The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Firm Quits U.S. Lobbying for Former Thai Prime Minister

A small international law firm has ended its lobbying relationship with the former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Amsterdam & Partners on Monday submitted a lobbying termination report that says the firm's government advocacy work for Thaksin ended on June 30, two years after it began. The firm provided "counsel and guidance with respect to Mr. Thaksin's interest in Washington, DC and abroad," contacting the U.S. Justice, State and Treasury departments, according to congressional records. Amsterdam & Partners partner Andrew Durkovic in D.C. was the lobbyist on the account.

Robert Amsterdam, the founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners, said the firm has done "virtually nothing" in the United States for Thaksin, a billionaire who has lived in self-imposed exile after he was ousted during a military coup in 2006. The firm, which has offices in Washington and London, has focused most of its attention abroad on helping Thaksin and Thailand's "red shirt" protest movement, which supports the former prime minister. Amsterdam & Partners, which used to be known as Amsterdam & Peroff, in 2011 filed a petition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague urging prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 2010 Thai government crackdown against the red shirts.

Informant in FCPA Sting Case Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

The key informant in a failed high-profile foreign bribery case in Washington will serve 18 months in federal prison as a judge here flatly rejected the Justice Department's position that probation was appropriate punishment.

Prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to sentence the cooperator, Richard Bistrong, a former top official at Armor Holdings, Inc., to probation for his extensive assistance in providing details of illegal schemes in the military and law enforcement equipment industry.

Bistrong was charged with a conspiracy count for corruptly assisting Armor in obtaining contracts. Leon noted that prosecutors could have charged Bistrong with other crimes, the penalties for which could have put him in prison for many more years. Bistrong pleaded guilty two years ago, setting up what would become a closely watched sentencing hearing.

Leon said today in court that Bistrong's substantial assistance in building a novel case against 22 executives and employees in the military products arena warranted leniency. A sentence of probation, however, does not reflect the seriousness of the crime, Leon said. Prison is the ultimate deterrent to reduce the potential that other people will commit similar crimes, the judge said.

Congress Should Undo Supreme Court Privacy Decision, Panel Argues

A panel of lawyers urged Congress today to adopt legislation that would undo the Supreme Court’s decision in Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper, which found in March that someone whose medical information was shared by government agencies could not recover emotional damages.

In a wide-ranging discussion on the status of the federal government's privacy laws before a Senate subcommittee, the law professor who helped pioneer the government's role in protecting the private information of Americans in the digital age said the Supreme Court interpretation of the Privacy Act was "more narrow than intended."

"I think emotional harms that are proven to a judge are real harms here, and we should put that back in the law," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law and the former chief counselor for privacy in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President Clinton.

In First, Consumer Agency Charges Law Firm with Duping Homeowners

Updated at 3:00 p.m.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed its first ever civil enforcement action in federal court, charging a Los Angeles law firm of duping distressed homeowners into paying high upfront fees with false promises of a loan modification.

The complaint (PDF), which was filed July 18 and unsealed July 23 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses Chance Gordon and his firm, The Gordon Law Firm, of charging thousands of dollars in advance fees and then doing "little or nothing to assist consumers." The agency secured an ex parte temporary restraining order against the firm at the time it filed the complaint.

July has been a big month for the bureau, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on July 21. On the same day agency lawyers filed the complaint against Gordon under seal, they announced a $210 million settlement with Capital One Bank on charges of deceptive marketing.

The Morning Wrap

Abortion Ban Upheld...: U.S. District Judge James Teilborg ruled that an Arizona law banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy was consistent with the standards that federal courts have set on limits to late-term abortions, Reuters reports. The opponents of the law said they would file an emergency appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a last-ditch bid to keep the ban from being implemented.

... While Contraceptives Not Required: U.S. District Judge John Kane issued an injunction allowing the Catholic owners of a private company in Colorado to avoid providing their female employees with contraceptives as required under the Affordable Care Act, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

A Tough Collection: U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas ruled the families of 59 Americans killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are now legally entitled to seek more than $6 billion in damages from Iran, Hezbollah and any remaining members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, PhillyBurbs.com reports.

Senate Blocks Tenth Circuit Nominee; Could Be Last Such Vote Until After Election

The Senate effectively shut down the process for confirming new federal appeals court judges on Monday, at least until after the election.

Republicans blocked the confirmation of Robert Bacharach for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Bacharach, currently a magistrate judge in the Western District of Oklahoma, was non-controversial and supported by both of the Republican senators from his home state.

"This is not about the individual who has been nominated," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor in a debate. McConnell instead called the block part of a Senate tradition for "a bipartisan timeout" before the Nov. 6 presidential election.

Arent Fox Adds Energy Attorney to Its Lobbying Group

Updated at 5:23 p.m.

Arent Fox has added the founding managing partner and general counsel for a Washington-based energy consulting firm to its government relations and energy practices, the law firm announced on Monday.

W. Jackson "Jack" Coleman, who had been with EnergyNorthAmerica since 2009, will primarily advise members of the oil and gas industries at Arent Fox. He most recently lobbied at EnergyNorthAmerica for oil and gas companies Noble Energy Inc. and Denbury Resources Inc., according to congressional records. EnergyNorthAmerica received $90,000 from Noble and $60,000 from Denbury for Coleman's advocacy efforts during the first half of this year.

Coleman, who joined Arent Fox as counsel, said EnergyNorthAmerica didn't offer all the services he wanted to give to his clients.

Former Section Chief Sues D.C. Attorney General's Office

A former section chief of the D.C. Office of the Attorney General is suing her ex-employer, claiming she was fired for calling attention to what she characterized as "ethical concerns" about plans to reorganize the office.

Nancy Johnson was fired in January, according to the complaint she filed on July 26 in District of Columbia Superior Court. Johnson was section chief of the legal services section of the child support services division from Nov. 2005 through Sept. 2011.

According to the complaint, Johnson supervised attorneys and non-attorney employees. She claimed she was harassed and eventually fired after expressing concerns that a proposed office reorganization could create conflicts of interest, since it would require her to supervise caseworkers who also testified in litigation she oversaw.

Prosecutors Want Accused Hostage Negotiator Returned to Custody

A federal appeals court in Washington has agreed to expedite a dispute over whether a Somali man accused of serving as a hostage negotiator for pirates should be returned to federal custody and held without bond pending trial.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ordered the man, Ali Mohamed Ali, released this month amid the collapse of the U.S. Justice Department's rare prosecution. Ali, a foreign national, was put into a home confinement and monitoring program after the trial judge dismissed several counts.

The case against Ali marked the first time a person was charged in the District of Columbia for the alleged negotiation and receipt of ransom money. Ali was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in April 2011. If convicted, Ali faces a mandatory life sentence.

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia are eager to see the return of Ali to federal custody. Government lawyers contend Ali has ample reason to try to leave the country.

Loeb & Loeb Expands White Collar Practice in D.C.

Updated 1:52 p.m.

A lateral partner has joined Loeb & Loeb's white collar criminal defense, corporate compliance and investigations practice in Washington.

Nathan Muyskens, formerly a partner with Shook, Hardy & Bacon, focuses his practice on securities and commodities enforcement, criminal antitrust and anti-corruption as it relates to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His antitrust experience includes companies involved in air travel, defense, pharmaceuticals, energy, chemicals, home products, and technology.

Muyskens is also a former trial attorney for the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition.