Oct 19 (Reuters) - Ex-strongman's scion accused
10/19/12
By Peter Rudegeair
Move over, Raj Rajaratnam. The newest high-profile target in
the U.S. crackdown on insider trading is the son of a former
world leader.
Maksim Bakiyev, the son of deposed Kyrgyzstan president
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was arrested in London on Friday on an
extradition request from the United States on suspicion of
earning several million dollars on insider trades in 2010 and
2011, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The former
economic chief in his father's government, Bakiyev was driven
into exile following a bloody revolt in 2010. He is wanted in
his homeland on charges of draining Kyrgyzstan's largest bank
and for organizing pogroms that killed hundreds of his
countrymen.
On the insider trading charges, Bakiyev is accused of
working with Taiyyib Ali Munir, a London-based equity trader who
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit insider trading on Monday
in federal court in Brooklyn. According to the Journal, Bakiyev
and Munir are alleged to have traded in shares of Tyco when they
had advance word it was a takeover target, netting them nearly
$400,000. The duo is also alleged to have traded in shares of
Global Industries Ltd when they had inside information that it
would be a party to a merger, a trade that would have turned a
$1.7 million profit had the SEC not frozen the proceeds.
Breaking ranks
10/18/12
By Peter Rudegeair
Stanford has the second-best law school in the country,
according to the U.S. News rankings, and is the fifth-best
school to go to if you want to work in Big Law, according to the
National Law Journal. But a new guide ranks it as only the
10th-best national law school for a black student to attend.
The first-ever Black Student's Guide to Law Schools, put out
this week by the website On Being a Black Lawyer, has a markedly
different methodology than the more established lists. A
school's black student population, distinguished black alumni
and the local black population account for a quarter of a
school's ranking, making those factors worth as much in its
calculation as cost and placement. Moreover, the guide also
debunks some law school myths (faculty and average student
indebtedness at graduation don't actually matter) and asserts
some law school truths (the size of a school's black alumni and
the black-faculty-to-black-student ratio actually do matter)
that you're unlikely to find in other guides.
This approach can translate into significant disparities in
rankings: The law schools at the University of Alabama, the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and Howard University do not
crack the top 25 for U.S. News, but the Black Student's Guide
has them at #7, #16 and #2, respectively. The reason why
Stanford specifically ranks lower than it does on the U.S. News
list is multifold: It has a comparatively lower black student
population, is located in an area with a small legal community
and the school's distinguished black alumni are nearly all
academics, not practicing lawyers.
Think geek
10/18/12
By Suhrith Parthasarathy
Shaping the law to keep up with emerging science and
technology is the biggest challenge for the federal bench,
especially the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts
told a Houston audience on Wednesday, according to The Houston
Chronicle.
Roberts was speaking to a crowd of nearly 48,000 people at
Rice University as part of the school's centennial celebration.
The current term, he said, will be a good opportunity to see how
prescient the Framers of the Constitution were. "Is being able
to see through walls a violation of search and seizure
protections?" he said. "What is the fundamental protection
offered by the Constitution when applied to new technology and
situations? It's a question that comes along all the time."
Roberts separately dismissed claims that the high court's
justices make decisions based on ideology, according to the AP.
In last year's controversial healthcare case, for instance,
Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee, sided with the liberal
justices, to the surprise of many, to uphold the Affordable Care
Act's individual mandate. But the close votes, he said, have
nothing to do with politics.
"It's easier for reporters to say that this justice is
liberal, that one conservative," Roberts said. "I don't think
that's a very useful way to look at it. That is imported from
the political side. Most of our cases are unanimous."
(An earlier version of this column misstated the court where
Taiyyib Ali Munir pleaded guilty. It is Brooklyn federal court.)