers

Criminals are opportunists. They like money. There’s a ton of money in college basketball. And, as evidenced by the federal criminal charges against 10 people, including four Division I NCAA men’s basketball assistant coaches and a senior executive at a major athletic apparel company, no one seems to keep a particularly close eye on that money — and pots of unsupervised money create attractive opportunities.