New York Paralegal Blog

By: Joel Irving  The recent federal indictment and ongoing legal proceedings against Sean "Diddy" Combs have thrust the dark realities of sex trafficking into the harsh glare of public scrutiny. While the headlines often focus on the celebrity aspect, it's crucial to understand the very serious legal framework behind these allegations, particularly in the context of what has been alleged to have occurred with his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. US federal law, specifically the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), defines sex trafficking as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age. Let's break down how the allegations concerning Cassie Ventura, as widely reported from her civil lawsuit and subsequent te...

BEAUMONT, TX—A federal judge has sentenced a 36-year-old Dallas man in connection with his role in a pair of complex, lucrative oil and gas Ponzi schemes that operated in Michigan and Texas, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas John M. Bales announced today.

WASHINGTON – BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. (BP Alaska) will pay a $25 million civil penalty and carry out a system-wide pipeline integrity management program as part of a settlement for spilling more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil from the company’s pipelines on the North Slope of Alaska in 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced today.  The penalty is the largest per-barrel penalty to date for an oil spill.    “This penalty should serve as a wake-up call to all pipeline operators that they will be held accountable for the safety of their operations and their compliance with the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the pipeline safety laws,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.  “Companies l...

WASHINGTON – As oil and gas companies make tens of billions in profits and the government scours the budget for savings, President Obama called on Congress to stop handing them $4 billion annually in taxpayer subsidies. America’s oil production last year reached its highest level since 2003, but we need to invest in the energy of the future, instead of subsidizing the energy of the past. Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, April 30, 2011 Washington, DC After the worst recession since the Great Depression, our economy is growing again, and we’ve gained almost 2 million private sector jobs over the last 13 months. But I also know that a lot of folks aren’t feeling as positive as some of those statistics might suggest. It’s still too hard to find a job. And even if you have a job, chances are you’re having a tougher time paying the rising costs of everything from groceries to gas. In some places, gas is now more than $4 a gallon, meaning that you could be pay...

WASHINGTON—Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has agreed to pay a $21.4 million criminal penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve improper payments by J&J subsidiaries to government officials in Greece, Poland, and Romania in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced today. The agreement also resolves kickbacks paid to the former government of Iraq under the United Nations Oil for Food Program. J&J is headquartered in New Brunswick, N.J., and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company manufactures and sells medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer health care products.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his office has reached settlements with six New York-based home heating oil companies serving the Hudson Valley, Catskills, Southern Tier and North Country for various violations over the past year, including improperly adding surcharges for credit card payments and failing to provide required notifications to consumers. The agreements with Paraco Gas Corporation, Depew Oil Company, Inc., Vaincourt Fuels, Wilson Oil, Kuno Oil and Russo Fuel end various deceptive practices and provide refunds to more than 500 consumers who were wrongfully charged, as well as penalties and costs to the state. “Home heating costs account for a substantial portion of most hard-working New Yorkers household budgets, and any illegitimate or surprise costs added to the bill are unacceptable,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “It is particularly disturbing when companies take advantage of consumers purchasing such a basic and needed service. I continue to urge ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (September 10, 2008) – Attorney General Cuomo today warned landowners of potential perils and strong-arm tactics when dealing with oil and gas exploration companies. His office released new materials and guidelines to protect consumers and ensure they get the best deal for their land should they choose to become involved in an oil or gas exploration lease. The Attorney General’s Office has become aware of potentially misleading or improper tactics used by certain exploration and development companies to obtain leases from landowners. The office is investigating a significant number of complaints from landowners regarding these tactics and urges anyone who believes they have been defrauded by an unscrupulous representative of a gas exploration company to contact his office at 800-771-7755. A new downloadable tip sheet and brochure can be found online at www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/environmental/consumer_guides.html . More...