Legal News

PM Roundup: Kent Gets 33 Months, YouTube Clips in the Closet, More

By Ashby Jones

While we await the word from the Marc Dreier hearing, let’s get you up to speed on the legal news you might have missed from Monday, May 11, 2009:

Kent Gets 33 Months: Disgraced federal judge Samuel Kent was sentenced Monday to nearly three years in prison for lying about groping two female employees. Kent was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to the secretary and case manager whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case ever filed against a sitting federal judge. Kent was ordered to surrender to authorities June 15. AP.

Goldman Settles Subprime Suit: Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $60 million in fines and cut back loan principals for subprime borrowers following a probe into how major investment banks are involved in writing loans to borrowers with poor credit, said Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts AG, on Monday afternoon. As part of the deal, more than 700 Massachusetts homeowners struggling with subprime mortgages will have their monthly payments reduced - some by as much as 35 percent. WSJ, Boston Globe.

Charges Added to Stanford Exec’s Indictment: Laura Pendergest-Holt, chief investment officer of the Stanford Financial Group, will be indicted Tuesday on additional charges besides existing counts of obstruction of justice, reports Fox Business Network. The Stanford executive is accused of obstructing the federal investigation into an alleged $8 billion fraud involving certificates of deposit sold by the firms in the group. Dow Jones Newswires.

Supreme Court Roundup: For a smattering of the day’s takes on the Souter departure and the nomination process going forward, check out E.J. Dionne’s piece in the WaPo, encouraging an “honest” nomination fight; the NYT’s Adam Liptak on why newspaper columnists (and bloggers) heart Justice Scalia; and Dahlia Lithwick at Slate on the five YouTube clips that could cause potential nominees the most trouble.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).