New York Muni Bond Price-Fixing Suit Unsealed by State Judge

Add New York to a list of states where a whistle-blower has filed a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. fixed prices on variable rate municipal bonds and charged state and local governments for services they didn’t receive.

New York Supreme Court Judge James E. d’Auguste on Jan. 18 ordered the complaint, originally filed in 2014 like ones in Illinois, Massachusetts and California, unsealed at the request of Edelweiss

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/new-york-muni-bond-price-fixing-suit-unsealed-by-state-judge-1

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Brazilian National Charged with Making False Statements Concerning South Boston School Shooting

BOSTON – A Brazilian national was arrested today and charged in connection with sending a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that threatened an armed attack on a South Boston school in 2018.

Clebio P. De Lima, 43, a Brazilian national illegally residing in Quincy, was arrested and charged in an indictment unsealed today with two counts of making false statements to federal authorities. De Lima will appear at 11:30 a.m. in federal court in Boston.

According to the charging documents, in February 2018, USCIS’ Boston Office received an unsigned letter handwritten in Portuguese stating that an individual identified by the name of “Mario” was going to carry out an attack at a South Boston school. The letter stated that Mario had purchased two firearms and that he was looking to buy more. It is alleged that the letter concluded by stating, “I invite you to take action, I trust in you. Thank you for the great security of this country.”

Following an investigation, it was determined that the allegations in the letter were false. During an interview with agents in September 2018, De Lima falsely denied any knowledge about the unsigned letter sent to USCIS.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/brazilian-national-charged-making-false-statements-concerning-south-boston-school

“Lawsuits and settlement agreements are intended to spur rapid action. But rapid actions sometimes prioritize speed over quality,” the report said. “A mental health system — like a home plumbing system — is necessarily interconnected. Hasty efforts to reduce pressure on one pipe may create more pressure in others, resulting in new breakdowns, and even more difficult and expensive repairs in the future.”

In that vein, the monitors were also sharply critical of the state’s decision to limit all admissions to the state’s mental health hospitals to people already in the criminal justice system.

That move, made in December right as former Gov. John Hickenlooper was leaving office, was an act of desperation to get people moved out of jail and into treatment more quickly, as threats of the lawsuit loomed.

It was decried at the time by lawmakers, mental health advocates and people who worked at county mental health centers as a cruel punishment to people who needed in-patient help – but have not committed any crimes.

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/independent-monitor-state-s-plan-for-addressing-mentally-ill-in-jail-is-scattershot