JD Journal » Eric Holder

Subpoenas Issued to 11 Financial Institutions by New Federal Task Force

jim — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:19:12 +0000

Last week, a new federal and state task force was created that will investigate mortgage fraud that helped contribute to the financial crisis of 2008. The new panel did not waste any time, issues subpoenas to 11 financial institutions.

Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General, said that the new unit is going to consist of 55 Justice Department lawyers and analysts along with 10 FBI agents who will work with state attorney general’s offices throughout the country. The task force will investigate how securities backed by mortgages were created, sold and valued by financial companies four years ago. The announcement for the new unit was made by President Obama during his State of the Union address.

“The Working Group will streamline and strengthen current and future efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute instances of wrongdoing in the packaging, selling, and valuing of residential mortgage-backed securities.” Holder said this past Friday at a press conference.

During his press conference, Holder also announced that the unit issued 11 subpoenas to various financial institutions but would not elaborate as to which institutions they were.

“You can expect more to follow,” Holder said. “Of course, I can’t go into detail about our existing investigations. But I can tell you that significant efforts are moving forward, by both federal and state authorities.”

The unit is going to be led by heads of the Justice Department’s Civil and Criminal Division, John Walsh (U.S. Attorney from Colorado), Robert Khuzami (SEC Enforcement Director) and Eric Schneiderman (New York Attorney General).

The financial crisis has been investigated by the FBI, the SEC and the Justice Department ever since the recession hit but officials are hoping that the new unit will be able to use the New York State’s Martin Act. This act allows investigators broader powers to investigate fraud in the United States. The act also allows the state of New York to issue criminal and civil fraud charges without having to show intent to commit fraud.

Holder defended the Justice Department’s record in pursuing high profile financial fraud cases at his press conference on Friday.

“There have been, I guess, 2,100 or so mortgage-related matters that we have brought here at United State Department of Justice. Our state counterparts have done a variety of things. The notion that there has been inactivity over the course of the last three years is belied by a troublesome little thing called facts,” he said.

Neil Barofsky, the former inspector general who worked on the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), said, “I’m a little puzzled by it. Here we are three years later, launching what seems like a very similar effort, except now co-headed by a state attorney general.”

The new unit has also been criticized by leaders on Wall Street, including Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan.

“It has a pretty good chance of derailing it,” Dimon said. “I think it would be better for America if that settlement took place…If this thing derails that, so be it.”

“I think this announcement today makes very clear that the focus that we have and the releases that are being contemplated are narrow enough to allow us to go forward with this while still completing a servicing settlement,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

DOJ Veteran Joins King & Spalding’s Antitrust Division

rebneely — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:00:51 +0000

King & Spalding announced in recent days that a 32-year veteran of the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice Donna N. Kooperstein has joined the firm as senior counsel in Washington, D.C.

She joins King & Spalding’s antitrust practice from the Department of Justice. There, she most recently served as chief of the antitrust division’s transportation, energy and agriculture section.

Jeffrey S. Spigel, leader of King & Spalding’s antitrust practice was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Donna’s tenure at the Justice Department and her extensive experience handling antitrust matters related to the transportation, energy and agriculture sectors give our practice additional depth and increase our capacity to help our clients in their antitrust matters in general and especially in DOJ-related matters. We are pleased to welcome Donna to our team.”

At the Department of Justice, Kooperstein supervised numerous high-profile matters, including the litigation challenging JBS’s proposed acquisition of National Beef; the successful effort in the KeySpan financial derivative case to obtain judicial endorsement of disgorgement as a Sherman Act remedy; and the lawsuit and settlement involving the proposed $27 billion Exelon/Public Service Enterprise Group electricity merger. As well, she played a major role in the department’s civil price-fixing suit against the major domestic airlines, U.S. v. Airline Tariff Publishing Co. In addition, Kooperstein supervised numerous investigations and cases in the oilfield services, agricultural biotech, railroad and maritime sectors, as well as the department’s competition advocacy activities before the Department of Transportation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Federal Maritime Commission.

Kooperstein earned her J.D. degree, with high honors, from Rutgers University School of Law, and a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan.

Kooperstein was quoted as saying: “I am excited to join the talented lawyers in King & Spalding’s antitrust practice and look forward to advising our clients in a variety of industries on key legal and policy issues affecting them.”

King & Spalding’s global competition/antitrust practice was recognized by Chambers Global in 2011. The firm represents clients on a regular basis in complicated antitrust matters before the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, European Commission, state attorneys general and other key competition authorities around the world, drawing on extensive enforcement authority experience and private practice expertise to guide clients safely and successfully through all phases of civil and criminal enforcement actions and merger investigations.

King & Spalding is an international law firm that represents a broad variety of clients, including half of the Fortune Global 100. With 800 lawyers in 17 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the firm has handled matters in over 160 countries on six continents and is consistently recognized for the results it obtains, uncompromising commitment to quality and dedication to understanding the business and culture of its clients.

The United States Department of Justice is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice. The DOJ is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet. At present, the Attorney General is Eric Holder.

DOJ Will Not Defend DOMA

joshua — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:55:35 +0000

In a letter to the Speaker of the House, Attorney General Eric Holder has informed Congress that on his advice President Obama has ordered the Department of Justice not to defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, on the grounds that it violates the equal protection clause of the 5th amendment to the US Constitution. While this clause has withstood challenges in past appellate cases, there are two cases pending in circuits for which this is a matter of first impression.

The two cases, brought in New York and Connecticut respectively, are Windsor v. United States and Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management. The DOJ’s deadline for filing a brief in each case is coming up but according to AG Holder, the administration will not be defending the law in court.

Bail Denied for Assange

joshua — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:09:54 +0000

In an update to this post, a British judge has denied bail to Julian Assange, who was arrested earlier on a Swedish warrant and is being held pending extradition. Assange stands accused of rape in Sweden, but has proclaimed his innocence and vowed to fight both the extradition and the charges.

WikiLeaks, the loose organization Assange founded and continues to run, has vowed to continue to release the US Diplomatic cables in its possession with or without Assange. Over the past few days, WikiLeaks has come under increasing public and private pressure as its website has had to move between servers and its financing has been shut down. PayPal, once a major conduit of money for the organization, has cut off users ability to send money to WikiLeaks. Since then, Assange’s Swiss Bank has closed his account and seized his assets, and today Visa and MasterCard both announced that they would no longer honor payments made to WikiLeaks.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has vowed to push any possible legal angle to put Assange in custody and to shut down the leaks, and US Senator Diane Feinstein is pressing for prosecution under the Espionage Act, but most commentators believe that such prosecution would be difficult at best, assuming the US could even gain custody of Assange.

When the Government Listens, the Terrorists Win

julie — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:34:02 +0000

Illegal wiretapping has been a touchy issue since Watergate, but after 9/11 it became something for every citizen to be concerned about. When the Bush administration put the Terrorist Surveillance Program into effect, it seemed no one was safe from the G-men listening to private conversations. Of course, no one really worried about it until the program became public in 2005.

FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, should have covered any investigations that the government needed to carry out, but instead they listened in on the Saudi-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and attorneys Wendell Belew and Asim Ghatfoor. The Foundation and the two attorneys filed suit in 2006 and this is the last case to be decided since the Terrorist Surveillance Program ended in 2007. Wiretaps were illegally installed on Foundation phones without a judge’s authorization, it was found.

According to a story by the Associated Press, “U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs provided enough evidence to show ‘they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance.’”

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder’s argument that this kind of case undermines ongoing intelligence work under the Obama administration puts him in the same camp as Bush administration lawyers. The freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are the same freedoms that terrorists fear and want to destroy. This kind of denial of basic liberties to citizens of the United States undermines the foundation of this country and brings us that much closer to the ideals of the terrorists who seek to destroy us.

Landmark Legal Foundation Will Sue if ‘Slaughter Rule’ Used to Enact President’s Health Care Plan

joshua — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:46:30 +0000

Yesterday, Mark R. Levin, president of Landmark Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, public interest law firm with offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Leesburg, Virginia, said it will sue the President, Attorney General Eric Holder and other relevant cabinet members if they try to use the “deem and pass,” “self-executing,” or “Slaughter Rule” to enact H.R. 3590, the legislative version of President Obama’s healthcare proposal, previously approved by the Senate.

According to the March 17 press release at PR Newswire: “Landmark has already prepared a lawsuit that will be filed in federal court the moment the House acts. Such a brazen violation of the core functions of Congress simply cannot be ignored. Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution is clear respecting the manner in which a bill becomes law. Members are required to vote on this bill, not claim they did when they didn’t. The Speaker of the House and her lieutenants are temporary custodians of congressional authority. They are not empowered to do permanent violence to our Constitution.”

Justice Department Under Attack

joshua — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:27:04 +0000

A group calling itself “Keep America Safe” has been running an ad attacking Attorney General Eric Holder for refusing to name Justice Department appointees who represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The ad, seen below, is charged with high octane rhetoric.

Fox News has since “outed” the DoJ lawyers who worked on detainee cases. We aren’t going to repeat the names here, but we will tell you that the lawyers worked at liberal subversive law firms like Covington & Burling, Venable, Morrison & Foerster, WilmerHale, Debevoise & Plimpton, Sidley Austin, and O’Melveny & Myers. In fact, according to ABC News, 34 out of the 50 largest US Firms have represented or filed amicus briefs on behalf of detainees.

The right of the accused to legal representation and the requirement of lawyers to zealously advocate for their clients are hallmarks of our legal system. To impugn the integrity or patriotism of lawyers who do so is repugnant to the rule of law.

“Keep America Safe”, which was formed in part by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has no apparent problem with JAG Corps officers defending detainees or the JAG Corps officers who, sitting in judgement, released several. I’m left to believe that this is nothing more than a smear attack on the Attorney General’s office, and by extension, the President. It’s shameful that they would do so by attacking the integrity of some of America’s top lawyers.

Obama Nominee Dawn Johnsen Gains Committee Approval

joshua — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:33:46 +0000

Dawn Johnsen, President Obama’s selection to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, gained approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday and her nomination will now be forwarded to the full Senate.

Johnsen was approved by a 12 to 7 vote that ran according to party lines. Republicans remain critical of Johnsen for comments she has made in the past with regards to abortion and national security. If approved, Johnsen would serve as a top aide to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Johnsen was first nominated to be an assistant attorney general in March 2009 and was subsequently approved by the Judiciary Committee. However, she failed to gain full confirmation when the Senate elected not to conduct a vote prior to its winter recess. She was renominated by Obama on Jan. 20.

Johnsen is currently on faculty at Maurer School of Law at Indiana University where she teaches Constitutional law. She is also a former deputy assistant attorney general, a position she held from 1993 thru 1996.

The Return of Orly Taitz

joshua — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:23:13 +0000

She’s baaaaack! Everyone’s favorite birther, lawyer and dentist Orly Taitz, has filed pro se in a federal court in Washington DC. In the suit, Dr. Orly Taitz v. Barack Hussein Obama, Taitz reiterates her claim that President Obama is not a US citizen and demands production of his birth certificate. She alleges that AG Holder has ignored her accusations, playing a “game of hide and seek,” she says, that’s “infantile at best and treasonous at worst.”

If this suit fails to bring satisfaction, as seems likely, Taitz has another plan. On her blog (link omitted due to malware on the site) Taitz has said she is considering a run for office. Her plan is to run for either Attorney General or Secretary of State in California so that she can use the office to launch another lawsuit against Obama.

Here’s what she has to say about it:

Severalof my supporters have recommended that I run for an office of the Secretary of State of Ca or Attorney General. As a secretary of State or attorney general I will have standing to try in court issues that were tabu to all of us as individuals. Here is a situation:
1. we don’t need 50 secretaries of state or 50 Attorney Generals suing Obama. If only one sues and gets discovery, we are done
2. in CA the democrat running for this office is an incumbent Deborah Bowen, who was worthless, didn’t check Obama’s records, and whom I sued on behalf of ambassador Keyes in Keyes et al v Bowen et al andon behalf of vice presidential candidate Gail Lightfoot in Lightfoot v Bowen. I reached the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts decided to hear the case in the conference of all 9 justices on January 23, 2009. On January 21st, right after the inauguration somebody erased the case from the docket. they re-entered it on the 22nd and during the conference on the 23rd decided not to proceed with oral argument. Later, when I talked to Justice Scalia, he didn’t remember anything about the case.
3. Republican running for office is Damon Dunn, who admitted to never even vote until last year. He was a football player and later he was in real estate. The only reason he was endorsed so far, is because he is an African American, and Republicans want to have an African American to show diversity. He admits to having no knowledge or experience with law, elections or election law
4. In terms of the office of the Attorney General, incumbent Jerry Brown is not running. From both parties we have state legislators, who termed out and are looking for a new seat to warm. Considering billions of dollars of debt in CA, all of the state legislators are lousy.
5. I will need to raise 3-4 thousand dollars to start with, probably I will need about 100,000 from start to finish
6. I will need to set a separate account, I will need a campaign manager, volunteers.
I need your input. you can e-mail me at dr_taitz@yahoo.com. put running for office in the heading

Curiouser and curiouser…

Jumping on the Polanski Bandwagon

joshua — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:05:34 +0000

Earthquakes, a tsunami, and a 32 year old sex scandal involving a Hollywood icon. This is the very definition of a slow news day for us – nobody wants to talk about lateral moves and layoffs this week. However, two tidbits of interest have popped up about the Polanski story that may interest our loyal readers.

Polanski has hired Reid Weingarten as part of his defense team. Weingarten, who is a partner at Steptoe and Johnson, is close friends with Attorney General Eric Holder and his addition to Polanski’s legal team may indicate the beginning of an effort to fight the extradition by challenging it here in the states as well as overseas.

More interesting is a report from the LA Times today claiming that advocacy on Polanski’s behalf by his current legal team from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, spearheaded by Chad Hummel, may be what pushed the LA District Attorney to aggressively seek Polanski’s arrest. In July of this year, Manatt Phelps tried to get the case against Polanski dismissed and buried in those motions was the claim that the prosecution had never tried to have Polanski extradited. That claim has been denied, but the LA Times posits that it may be what spurred the DA in to action.

Justice Department to Hire Fifty Lawyers

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:07:50 +0000

Uncle Sam wants you! The Justice Department has proposed hiring at least fifty new lawyers to bolster its civil rights division. Attorney General Eric Holder is planning to reshape the division, bringing it into the forefront of fights in which there is a disparate impact on minorities. This is a sea weather change from policies enacted under former President George Bush, when the civil rights division focused on individual cases in which there was evidence of intentional discrimination.

The New York Times has reported that 236 civil rights lawyers, in a division that normaly employs 350 attorneys, left the Justice Department between 2003 and 2007. Many of their replacements had little or no experience with civil rights law but are now protected by civil service laws.

AG Holder Announces Recovery Act Grants to Create Justice Jobs

Erik Even — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:52:38 +0000

US Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that more than $424 million in Recovery Act funds will go to 20 states, territories and the District of Columbia, to create and retain jobs within the law enforcement and judicial communities.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds are part of more than $4 billion in Justice Department Recovery Act funds available to assist state, local and tribal law enforcement and criminal justice.

Some funds will be targeted to the retention and creation of criminal justice-related jobs, in areas such as criminal courts, and crime victim and witness programs.

Those regions getting money were chosen by population and crime statistics.

Kirkland & Ellis Hires Top Bush Lawyers

Erik Even — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:44:47 +0000

Kirkland & Ellis has hired two top former Bush administration lawyers for its litigation practice group. Both are returning to Kirkland.

Former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip was a first-year associate at Kirkland in the early 1990s. He was acting attorney general before Eric Holder took the post.

Former White House Office of Management & Budget general counsel Jeffrey A. Rosen was a partner at Kirkland for over 20 years.

Kirkland laid off 80 support staff two weeks ago.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a Chicago-based law firm that practices in the US and internationally. As of 2008, it was the seventh largest law firm in the US and the 11th largest in the world by revenue. It has offices in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Munich, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto.