Tag Archives: featured

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Drug Companies, Legal News, Organized Crime, Personal Injury, Supreme Court

Scott, Campbell counties hop on board Big Pharma racketeering lawsuit train


Two East Tennessee counties are now on board to join a growing and fast-moving national effort to use federal racketeering laws to hold drug makers, distributors and dispensers accountable for creating and fostering the opioid epidemic in the United States, records show.

Government leaders in Campbell and Scott Counties have authorized the filing of lawsuits in U.S. District Court against the firms that make, distribute and dispense opiate prescription painkillers.

The law firm Jessee & Jessee filed the first such legal action in the federal Eastern District of Tennessee on behalf of Campbell County earlier this year. The law firms Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and Taylor & Knight filed a similar action on behalf of Scott County late last week.

Full Read – https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/03/06/scott-campbell-counties-opioid-epidemic-big-pharma-racketeering-lawsuits/399172002/

Blog, Criminal, Family, International, Legal News

France to introduce 15 as legal age of consent for sex

France announced plans to make 15 the legal age of consent for sex after high-profile cases including those of two men who escaped rape charges for having sex with 11-year-old girls caused national outrage.

Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa told the AFP news agency Monday that “the government has decided to set the age at 15” following public consultations and recommendations from a panel of experts.

The legislation, which will be presented to lawmakers for approval later this month, is part of a slew of government measures to tackle sexual violence, gender-based discrimination and harassment.

Adults can be charged with groping and sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison if they’re found guilty of abusing a child under 15. The more serious charge of aggravated sexual assault or rape of a child carries a sentence of up to 20 years — but coercion or violence must be proven.

Full Article – https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/06/france-introduce-15-legal-age-consent-sex/399119002/

Blog, Business Law, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

A Mafia Acquittal Is the Latest L for Quebec Law Enforcement

Crime experts are expecting Montreal’s gang wars to heat up this year.

Patrick Lejtenyi

Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito walked out of the Montreal courthouse on Monday, February 19 as free men. That this caused surprise among organized crime observers is understandable. That it caused extreme frustration among law enforcement is probable, given that this is yet another case against Quebec-based organized crime figures botched by the cops and the Crown.

The two alleged high profile Mafia leaders had their charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and gangsterism tossed out of court after Quebec Superior Court Judge Eric Downs ruled that key evidence was inadmissible. That evidence stemmed from wiretaps planted by police in 2015 in the office of lawyer Loris Cavaliere—wiretaps that the judge said violated the sanctity of solicitor-client privilege. The accused argued that investigators didn’t put in enough safeguards to guarantee the privacy of Cavaliere’s other client. The judge sided with them and threw the wiretap evidence out, leaving the Crown with little else to prove Rizzuto and Sollecito’s guilt.

Full Read – https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/evmq3p/a-mafia-acquittal-is-the-latest-l-for-quebec-law-enforcement

Blog, Civil Rights, Criminal, Family, Legal News, Personal Injury, Supreme Court

House of Horrors Turpin couple SMILE to each other in court as more abuse charges brought

HOUSE of horror couple David and Louise Turpin flashed each other a smile as further charges of child abuse were brought against them.

By Dan O’Donoghue / 

The grinning ghouls are accused of keeping 13 children imprisoned, chained and starved in a squalid suburban home.

The evil pair were advised of three new charges of abuse during a brief hearing at Riverside County Superior Court in California on Friday.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the new charges included three counts of child abuse and Louise was also charged with a felony assault.

Speaking outside court attorney spokesman John Hall said: “Further investigation we have been doing in this case led us to amend the complaint, which is not uncommon.”

The Turpins were arrested on January 14 at their home in Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, after an emaciated teenage girl climbed out of a window of the house and called police.

Officers responding to the scene found her 12 siblings ranging in age from two to 29 inside, suffering from malnourishment, muscle wasting and other signs of severe abuse.

Full Article – https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/684374/House-of-Horrors-Turpin-couple-SMILE-in-court-charges-brought

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Family won’t pay El Chapo’s lawyer without kingpin’s sign off

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s family members are refusing to cough up attorney’s fees unless they hear the kingpin himself order the payment, it was revealed in court Thursday.

Guzmán​ ​–​ ​in what would have been his first public words since his extradition in Jan. 2017– stood shakily, clutching a piece of paper in his hand, before prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg interjected and said she was worried he’d use the opportunity to pass secret messages.

“He desires to speak to the court directly,” defense attorney A. Eduardo Balarezo said​ in Brooklyn federal court Thursday​, as his client was overheard telling his interpreter in Spanish​,​ “I am sick for all the situation.”

“He wants his family to know they should pay his attorney,” Balarezo continued. “Obviously he wants me to take my fees, and sometimes people need to hear that directly from the horse’s mouth.”

Read Full Article – https://nypost.com/2018/02/15/family-wont-pay-el-chapos-lawyer-without-kingpins-sign-off/