Federal prosecutors in Brownsville have just indicted a former governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and a businessman from that state for federal crimes including money laundering, racketeering, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and drug smuggling. This is the second former governor of a Mexican border state to be indicted by federal authorities in less […]
HOUSTON CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAW BLOG
Criminal defense attorney Nicole DeBorde of the Hochglaube & DeBorde Law Firm in Houston gets results. Visit her Houston criminal defense law blog to see proof of her respected and responsive legal representation.
U.S. Sentencing Commission In fiscal year 2012, the U.S. Sentencing Commission received 84,173 reports of federal criminal convictions. Of those, 5,768 involved the possession of firearms or ammunition by individuals prohibited from having them. People prohibited from having firearms include, but are not limited to, people convicted of certain state or federal felonies or domestic […]
In May 2006, more than 200 officers finished a 15-month undercover operation called “Operation Fish Bowl” with a massive drug raid. It resulted in the arrests of 41 people on federal drug distribution charges and the seizure of an estimated $1-million worth of drugs and 25 guns. The fact that struck one narcotics officer the […]
Philanthropist on Trial A prominent international trade lawyer from El Paso is on trial this week, accused of conspiring to launder nearly $500 million for a Mexican drug cartel. The case is one of the highest-profile drug money laundering cases ever brought against a U.S. citizen, and part of the government’s fury may be due […]
In 2010, a Dallas-based journalist who specializes in exposing ties between the government and private security firms formed an online collective called Project PM. The reporter, whose stories have appeared in publications including the Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, and the Guardian, wanted to investigate confidential documents unearthed by groups like WikiLeaks and the super-secret hacker […]
A former senior policy adviser for the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to plead guilty to federal fraud charges after allegedly explaining his frequent, long absences from work by claiming to be working with the CIA. Sadly, however, the resolution of the man’s charges has been delayed due to health concerns. According to reports by […]
Zeus Virus Reuters recently broke the story that the infamous “Zeus” virus has been repurposed. “Zeus” installs malware on personal computers that allow hackers to directly control those PCs, has been repurposed. Cybercriminals have typically used malicious software to commit Internet fraud and identity theft for direct financial gain. They are now finding it much […]
Cocaine Crack Disparity Saves Millions From the mid-80s to 2010, the federal sentencing guidelines instructed judges to sentence people convicted of drug offenses involving crack cocaine 100 times more harshly than those whose convictions involved powder cocaine. The reason for that sentencing disparity was a misperception about the comparative dangers between the two forms of […]
In an unprecedented and very positive move, the U.S. Department of Justice has just announced that it will undertake a massive review of federal convictions that may have been based on misleading testimony by FBI laboratory analysts. Federal prosecutors will comb through the cases of more than 2,000 people, some of whom are facing the […]
Supreme Court Ruling on Drug Dogs When can dogs sign a search warrant for drugs? This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that dogs can provide probable cause for a search. The ruling in Florida v. Harris was unanimous. It is still possible that citizens accused will be able to challenge the reliability of the […]
