LEGAL NEWSLINE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL) released documents from its lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning alleged federal records concealment related to government-sponsored censorship before the 2022 midterm elections.

In December 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated an investigation into the major fundraising platform ActBlue to assess its compliance with applicable laws. ActBlue has faced numerous allegations of illicit activities, including claims that its platform may facilitate fraud. A key focus of the investigation is ActBlue’s previous failure to require donors to provide “CVV” codes when making credit card donations on the platform, a commonly required security measure.

The Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) announced today that it will engage with the Boston Police Department (BPD) through the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative’s Critical Response program.

LANSING – On Tuesday, Kimberly Coden, 38, of Berkley, pled guilty in the 44th Circuit Court in Livingston County before Judge Suzanne Geddis to multiple felonies related to impersonating a health care professional and witness intimidation, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Coden pled to six counts of the Unauthorized Practice of a Health Profession, a felony punishable by up to four years’ imprisonment and/or $5,000; two counts of Identity Theft, a felony punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and/or $25,000; and one count of Intimidation or Interfering...

Ongoing commercial vehicle interdiction efforts along the I-70 corridor by the Central Ohio OOCIC/HIDTA Major Drug Interdiction Task Force and the Ohio State Highway Patrol have led to two recent significant seizures, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today.

A superseding indictment was returned yesterday charging two Iranian citizens, brothers Shahab Mir’kazei (Shahab) and Yunus Mir’kazei (Yunis), and one Pakistani citizen, Muhammad Pahlawan, for conspiring to provide and providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program resulting in death and conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction resulting in death. Pahlawan is currently awaiting trial, while Shahab and Yunus remain at large.

In another victory for cross-agency collaboration on Ohio’s cold cases, BCI investigators and forensic scientists have linked the brutal attacks in 1987 of two northeastern Ohio females – one fatal – to the same suspect.

Wisconsin DOJ Launches Missing Child Alert

Springfield — Attorney General Kwame Raoul today encouraged Illinois families to visit his office’s tent at the 2024 Illinois State Fair.

Troutman Pepper client Hull Street Energy, a private equity firm that specializes in deploying capital into the power sector as it decarbonizes, has agreed to acquire four New York thermal power plants from J-Power USA.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Kevin Kenyatta Johnson, 28, of Gloverville, S.C., on two charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Super Lawyers has named four Cozen O’Connor attorneys to its 2024 Washington lists.

New York Attorney General Letitia James issued two advanced notices of proposed rulemaking for the recently signed children’s online safety laws to protect minors on social media platforms and websites.

Husch Blackwell served as counsel to a consortium of orthopedic practices—The Orthopedic Institute of Wisconsin—in the roll up and sale of 14 Wisconsin-based groups and two ambulatory surgery centers to Surgery Partners.

The attorneys general for Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington have filed suit in federal district court against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a New York-based pharmaceutical company, for allegedly inflating the amount that the states’ Medicaid programs have paid and continue to pay for the eye medication Eylea.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced that the FORCE Team has charged Ali F. Habash, 28, and Ahmed Al-Bahia, 22, both of Canton, for allegedly defrauding Amazon of more than $50,000.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading a 15-state coalition of attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States. The brief supports intervenor states aiming to prevent the Biden-Harris administration from using sue-and-settle tactics to avoid accountability for the border crisis. The administration appears to have abandoned its defense of the “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule, which allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to turn away some asylum seekers, and is instead pursuing a settlement agreement with...

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO), along with a multistate coalition of six attorneys general, has announced a settlement agreement to end unfair employment practices at Valvoline LLC, Valvoline Instant Oil Change Franchising Inc., and VGP Holdings LLC (Valvoline), a major nationwide oil change and auto services company.

We are excited to announce that Tressler attorney Andrew S. Paine has once again been selected to represent Team USA as a member of the U.S. Men’s National Amputee Soccer Team.

Attorney General Ashley Moody is continuing the Summer Scams Series: Sunny Days and Shady Deals with a warning about pool scams and highlighting recent actions taken against fraudulent pool companies.