All posts tagged: Securities fraud

DOJ withdraws subpoenas to NY Times reporters in Trump plane probe

DOJ withdraws subpoenas to NY Times reporters in Trump plane probe

Published by Sam Flores

A person enters The New York Times building in New York City on Jan. 22, 2026. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images The Department of Justice withdrew subpoenas it had obtained seeking grand jury testimony from and phone records of New York Times reporters involved in an article about security issues involving President Donald Trump’s new Air Force One jet, prosecutors told a federal judge in New York on Thursday. The move came at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge Arun Subramanian had warned a prosecutor, Sean Buckley, that he would quash the subpoenas at the request of The Times if the DOJ did not withdraw them, according to MS NOW. “Why isn’t that the right outcome?” Subramanian asked Buckley, who argued at length that the subpoenas were lawfully issued. The judge later issued an order noting that the DOJ had voluntarily withdrawn its subpoenas, which the department says were issued as part of a national security investigation into the leak of sensitive information to The Times. “As stated by …

0M New Jersey deli fraudster James Patten sentenced to 21 months in prison

$100M New Jersey deli fraudster James Patten sentenced to 21 months in prison

Published by Sam Flores

James Patten leaving U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, after his sentencing hearing on July 21, 2026. Dan Mangan | CNBC James Patten, who played a key role in the brazen stock manipulation scheme that led to a publicly traded company that owned a small, money-losing New Jersey deli having a market capitalization of $100 million, was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in prison. Patten, 67, asked Judge Christine O’Hearn to give him a sentence of no prison time at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey. But O’Hearn repeatedly cited Patten’s prior federal fraud conviction, which resulted in a 27-month prison sentence, before saying the North Carolina resident deserved another stint locked up for his role in the deli stock fraud. The judge noted that Patten set in motion the deli scheme while still on supervised release for his prior conviction, less than two years after his release from prison, and while he still owed restitution in the first case. “This is his idea,” O’Hearn said. Patten, a former stockbroker, …

New Jersey deli scammer James Patten sentencing document filed

New Jersey deli scammer James Patten sentencing document filed

Published by Sam Flores

Courtroom sketch of James Patten, left, and attorney Ira Sorkin at N.J. District Court in Camden, N.J., Oct. 11, 2022 Source: Elizabeth Williams Federal prosecutors are recommending a relatively light prison sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the notorious $100 million New Jersey deli stock manipulation case — and some of their reasons for doing so are hidden. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey, in a new court filing, conceded that the sentencing guidelines suggest a prison term between 70 and 87 months for the defendant, James Patten. But the office is urging U.S. District Court Judge Christine O’Hearn to send the 65-year-old Patten to prison for a term between 12 and 18 months when she sentences him in Camden on July 21. He’s been free awaiting sentencing since he pleaded guilty in late 2023. Prosecutors, in a version of that submission made public at CNBC’s request, cited federal criminal law, which calls for avoiding “unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of …

Ex-Trump advisor John Bolton pleads guilty to retaining national defense information

Ex-Trump advisor John Bolton pleads guilty to retaining national defense information

Published by Sam Flores

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor John Bolton arrives for a plea hearing at U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on June 26, 2026 in Greenbelt, Maryland. Al Drago | Getty Images John Bolton, a former national security advisor to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty in Maryland federal court on Friday morning to one criminal count of retaining national defense information. The information was material that the 77-year-old Bolton retained after leaving office, and he used it to prepare a book about his time in the Trump administration. The book was critical of the president. “Bolton used personal accounts to send classified information to family members who were unauthorized to access such information, including a personal email account that was later hacked by a cyber actor allegedly linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday. “The documents contained information classified up to the TOP SECRET level, as well as Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), including foreign adversaries’ military operation …

U.S. jury finds investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud

U.S. jury finds investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud

Published by Sam Flores

Andrew Left, founder of Citron Research, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles, California, US, on Monday, July 7, 2025. Activist short seller Andrew Left is set to appear in federal court Monday in a securities fraud case that shook the industry a year ago, setting up a battle over investor tips and free speech. Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images A U.S. jury found prominent investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud on Monday, the Justice Department said, in a blow to a divisive cohort of short sellers who have for years ‌goaded public companies in the U.S. and overseas with allegations of fraud and mismanagement. U.S. authorities charged Left in July 2024, alleging he had manipulated the stock market and defrauded investors with misleading claims about his positions in multiple companies’ shares, including Nvidia and Tesla, making at least $20 million in the process. Left, who runs Citron Research, denied the allegations and had pleaded not guilty. After two days of deliberations, however, the jury found him guilty of engaging in a …

Trump-IRS case should be reopened so court can probe fraud: Ex-judges

Trump-IRS case should be reopened so court can probe fraud: Ex-judges

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Air Force One on May 20, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Connecticut to deliver the commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s recently dismissed $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service should be reopened so the judge who oversaw it can investigate “whether a fraud occurred,” 35 former federal judges argued Wednesday. Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization on May 18 abruptly dropped their case against the IRS and the Treasury Department, which was based on leaks of their tax information by an ex-IRS employee in 2019 and 2020. Federal Judge Kathleen Williams of Miami District Court accordingly ordered the case dismissed with prejudice, while noting that the move cancels an upcoming deadline related to her efforts to scrutinize the matter. She also noted in her ruling that the plaintiffs made no reference to a settlement and that the defendants did not submit any settlement documents. The …

Democratic AGs snub Vance’s White House anti-fraud roundtable

Democratic AGs snub Vance’s White House anti-fraud roundtable

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Vice President JD Vance holds a press conference to discuss “anti-fraud initiatives” in the Indian Treaty Room at the White House complex in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 13, 2026. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Democratic state attorneys general declined an invitation to Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud initiatives roundtable at the White House on Tuesday, citing the fact that they were only invited on Friday, days after their Republican counterparts were asked to attend. “While we would appreciate the opportunity to engage in serious discussions, the invitation was provided with less than one business day’s notice with no agenda,” the 24 attorneys general wrote Vance in a letter dated Tuesday, after the Memorial Day holiday. “This short notice does not match the spirit of collaboration that has long defined our joint efforts with federal partners,” the letter said. “Accordingly, we respectfully decline to attend at this time.” Among the attorneys general who declined to attend is Keith Ellison of Minnesota, whose state has been the focus of Trump administration actions targeting alleged Medicaid fraud schemes …

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

Published by Sam Flores

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Department of Justice | AP A former federal prosecutor has been charged with stealing the sealed volume of the report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith about the defunct criminal case against President Donald Trump over his retention of classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021. Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is accused in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday of saving the sealed portion of Smith’s report on her government-issued computer under the file name “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf,” and then emailing the report from her DOJ email account to her personal Gmail account on Dec. 1, 2025. At the time of the alleged conduct, the 62-year-old Lineberger was managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Fla., according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Read more CNBC politics coverage …

U.S. soldier arrested for Polymarket bets on Maduro capture

U.S. soldier arrested for Polymarket bets on Maduro capture

Published by Sam Flores

Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2026 in New York City. Xny/star Max | Gc Images | Getty Images A U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant was arrested for allegedly using classified information to make extremely profitable bets on the Polymarket prediction market related to the American military mission that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the Department of Justice said Thursday. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, “was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve,” which apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in early January, the DOJ said. Van Dyke, 38, wagered a total of about $33,000 in 13 or so bets in the week leading up to that operation, with the knowledge that the United States was secretly planning military action against Maduro, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court …

DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud

DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud

Published by Sam Flores

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel next to him, at the Department of Justice in Washington, April 21, 2026. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a bombshell 11-count fraud indictment accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of secretly funding leaders and organizers of white supremacist, racist and other hate groups that the civil rights group claimed to be battling. “The SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” alleges the indictment returned by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday. The SPLC, which is a nonprofit civil rights group, is charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering. Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid at least $3 million to eight individuals, some of whom were associated with the Ku …