Above The Law Sued by UM Law Professor Donald Jones

NLJ has the details:

It's the kind of story that tends to get big play on the legal blog Above the Law: A prominent University of Miami School of Law professor and civil rights advocate arrested on suspicion of soliciting an undercover officer for sex.
The blog had plenty of fun with the story in October 2007 with a series of posts about Donald Marvin Jones, whom it dubbed "The Nutty Professor."
The only problem was that it didn't happen that way, and the blog's coverage veered into racism, according to a lawsuit Jones has filed in federal court. He alleged that Above the Law portrayed him in a false light, invaded his privacy and infringed the university's copyright on his faculty photo. Jones seeks $22 million in damages.
An online article about the arrest by David Lat, Above the Law's managing editor, "instigated its readers not only to read the post but also to join in what was clearly a viciously racist series of rants" directed at the African-American professor, the suit claims.
Jones did not respond Monday to calls for comment on the lawsuit, which he filed pro se in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 27. The suit names Lat, Above the Law publisher David Minkin and parent company Dead Horse Media Inc., now called Breaking Media LLC, as defendants. Lat also declined comment on the suit.

Judge Cooke pulled the case. Here's the complaint.

Where in the world is Scott Rothstein

Thanks to a tipster, we have more evidence that bloggers are taking over the world. This time, they've tracked down Rothstein! No joke.

Key count kicked in case against former head of DEA

Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum recommended (in a 43-page order*) that an obstruction count be dismissed against Tom Raffanello, the former DEA chief and then head of security for Allen Stanford. The Herald has the details here:

Two months after one of Miami's most celebrated drug cops was charged in the Allen Stanford financial scandal, a federal magistrate is recommending that one of the key charges be thrown out.
Judge Robin Rosenbaum said prosecutors failed to prove Tom Raffanello -- head of security for Stanford's worldwide enterprise -- interfered with a federal investigation by ordering the destruction of reams of company documents.
The former Drug Enforcement Administration chief, who left the agency to join Stanford's security force in 2004, was charged with ordering the shredding of records just days after federal agents shut down Stanford's empire in a massive fraud case in February.
Though prosecutors said Raffanello defied a court order by destroying the documents, Rosenbaum said the government failed to show he impeded the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's probe.
The magistrate fell short of rejecting the entire case, however, saying prosecutors were able to show the former drug cop destroyed records in the course of a federal investigation. Her recommendation will be taken up by presiding Judge William Zloch later this month.

You can always count on Sharpie for a good quote:

Raffanello's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he was pleased with Rosenbaum's recommendation.
``We hope Judge Zloch not only agrees with Judge Rosenbaum, but throws out the entire case,'' he said.
Lead prosecutor Paul Pelletier could not be reached on Monday. However, prosecutors have argued in prior hearings that Raffanello and co-defendant Bruce Perraud were aware of a judge's order to preserve all company documents when they called a shredding truck to the company's Fort Lauderdale security bunker on February 25.

UPDATED -- Here's the DBR article by John Pacenti.

*Even though it's not 90 pages, Judge Marcus would still be proud.

Blogs crush main stream media

At least on legal stories, no? Take for example the story of Scott Rothstein and his firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler. This weekend a story exploded about Rothstein travelling to Morocco amid allegations of fraud. And the Daily Pulp and the BrowardBeat were all over it. MSM limped in on Monday morning with this story, citing to the blogs as breaking it:

The Daily Pulp, a blog by the Broward Palm Beach New Times, reported over the weekend that money is missing from investors. Rothstein could not be reached for comment on his cellphone or by e-mail Sunday.
***
Browardbeat.com, a political blog, reported that several lawyers had been laid off from the firm.
The blog also reported that the firm plans to go to court Monday to ask that a receiver be appointed.

Those two blogs are definitely worth checking out... They are all over this very interesting story. Rothstein has retained firm lawyer Mark Nurik to represent him, and the firm has hired Kendall Coffee.

Happy Halloween

So, Judge Cooke sentenced a cooperting UBS guy to probation the other day, and today Judge Cohn sentenced a similarly situated co-defendant to 3 months in prison. Curt Anderson has the details:

A federal judge Friday rejected a plea for probation from a New York businessman who admitted concealing $8 million in secret Swiss bank accounts, imposing instead a three-month prison term in the high-profile tax evasion case.
U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn said toy salesman Jeffrey Chernick deserves credit for his cooperation in the broad U.S. probe of Swiss bank UBS AG. But he said allowing Chernick to avoid prison for filing a false tax return "sends the wrong message" in a case that has made international headlines.
"If the court issues a slap on the wrist, to me the notoriety becomes negative," Cohn said. "It essentially informs the public that you can cheat on your income taxes and get away with probation."
Chernick, 70, had faced between 18 months and two years under federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors asked Cohn for a nine-month prison term, noting that Chernick's disclosures led directly to the indictments of a Swiss banker and Swiss lawyer on conspiracy charges as well as charges against other UBS clients in the U.S.

Interesting to see the differences in the judges' comments and the ultimate sentence.

Anyway, I'll leave you all with this video, wishing you all a Happy Halloween: