New York Paralegal Blog

CRAIG DRIMAL was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 66 months in prison for his participation in an insider trading scheme in which he obtained and traded on material, nonpublic information (“Inside Information”), including information misappropriated from the law firm of Ropes & Gray. DRIMAL pled guilty to five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy on April 26, 2011. U.S. District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN imposed today’s sentence.

NEW YORK, NY (November 13, 2008) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that two of the largest pharmacy chains in the United States – CVS and Rite-Aid – have entered into agreements with his office to provide New York customers with prescription medication instructions in their primary language. With these agreements, CVS and Rite-Aid, which also owns Eckerd and Genovese pharmacies, will counsel all pharmacy customers about prescription information in their own language and provide written translations in Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French, and Polish. Attorney General Cuomo initiated an undercover investigation into the policies and procedures of pharmacies after receiving and reviewing complaints that pharmacies routinely fail to advise non-English speaking customers in a language that allows them to understand the purpose, dosage, and side-effects of their medications. New York law requires pharmacists to personally provide information about prescription drugs...

Today Attorney General Cuomo sent the attached letter to Edward Liddy, the CEO of AIG. The letter sets forth that: (1) AIG will freeze any payments under former-CEO Martin Sullivan's $19 million contract; and (2) AIG has confirmed that no payments will be made out of the $600 million compensation and bonus pools of the Financial Products subsidiary. The letter also states the Attorney General's position that taxpayers should be repaid before any executives and that new executive pay structures should eliminate improper incentives.

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(openPR) - A safety lighting technical breakthrough by Chalmit Lighting will deliver significant advances over conventional safety light sources. LaserLite is based on a solid state laser source to provide a continuous 150 metre strip of lighting. Recessed into the floor or installed on the wall near floor level, LaserLite illuminates corridors and stairwells to exits. It is also an ideal way to highlight obstructions or even provide illumination below water. The technology has been jointly developed with Photo Synergy, a company owned by St Andrew’s University, who supply the diode pumped laser light source. Linked to a side-emitting optical fibre cable, the LaserLite is a safe and effective light source for use in oil and gas exploration and processing facilities. The light source can be installed in Zones 1 and 21 and the optical fibre, with no live electrical component is safe for use in Zone 0 hazardous areas. More...

Four debt-negotiation companies have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated federal law by falsely claiming they could reduce consumers’ debt by up to 60 percent, leading many people into financial ruin and bankruptcy. The proposed settlements bar them from engaging in further violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The settling defendants were among three individuals and seven companies charged by the FTC with deceptive and unfair practices in violation of the FTC Act (see press releases dated September 21, 2006 and December 5, 2006 ). All of the defendants in the nationwide operation were charged with misrepresenting how much they could reduce consumers’ debt, and not adequately disclosing the likelihood that consumers would be sued if they took the defendants’ advice and stopped paying creditors. The FTC also charged the defendants with not disclosing that consumers’ account balances would grow from interest, interest rate increases, late fees,...

NEW YORK, NY (August 15, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced another agreement to provide liquidity to consumers who purchased auction rate securities. Under the latest agreement, Wachovia Securities, LLC and Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC (collectively, “Wachovia”) will return over $8.5 billion to investors across New York State and the nation. The agreement settles allegations that Wachovia made misrepresentations in its marketing and sales of auction rate securities. Wachovia marketed and sold auction rate securities as safe, cash-equivalent products, when in fact they faced increasing liquidity risk. Within the past eight days, Cuomo has signed agreements restoring nearly $35 billion of liquidity to thousands of investors nationwide. Under Cuomo’s settlement, Wachovia has agreed to buy back, no later than November 28, 2008, all illiquid auction rate securities from all Wachovia retail customers, charities, and small businesses. Wachovia will also pay damages to ...

PHOENIX – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a decision by a lower court which had concluded that The Boeing Company did not engage in unlawful sexual harassment or retaliation at its plant in Mesa, Ariz. The court of appeals returned the case to Arizona for trial. In the lawsuit (EEOC v. The Boeing Company, CV-03-1210-PHX-PGR), the EEOC seeks relief on behalf of Kelley Miles, a female mechanic who works on the Apache helicopter that Boeing manufactures for the U.S. Army. Miles works at Boeing’s facility in Mesa. In the appellate decision (EEOC v. The Boeing Company, No. 05-17386, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, July 31, 2008), the court of appeals reversed the district court’s decision because it concluded that there exist triable issues of fact as to whether Miles was subjected to a hostile work environment based on her sex, whether Boeing adequately responded to her complaints...

Los Angeles - A multi-agency operation in a four-year robbery/murder investigation has lead to the arrest of multiple suspects. On July 25, 2008, in the early morning hours, a series of 20 search warrants, 12 arrest warrants, and 1 parole search were served at various locations. Warrants for an additional five suspects were issued, but at this time these suspects have not been located. The warrants stemmed from an on-going investigation of a robbery/murder case in March 1, 2004. On March 1, 2004, at about 10:50 a.m., eight suspects armed with assault-type weapons attacked armored car guard Evelio Suarez as he unloaded money bags from the truck. Suarez, 61, was shot multiple times and later died at a local hospital. The suspects fled with an undisclosed amount of cash in a white van with an unknown type logo on the side. See, LAPD .

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced today the settlement of a lawsuit against Salem County and the borough of Penns Grove, N.J., alleging violations of the rights of Puerto Rican voters under the Voting Rights Act. The settlement agreement requires the county and borough to ensure that elections are equally open to Latino voters, that Spanish language assistance and materials be available at the polls, and that Spanish-speaking voters be allowed to select the assistor of their choice. One of the concerns that led to the Civil Rights Division’s investigation was that the borough and county were violating the rights of voters who had been educated in Spanish in American-flag schools in Puerto Rico. The settlement agreement was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey contemporaneously with the complaint and an accompanying proposed order allowing federal observers to monitor election day activities in its polling place. The order still must be appro...