Boston Federal Criminal Lawyer Blog

A Massachusetts attorney accused of attempting to bribe a police chief to approve a pot shop in his town called the charges against him “manufactured” by the FBI, according to a motion to dismiss Thursday. Sean O’Donovan wrote in the motion that “no portion” of his payments to an unnamed relative of the police chief…

Law360 (May 3, 2022, 6:55 PM EDT) — A Boston federal prosecutor turned to a quip from HBO’s “The Wire” on Tuesday as the government made its final pitch to a jury that the Mashpee Wampanoag’s former chairman had a criminal quid pro quo with the architect he hired for the tribe’s proposed $1 billion…

By Brian Dowling Law360, Boston (April 28, 2022, 3:58 PM EDT) — Boston federal prosecutors rested their case on Thursday in the Mashpee Wampanoag bribery and extortion case after an FBI agent testified that an architect admitted to giving a tribal chairman about $40,000 in political donations allegedly tied to a casino deal. During five…

Law360 (April 27, 2022, 5:27 PM EDT) — A key witness in the Mashpee Wampanoag bribery and extortion trial stopped short of testifying Wednesday that the more than $50,000 paid by an architect to the tribe’s chairman were necessary to protect a multimillion-dollar casino contract. Joseph Beretta, former president of architecture firm Robinson Green Beretta,…

Criminal laws set forth a range of penalties for each criminal conviction, such as incarceration, probation, fines, and other forms of punishment. Although courts generally have wide discretion when sentencing a convicted defendant, if a judge makes sentencing errors, the defendant has grounds on which to file an appeal. A sentencing appeal allows a higher…

Jury instructions are written instructions from a judge and given to the jurors for jury deliberation, which occurs after both sides present evidence and make closing arguments at the end of a trial. These instructions are meant to guide the jury on basic deliberation procedure and provide the substance of the law on which to…

Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital asset that can be bought, sold, and exchanged for goods and services. They get their name from the encryption technology used to secure transactional data. Although cryptocurrencies aren’t considered “real currencies” in the sense of a U.S. dollar, almost any transaction conducted with them is subject to tax reporting.…

Illegal insider trading is when a person uses non-public, material information about a publicly-traded company to influence the purchase or sale of that company’s securities or stocks. In other words, insider trading occurs when someone has valuable information about a company that only a few people have access to. Armed with this information, they either…

According to Massachusetts law, cyber stalking is akin to what many other states would call “online harassment.” It is willful and malicious. It is behavior that is specifically meant to alarm, annoy, or threaten a specific target person. The target can reasonably suffer emotional distress and fear for their safety because of the stalking. Massachusetts…

According to Massachusetts law, using the internet for “illegal gambling” is specifically forbidden. It is interesting, then, that Massachusetts has not joined other states in banning fantasy sports websites. The key word in the law is “illegal.” Technically, fantasy sports websites are not illegal, but they have also not been “legalized.” These websites have been…