by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sun, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
The Department of INjustice: Polar Pen Melts In late 2008, young FBI agent Chad Joy filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility claiming that the prosecutors hid evidence in the Stevens “Polar Pen” case. He had to request...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sun, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
The not knowing made the holidays extremely stressful for the defendants and their families. But finally, on January 7, 2008, Judge Werlein denied Spencer’s motion to remand Jim into custody. He punted the case back to the Fifth Circuit, to ask them if it would be...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sat, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
BOHICA: On March 19, 2007, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Regents, a civil suit against several large banks that had done transactions with Enron, including Merrill Lynch in the Barge transaction. The Fifth Circuit reversed the decision and held that the...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sat, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Continuing Chapter 8: Meanwhile, in Houston, the trial of Skilling and Lay… Once again it was the task force’s show with prosecutors Kathryn Ruemmler and Sean Berkowitz. The defense request for Brady material was met with a FBI form 302—a report of an interview, that...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sat, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 8 Continued: Bayly, incarcerated at Petersburg, Furst at Seagoville, and Jim Brown at Fort Dix, lived in daily fear of being attacked—by the guards as much as by the inmate population. There was no privacy. The filth and bugs were everywhere. Prison was...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Fri, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 7: Supreme Reversals April 27, 2005. Ms. Powell was invited to sit in on the oral argument before the Supreme Court by Maureen Mahoney. Assistant Solicitor General Michael Dreeben argued the case for the government. The Supreme Court included Chief Justice...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Fri, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 5: Nailing the Coffins The judge made the following errors: At the prosecutors’ request, he expanded the already broad definition of conspiracy (which requires an “agreement”) beyond all prior boundaries by adding “or understanding.” He did not give the...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Fri, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 4: The Nigerian Barge Deal: No crime here, but people are going to prison. In going over the indictment of Jim Brown and his colleagues, Ms. Powell noted that there were no real criminal offenses in the indictment. Instead, it cobbled together parts of...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Thu, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 2 Chapter 2 is the actual beginning of the story behind Licensed to Lie. It is the attack on the Enron Corporation. The characters in the scenario are: Enron Executives: Jeffrey Skilling, CEO Andrew Fastow, CFO Ken Lay, Chairman Jeff McMahon, treasurer Ben...
by Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Thu, 2017 | Licensed to Lie |
Chapter 1 Licensed to Lie starts with the 2010 suicide of 37 y/o US prosecutor Nicholas Marsh. Then a flashback to 6 weeks earlier with the unexplainable crash of a private airplane in Alaska in which former Senator Ted Stevens was on a fishing trip with some...