President's Financial Fraud Task Force Gets Rare Win in Atlanta and Other News
After another late night of listening to tapes of witness interviews and undercover phone calls, I’ve just put on a little Richie Havens to look over the federal criminal news for you readers.
Much has been written over the past couple of years about the lack of financial institution fraud cases brought by the Department of Justice. However, the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, Sally Quillian Yates, announced yesterday a sentencing in a case investigated by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Task Force. Mrs. Yates announced that Atlanta businessman, Charles Michael Vaughn, who operated CM Vaughn Emerging Ventures Fund, was sentenced to 8 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $9 million in restitution.
The announcement lauded the efforts of the multi-agency approach of federal law enforcement, regulatory agencies and others working to investigate and prosecute financial crimes in the markets. Quite frankly, that seems like a little bit of a stretch here to fit this case in that dynamic. This case seems more like the usual sort of fraud case traditionally handled by the FBI, or Postal Service.
Of absolutely no relation, but of note because it is such a rare event, federal district court Judge Richard J. Holwell, 65, is leaving the bench to form a boutique firm with two of his former partners at White & Case. Judge Holwell recently presided over the insider trading trial of Raj Rajaratnam. Of particular interest, Judge Holwell, noted in his interview with the New York Times that being a federal judge is “an extremely rewarding job, but [that it] can also be an extremely isolating job.” Also, he said that his move back into private practice had nothing to do with the compensation difference between private practice and the judiciary. You gotta like the guy to. Instead of maintaining the “Judge” before his name in private practice, he says, “I’m going back to Rick.”
