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A trade panel that specializes in patent cases has agreed to hear the complaint of Motorola’s subsidiary Motorola Mobility against Microsoft, the panel said on Tuesday.
Motorola Mobility, which makes handsets and is being spun off by Motorola, has accused Microsoft of infringing its patents to make some Xbox video game consoles. Get the full story »
An insider-trading lawsuit against a Deerfield ophthalmologist has been dismissed after a judge found that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not have enough evidence to show that the doctor possessed material, nonpublic information.
In February, the SEC had filed a civil suit against Dr. Gerald Horn, accusing him of engaging in illegal insider trading in the stock and options of his employer, LCA Vision Inc., between December 2005 and August 2006. The trades resulted in illicit gains of $1.4 million, the SEC said.
The SEC alleged that Horn accessed nonpublic information contained in monthly reports that listed the number of laser eye surgeries performed companywide to determine whether LCA would meet its quarterly revenue targets. He then made successful options purchases on the basis of that information, the SEC said. Get the full story »
By Andy Grimm | A former Kaplan Inc. dean was found guilty Friday of sending threatening and harassing e-mail messages to company executives, staff and students.
A federal jury found former Ben Wilcox, 45, of River Forest, guilty on each of six counts in connection with profane messages he allegedly sent from a hacked e-mail account following his firing in 2007.
Wilcox’s attorneys maintained Wilcox was framed by Kaplan in retaliation for filing a federal whistle-blower lawsuit claiming Kaplan executives engaged in widespread fraud at their for-profit universities. The jury of five men and seven women deliberated for more than seven hours. Get the full story »
A co-founder of Chicago-based Canopy Financial pleaded guilty today of defrauding investors and clients of more than $93 million, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jeremy Blackburn, 37, of Bolingbrook, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court. Blackburn, a former president and chief operating officer of Canopy, admitted participating in a scheme to bilk investors out of $75 million and siphoning funds in excess of $18 million, from 1,600 customer accounts that were intended for medical expenses. Get the full story »
Dozens of personal injury lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp. will be allowed to move forward if a federal judge’s tentative ruling becomes final. Get the full story »
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department said Wednesday it would investigate charges almost two dozen lenders have unfairly denied U.S. government-backed mortgages to qualified loan applicants.
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed a fair housing complaint with HUD against 22 lenders that offer loans guaranteed by HUD’s Federal Housing Administration. Get the full story »
First Security Trust & Savings Bank loan officer Jeffrey Gonsiewski, pleaded guilty in August to one count of federal bank fraud, was sentenced to 63 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo on Tuesday.
The U.S. Government last summer had accused the 56-year-old high school graduate of changing loan terms or arranging loans to be made in a scheme that ultimately caused the Elmwood Park-based lender, part of the Wirtz family empire, to lose more than $5.5 million. Get the full story »
The judge in Tribune Co.’s contentious bankruptcy case signaled his approval Monday to send four competing restructuring plans out for vote by the Chicago-based media company’s creditors.
If he issues the formal order by Wednesday, which will mark the two-year anniversary of the case, solicitation packages containing disclosure documents explaining the four plans will likely be mailed on Dec. 22, said a Tribune Co. lawyer.
Creditors will then have until Jan. 28 to cast their votes and the judge will use those results to gauge support for the various plans ahead of a five-day confirmation hearing set for early March. Get the full story »
Huron Consulting Group said it agreed to settle a securities lawsuit for $38 million and expects to take a related non-cash charge of about $11 million in the fourth quarter. Get the full story »
Google admitted to trespassing, but will pay just $1 to resolve a lawsuit over its use of photos of a couple’s Pennsylvania home for its Street View mapping service.
The agreement ends a case brought by Aaron and Christine Boring, who said the Internet search company violated their privacy by photographing their Pittsburgh home and swimming pool without their permission. They said the home sits on a street clearly marked “Private Road.”
“Google could have just sent us an apology letter in the very beginning, but chose to try to prove they had a legal right to be on our land,” the couple said in a statement. “We are glad they finally gave up.” Get the full story »
Fifth Third Bank has agreed to pay $9.5 million in a proposed settlement with customers who claimed they were improperly charged overdraft fees for insufficient funds on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals.
The class-action lawsuit filed Nov. 21, 2009 in U.S. District Court in northern Illinois alleges that Fifth Third changed the sequence of transactions to deplete customers’ accounts more quickly and boost the number of overdraft charges. Get the full story »
Bank of America has no evidence that it is the target of alleged plans by website WikiLeaks to disclose confidential data and that thousands of the bank’s internal documents have already been scoured by lawmakers and regulators, a top executive said Wednesday. Get the full story »
Former Obama car czar Steven Rattner has agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle federal charges over his role in a “pay-to-play” scandal, but says he won’t be “bullied” into accepting a harsher penalty from New York’s attorney general.
Bank of America was ordered by a U.S. judge to return $500 million of deposits it seized from Lehman Brothers Holdings shortly after Lehman’s bankruptcy. Get the full story »
