Massachusetts
Man convicted of fraudulently seeking $13M in COVID-19 loans
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts businessman has been convicted of fraudulently seeking more than $13 million in federal coronavirus pandemic relief loans, federal prosecutors said.
Elijah Majak Buoi, 40, of Winchester, was convicted Thursday of four counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution following a three-day trial in Boston federal court, according to U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins’office.
Prosecutors said Buoi submitted six loan applications through the Paycheck Protection Program but misrepresented the number of employees and payroll expenses for his startup company, Sosuda Tech. He also submitted fraudulent IRS tax forms to support his applications, they said.
The loan program was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act that allowed qualifying small businesses and other organizations to receive forgivable loans to cover payroll, mortgages, rent and utilities.
Buoi was able to obtain a $2 million loan before he was arrested in June 2020. Rollins’ office said the government has recovered nearly all of the money.
Buoi’s lawyer Bryan Owens said Sunday that his client was “mislead” by a bank loan officer and made a “good faith mistake” in completing the tax forms.
He added that Buoi is a “dedicated family man” who has “overcome tremendous obstacles in his life.” Buoi is due to be sentenced in June.
Arizona
Judge declines request to block AG threats
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge this week declined Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’request for an order blocking Arizona’s attorney general from prosecuting her if she temporarily shuts down a candidate signature portal for a required update.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joan Sinclair said the request is “premature” in a ruling issued Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Hobbs, Murphy Hebert, said she will continue with plans to shut down on March 11 the “E-Qual” system that candidates use to collect signatures they need to appear on the ballot. A shutdown is required because the statewide system is unusable once any one of the state’s 15 counties starts loading the new district maps from the every-10-years redistricting process.
Candidates must collect a certain number of signatures from voters in order to make the ballot, and most are collected using the online system.
Hobbs filed suit after Attorney General Mark Brnovich had one of his assistant attorneys general send Hobbs a letter implying she could face criminal prosecution if the “E-Qual” system is taken offline.
Roopali Desai, a lawyer for Hobbs, said the secretary is stuck between two competing laws — one requiring her to maintain an online signature system and another mandating that signatures only be accepted from voters who qualify because they live in the candidate’s district.
The lawsuit is the latest legal skirmish between Brnovich, a Republican, and Hobbs, a Democrat, both of whom are seeking higher offices. In 2020, Hobbs filed a complaint with the state bar alleging Brnovich acted unethically in representing her and her office in election cases. The GOP-controlled Legislature responded by stripping Hobbs of her authority to determine the state’s position in election cases, even though she’s the chief election official, though that provision was later blocked by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Brnovich entered a diversion agreement with the State Bar of Arizona that will result in the complaint being dismissed if he follows through with certain commitments. Brnovich has not said what’s required of him, but such agreements often involve additional training in legal ethics.
Alabama
Court overturns law suspension of judge who resigned
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A disciplinary board acted too harshly in suspending the law license of a former judge who pleaded guilty to ethics charges and resigned after investigators accused him of having an improper affair with a lawyer, a divided Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The court, by a 5-4 majority, sided with former Coffee County District Court Judge Christopher Kaminski, who challenged the suspension as too harsh, and rejected an appeal by the Alabama State Bar, which argued Kaminski should have been punished even more.
Kaminski resigned in 2019 amid judicial ethics charges that accused him of having an affair with an attorney who was handling cases in his court. The attorney, identified in the Supreme Court’s decision as Amy Marshall, later married Kaminski, the ruling said.
Both Kaminski and Marshall pleaded guilty to violating judicial ethics standards and received suspensions as punishment. But the justices said a bar disciplinary panel went too far in suspending them because of a lack of “tangible damage resulting from their conduct” and the fact that no clients or litigants complained about their actions.
Both Kaminski and Marshall, who also challenged her suspension, should have received a public reprimand at most, the decision said.
A dissent by Justice Greg Shaw said both lawyers had a “clear” conflict of interest, and he expressed concern that the majority decision would fail to deter inappropriate conduct in the future.
North Dakota
State Supreme Court rejects officer’s defamation claim
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled a former Bismarck police sergeant didn’t make a valid claim for defamation by Burleigh County’s top prosecutor.
The high court, which recently upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the claim, said Robyn Krile failed to show that State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer acted with malice when she submitted certain documents related to Krile’s professional conduct to law enforcement agencies and Krile’s prospective employers, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
Lawyer reviewed the files of Bismarck police officers as an assistant prosecutor in 2017. And in a letter to the police chief, Lawyer said she believed Krile had made false statements as an officer and that the state’s attorney’s office would no longer use Krile as a witness. Krile was later fired.
Krile complained to the state Department of Labor and Human Rights, claiming the police department discriminated against her based on race and gender. The department rejected her complaint. Krile sued Lawyer in March 2019.
Lawyer claimed the letter and other documents were privileged communications because she was acting in an official capacity when she disclosed them. The district court dismissed Krile’s suit at Lawyer’s request. Krile appealed to the Supreme Court.
Krile is also suing the city in federal court, seeking damages for pain and suffering, lost pay and other reasons. A trial is scheduled June 7.
Krile is now police chief in Lincoln.
