Judge Gold rules Florida law on Cuba travel is unconstitutional

If you wanna go to Cuba, now's a good time to pack your bags. Yesterday Obama eased restrictions on travelling there. And today, Judge Gold issued an Order finding a Florida law making trips there more expensive unconsitutional. Here's the Herald's take:

A federal judge Tuesday morning overturned a 2008 state law that increased registration fees and requirements for travel agencies specializing in trips to Cuba.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan S. Gold's decision comes just a day after the Obama administration announced lifting several travel restrictions to Cuba -- allowing Cuban exiles to visit the Island more than once a year, pushing for use of cellphones on the island and easing requirements for remittences to relatives.
In question was the 2008 Sellers of Travel Act approved by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist. The act required travel agencies in Florida selling trips to Cuba to post up to a $250,000 bond and pay up to $25,000 in registration fees.

In other news, another UBS client who hid assets offshore pleaded guilty. From the Herald:

A Lighthouse Point man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale to filing a false income tax return, as part of a wide-ranging government probe of wealthy clients of Swiss banking giant UBS AG who hid assets offshore.
According to court papers, Robert Moran had $3.4 million in a UBS account in Switzerland as of Dec. 31, 2007, but didn't report to the Internal Revenue Service that he had the account nor declare income from it as required by U.S. law.
Moran, who is founder and president of Moran Yacht & Ship in Fort Lauderdale, faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
He held the UBS account in the name of Winter Drive Investments, S.A., a Panamanian corporation that he controlled, according to court papers.
A U.S. citizen who has or controls an offshore bank account worth more than $10,000 is required to say so on income tax returns.
Moran is the second UBS client to face criminal tax charges since UBS agreed in February to provide the United States with the names and account information of 250 to 300 U.S. clients.

Back from Spring Break

Well, spring break is over, and you can feel it -- it already feels like summer outside. I'm already missing the blast of cool air from last week.

This week, we'll be sure to hear the Castroneves verdict.

Last week, I missed the 11th Circuit's opinion in Gen. Noriega's case. Looks like he is headed to France (!!). The Federal Criminal Defense Blog -- run by friend of blog Tom Withers -- has all the details.

Liberty City is still moving along. They've had 36 trial days -- Defendant Batiste is on the stand now...

Vanessa Blum covered the Riolo Ponzi scheme here. She raises the interesting question of whether trustees and receivers do more harm than good for investors. South Florida Lawyers covers a similar question here. Friend of blog David Rothstein in the Blum article:

As attorney David Rothstein of Miami put it: "People who perpetrate Ponzi schemes typically don't keep very clean records."Rothstein represents victims of another alleged Ponzi scheme under investigation in South Florida. In that case, federal regulators say George Theodule of Lake Worth raised more than $40 million, using fresh funds to repay earlier investors.

Theodule misappropriated at least $3.8 million to purchase expensive luggage, electronics, artwork and jewelry, according to a civil lawsuit filed in December by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Theodule's attorney, Russell Weigel of Miami, said his client disputes the allegations.To the frustration of his investors, Theodule has not been charged with any criminal activity. And according to Rothstein, it's unknown how much of the money entrusted to Theodule is left."Typically, when people live large, the money evaporates," Rothstein said.

Finally, you'll notice a new comment policy on the blog. You gotta sign in first. You can still post under an alias, but I think this will add a bit more accountability. We'll see how it works.

Helio Castroneves case to jury

Here's AP coverage and Sun-Sentinel coverage of the closings. Here's the govt case:

Racing champion and reality TV star Helio Castroneves took part in "a pattern of deception" with his sister and lawyer to avoid paying taxes on more than $5.5 million, a federal prosecutor told jurors Thursday in closing arguments.Prosecutor Jared Dwyer said the group had wealth and success but thought "the rules didn't apply to them" when it came to paying taxes. So, Dwyer said, they funneled Castroneves' income into shell corporations and offshore accounts to hide it from the Internal Revenue Service and shirk a tax bill of roughly $2.3 million."Mr. Castroneves wanted to take advantage of all the opportunities in this country but skipped out on his responsibilities," Dwyer said.

The defense:

In closing arguments, defense lawyers for Castroneves insisted he did not cheat on his taxes and had followed the advice of his attorneys and accountants. They reminded jurors Castroneves has not collected most of the money at issue and would only owe taxes when he is paid."There are mistakes and ignorance at times, but at the end of the day there is no crime," said attorney David Garvin.
***
According to prosecutors, after learning the U.S. firm would withhold 30 percent of his contract for the IRS, Castroneves and his co-defendants diverted the income to a Dutch company to avoid the deduction. Although Castroneves has not yet received the money, he still owes taxes under the constructive receipt rule, Dwyer told jurors.But defense lawyer Roy Black called the government's reasoning absurd. "You pay the taxes when you get the money, that's the bottom line," Black said.The jury is expected to begin weighing the evidence on Friday.

Helio Castroneves closing arguments on Thursday

You gotta know when to hold em...

Check out this cool story about a Yale Law School student who doubles as a professional poker player. From the end of the story:

After graduating from Yale in 2005 with a degree in political science, Selbst pursued a Fulbright Scholarship in Madrid. When she returned the next summer, she turned pro and, within a year, won the first of her World Series payouts, taking her game to the final table of the No-Limit Hold-Em event, which ESPN broadcast, and banking $101,285 for her seventh-place finish.In the summer of 2007, Selbst again reached the WSOP finals and took home $140,000.Before returning to New Haven for law school, on June 12, Selbst won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOP, taking home her first bracelet and $227,933 in winnings"People still say to me, 'Oh, you play poker. Do you make a living at that?'" Selbst says."I'm going to try to make it out for a couple of tournaments, if I can, this summer, but everything is up in the air until I find a summer job. Law school kind of gets in the way of it all."

"In 25 years on the bench I have never seen anything approach the mishandling and misconduct I have seen in this case."

That was Judge Emmet Sullivan today, ordering a probe into the Ted Stevens case. Here's the AP. The coverage of the case is worth a read. From the article:

During Tuesday's hearing, Sullivan read a primer on criminal procedure, the kind of rudimentary lecture students normally receive during their first year of law school.
The judge said he has seen a troubling trend of prosecutors withholding evidence in cases against people ranging from Guantanamo Bay detainees to public officials such as Stevens. He called on judges nationwide to issue formal orders in all criminal cases requiring that prosecutors turn over evidence to defendants.
It was a stinging rebuke of the Justice Department and Sullivan called on Holder to order training for all prosecutors.

In (misconduct) news closer to home, a large internet pharmacy case was dismissed in Judge Zloch's courtroom today. You remember this one -- it's the Google jury... Here's coverage by the Health Care Fraud Blog:

In a stunning development with implications in two large prosecutions, the United States dismissed with prejudice an Indictment against 10 individuals today in a South Florida courtroom, two of whom had already plead guilty and testified in the trial against the other eight defendants. This follows an eight week trial featuring two mistrials, one based on prosecutorial misconduct and also included accusations against the government of witness tampering and the testimony of a federal prosecutor to attempt to refute the testimony that the government gave permission for one of the defendants to operate his business.

Bad times for lawyers

The Herald's business section has a long piece on how the tough economy is affecting lawyers. And Julie Kay makes a special guest appearance here. (UPDATE -- Julie wrote the long piece as well, but they cut her name out of the byline!). One of the recruiters quoted in the article has this happy thought for lawyers who have been laid off: "Think about learning a new practice area or even a new career."


In other news, Jay Weaver has the latest on the Helio Castroneves case. Here's a small part of the article and the necessary picture:

Castroneves' lawyers maintain he owes no taxes on the Coimex earnings because the payments were made to his father, who lives in Brazil and once supported his son's career. As for the racer's Penske income, the money went to a Dutch annuity account -- income that Castroneves will start receiving next month, when he intends to pay his taxes.
The prosecution's portrayal of Castroneves as a chiseler could undercut his charismatic profile -- he's also known for winning the Dancing With the Stars reality TV show -- in the eyes of 12 federal jurors. As his trial wraps up this week, they will soon decide the fate of Castroneves, 33, his sister/manager, Katiucia Castroneves, 35, and his attorney, Alan R. Miller, 71, of Michigan.
They're charged with conspiring to evade paying taxes on $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004. If convicted, they could each face five to 10 years in prison.
Such an outcome would crush the racing star's career.
Whatever their decision, the jurors' verdict will come just after the start of the IndyCar Racing season, which got under way Sunday with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg -- a race that Castroneves won in 2006 and 2007. For this season, Penske has replaced Castroneves, a two-time Indy 500 winner, with Will Power.

"He left behind a watch collection that Prince Charles would be envious of."

Mike Tein has gotta be the most quotable lawyer in the District. The watch collection belongs to Won Sok Lee. The Palm Beach Post has the story:

After four years as a fugitive, alleged hedge fund swindler Won Sok Lee was in U.S. District Court on Friday morning; having been arrested in his native Korea in February as he tried to board a plane to Argentina.
Lee faces more than 30 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with KL Financial Group, which swindled wealthy Palm Beach residents out of almost $200 million.

Tein was the receiver in the KL case.

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A couple of you have emailed me the story about the federal lawsuit by ASA David Ranck against State Attorney Kathy Rundle. The Herald had an editorial about the case here. And Jay Weaver has been covering the case -- here's a snippet from the latest article:

The original prosecutor on the case, David Ranck, had similar misgivings about Espinosa's shooting of the teen. Ranck was taken off the case by Fernández Rundle after he told the Miami-Dade lead detective it was "not a good shoot" early in the investigation."The deceased was found unarmed, and no firearm was found around where he fell nor on the codefendant when he was captured, " Ranck wrote in an office memo a month after the January 2004 shooting, noting that homicide detective Charles "Buck" McCully told him that no gun was ever found.Also in the memo, Ranck alleged an "appearance of impropriety" because a Miami-Dade police major, Angus Butler, had called the state attorney's office to have him removed from the case. Ranck, who said he was taken off the case for "diplomatic reasons, " raised doubts about the "independence" of Fernández Rundle's office.Last August, Ranck sued Fernández Rundle and her top two assistants after she suspended him without pay for 30 days because he posted his memo on the Justice Building Blog, a Miami-Dade legal community website. Ranck said he posted it in May 2008 only after he had been assured by prosecutor Richard Scruggs that the case would be closed. A key hearing in Ranck's federal lawsuit is set for June. For his part, Llanes pleaded guilty in 2005 to burglary and second-degree felony murder charges, being held responsible for the officer's fatal shooting of Barquin. Llanes received a six-year probationary sentence as a youth offender.

There's Rumpole making news again. The case raises some interesting questions -- can a prosecutor be suspended for speaking out about the handling of a case?