Matthew Beasley accused of running $300 million Ponzi scheme. [RJ]
Remember the great sidewalk chalk controversy of 2013? A 9th Circuit panel ruled that a Metro officer can be sued for arresting the artistic protesters whose expressions were protected under the First Amendment. [Las Vegas Sun]
Justice Abbi Silver participated in Nevada Reading Week. [NV Courts]
Nearly 100,000 student borrowers are eligible for debt cancellation. [8NewsNow]
Absolute BS that it took 9 years for the 9th to rule on the sidewalk chalk. So basically those protestors have had to live with the fall out of metro's abusive arrests for nearly a decade. Justice delayed…
And fuck metro. What a damn waste to go harassing people with chalk. Try getting the cops to respond to a domestic violence incident and it's like moving mountains. My friend had her purse stolen and had an air tag in the purse. She could literally see the house where her purse was, but metro told her it would take at least 10 days to get an officer to respond. But damn if they aren't on those chalk villains like flies on shit.
I had a case where child abducted by bio-mother who hadn't seen for like 7 years. Not a custody dispute but a real pulled up in a car and stole when child didn't know the person. Through some relatives we found out where she was. I drove to LVMPD personally and told the police. (I learned later what to do and successfully recovered child via pick-up order and hiring another lawyer in that state to go through their procedure and their police got child). But anyway, my point is when I went there the cop said, "I can take your report but I'm going on vacation and it will just be another piece of paper on my desk." My point is not that I was young and didn't know the proper procedure but the mother f ing vacation comment. Gdamn dude, I believe 99% of cops are really good and helpful but wtf when you meet a bad one it really stings. Just venting.
Pragmatically, Metro spent more than $30k in costs and who knows how much in attorneys fees on this. With Marquis Aurbach, for 8 years, i am guessing easily 500k. How about a settlement with Plaintiffs saying, here's $10k and a commitment we wont arrest people who chalk.
$500k over 8 years? Nah I'd put it more at an even mil.
Unbelievable. And Lombardo expects us to vote for him? How is this conservative? stomping on the right to free speech and then funneling hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of tax dollars into a ridiculous court case.
I'm not shocked at all, 10:28. Any time I deal with cops or federal agents it's like pulling teeth to get them to give a shit about total obvious crimes. They all have their agendas and their work loads and are totally uninterested in adding to it.
Guest
Anonymous
March 9, 2022 6:42 pm
The Vegas Sun links never work for me for some reason.
10:42-they are following the RJ's example. If you are not a paid subscriber they are denying you access to the articles(except for perhaps the first two or three articles per month that you access being allowed, but they then block you and indicate you reached your monthly limit unless you now subscribe).
Are a lot of people trying to DDOS a minor paper in Las Vegas?
Guest
Anonymous
March 9, 2022 6:43 pm
That $300MM number looks ugly. At least until you understand how the Feds jimmy up intended loss in Ponzi scheme cases. They count every dollar that was ever requested, solicited, touched or is even plausibly involved in the crime. We had a case that involved allegations of Ponzi and the Feds claimed "intended loss" for sentencing purposes of $18M when the actual loss to victims (meaning actual amount of money that victims were not repaid) was around $147,000.
I am not saying Beasley is a good guy or did right in this case. But BOY that $300M number grabs headlines.
With the gun charge, he will do much harder time. No Camp for this dude. His partners will chill at camp playing tennis and Beasley will be locked up with chomos and hard criminals "behind the fence". If he doesnt get his head straight, he will wish he'd pulled that trigger.
With Feds claiming $300MM in intended loss, he was never going to camp anyway. For a single wire fraud charge (a) base level 6; (b) Over $250MM in intended loss is a 28 point add; (c) substantial financial hardship for 25 victims add 6; (d) sophisticated scheme add 2. Just with these he would be at 42 points which is a base offense of 360 months. Even with acceptance of responsibility, he would never be camp eligible.
1000am here
Make no mistake, a decent plea deal gets all of that down. Its all negotiable and they will dole out the 5k1.1. The partners will land under the 135 months required for Camp Eligibility. Even if they don't, they'll start at a low and are camp eligible after a couple years. But, Beasley now has a gun charge. He's done for camping and gets to do hard time with REAL criminals.
Also, intended loss is whatever they say it is. Often times, its closer to actual loss with a little more thrown in for leverage.
Guest
Anonymous
March 9, 2022 6:44 pm
Judge Abbi Silver should participate in reading week by reviewing her God awful Nevada Supreme Court opinions.
Guest
Anonymous
March 9, 2022 6:45 pm
As a primer for practitioners, who are the judges who start early and lambaste you for not being early? Who are the judges who you can almost safely assume will not take the bench until 15-20 minutes after their calendar was scheduled?
Judge Barker, also would call civil cases early as well. I arrived once at an 815AM hearing time, around 810AM, and OPC was up arguing before Judge on the case. Haha.
Judge S. Johnson and Delaney are routinely 20 minutes late to start their calendar. Of course don't be later than Judge Johnson because you will not her the end of it.
She is one of the likelier judges to make you go to trial rather than ruling on summary judgment. Maybe warranted, maybe not, I don't know. Just seems to be the case with her.
3:13. I love how all the average (below) state court lawyers hate on the federal court judges. The major leagues are rough on the minor leaguers who forged their careers throwing junk balls and lack the ability to bring real heat.
The defendant's name is Kim Blandino. Jury trial in front of Judge Leavitt. Tried to represent himself, Judge Leavitt was having none of that, Ben Bateman is tasked with representing him. Mr. Blandino is something of a celebrity in the RJC, just ask him. He does seem to get a personal marshal to watch him whenever he is in the building. I believe most criminal practitioners are somewhat familiar with him. I think he may be big with the judicial watch types but I really don't pay attention enough cause I don't care. Even though its amazing how much I do know about something I care nothing about.
I agree w/ Mr. Nadig, above. I'm sure Mr. Bateman is working WELL over what he is getting paid as an appointed attorney. My prediction: if found guilty Judge Leavitt is going to max the defendant out!
Likely that any conviction will be overturned due to violation of the defendant's right under Faretta to represent himself. Leavitt doesn't make the best record.
Of course he was. Family gets paid out. Not subject to the restitution amounts that Greg Addington would go hunting for. I do think it is always interesting that the guy who gets shot gets charged with assault for holding a gun to his own head while the guys who do the shooting are the victims.
FIF 9:25. None of the articles state he pointed it at the agents. Had gun to head. Ordered to lower the weapon. Starts lowering weapon in a (perceived) sweeping motion. Shot for following commands.
I have wondered the same thing as 9:30 regarding the mechanics of it. If you have your elbow bent to hold a gun against your head, your elbow does not hinge to go straight down or backwards. The natural pivot would bring the elbow (and thus the gun forward) in order to be able to lower the weapon. Not saying it was a bad shoot or not; however I think it is easily conceivable that Beasley tried to lower the weapon in compliance with commands and was shot for following commands.
Guest
Anonymous
March 10, 2022 5:00 pm
Spoliation of evidence? Same Justin Jones accused of hiding emails for Sheldon Adelson and Las Vegas Sands.
There's something not right about that guy. He seems like a shadester. Just something off about him from the things I've read about him in the news. Also, wasn't he the genius who tried (suceeded?) at passing law in Clark County prohibiting landlords from using income as a basis to deny a tenant application, or something equally asinine? Can he just go away?
Yikes I am not a conspiracy poster but yes 10:10 that comment does smack of someone either (a) in the first person, (b) someone from Jones Lovelock or (c) someone intimately involved in the case.
2:13 and 3:50, @10:10 here. (a) Nope (although your phrasing is strange, I think you mean to imply I was justin). I think Justin has much better things to do. (b) nope or (c) nope. Three strikes you are out. I am a conspiracy poster, because I know how things work. You don't believe that Jim Rhodes and his attorneys etc don't know how to work the PR game?
The Nevada Supreme Court has created the Bar Licensing Commission, a study committee to study the bar examination and licensing procedures. Findings and recommendations are due to be filed September 30, 2022.
It's a committee on licensing and the bar exam that has only two practicing attorneys. You can see where this is going right? In the name of "equity" they are going to water down or eliminate the bar exam or allow non-attorneys to practice. The order doesn't say what lead to the creation of the commission, but obviously this didn't happen in a vacuum.
9:55 – over half the the committee is practicing attorneys: Trachok, Chemerinsky, Morgan and Hymanson. One is a Supreme Court justice, a job that involves observing practicing attorneys every day. I didn't check the other two but it's possible they practice as well, in addition to their academic positions.
I don't care one way or the other about this committee but I think the criticism should be based in fact at least.
"Faigman has long been a leader in the call to reform the California bar exam, which presents a high hurdle for people who want to practice law in the state. For decades, California had one of the nation’s most difficult bar exams, with a passing score, a.k.a. “cut score,” of 144. (The nationwide average is 135; New York’s cut score is 133.) The California Supreme Court moved to permanently lower the state’s cut score to 139 last year, a decision that has already yielded a fairer playing field for California’s law graduates and one that was widely applauded by law school deans, including Faigman." https://www.uchastings.edu/2021/10/12/uc-hastings-leads-bar-exam-study/
State Bar website is down again. Remember when we had a website that worked and then they completely overhauled it to be a website that routinely fails.
One more comment on the State Bar website. I am a member of LRIS. They email you referrals that have contained a broken link to a 404 error on the SBN website for over a year. Called SBN; no one fixes it. Lately I have repeatedly gotten referrals that have other attorneys' names on the top. Called SBN; no one fixes it.
Absolute BS that it took 9 years for the 9th to rule on the sidewalk chalk. So basically those protestors have had to live with the fall out of metro's abusive arrests for nearly a decade. Justice delayed…
And fuck metro. What a damn waste to go harassing people with chalk. Try getting the cops to respond to a domestic violence incident and it's like moving mountains. My friend had her purse stolen and had an air tag in the purse. She could literally see the house where her purse was, but metro told her it would take at least 10 days to get an officer to respond. But damn if they aren't on those chalk villains like flies on shit.
I had a case where child abducted by bio-mother who hadn't seen for like 7 years. Not a custody dispute but a real pulled up in a car and stole when child didn't know the person. Through some relatives we found out where she was. I drove to LVMPD personally and told the police. (I learned later what to do and successfully recovered child via pick-up order and hiring another lawyer in that state to go through their procedure and their police got child). But anyway, my point is when I went there the cop said, "I can take your report but I'm going on vacation and it will just be another piece of paper on my desk." My point is not that I was young and didn't know the proper procedure but the mother f ing vacation comment. Gdamn dude, I believe 99% of cops are really good and helpful but wtf when you meet a bad one it really stings. Just venting.
Pragmatically, Metro spent more than $30k in costs and who knows how much in attorneys fees on this. With Marquis Aurbach, for 8 years, i am guessing easily 500k. How about a settlement with Plaintiffs saying, here's $10k and a commitment we wont arrest people who chalk.
$500k over 8 years? Nah I'd put it more at an even mil.
Unbelievable. And Lombardo expects us to vote for him? How is this conservative? stomping on the right to free speech and then funneling hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of tax dollars into a ridiculous court case.
I'm not shocked at all, 10:28. Any time I deal with cops or federal agents it's like pulling teeth to get them to give a shit about total obvious crimes. They all have their agendas and their work loads and are totally uninterested in adding to it.
The Vegas Sun links never work for me for some reason.
10:42-they are following the RJ's example. If you are not a paid subscriber they are denying you access to the articles(except for perhaps the first two or three articles per month that you access being allowed, but they then block you and indicate you reached your monthly limit unless you now subscribe).
IT's a thing to block DDOS from happening. Just copy and past the link, it will work.
Are a lot of people trying to DDOS a minor paper in Las Vegas?
That $300MM number looks ugly. At least until you understand how the Feds jimmy up intended loss in Ponzi scheme cases. They count every dollar that was ever requested, solicited, touched or is even plausibly involved in the crime. We had a case that involved allegations of Ponzi and the Feds claimed "intended loss" for sentencing purposes of $18M when the actual loss to victims (meaning actual amount of money that victims were not repaid) was around $147,000.
I am not saying Beasley is a good guy or did right in this case. But BOY that $300M number grabs headlines.
With the gun charge, he will do much harder time. No Camp for this dude. His partners will chill at camp playing tennis and Beasley will be locked up with chomos and hard criminals "behind the fence". If he doesnt get his head straight, he will wish he'd pulled that trigger.
His poor family.
With Feds claiming $300MM in intended loss, he was never going to camp anyway. For a single wire fraud charge (a) base level 6; (b) Over $250MM in intended loss is a 28 point add; (c) substantial financial hardship for 25 victims add 6; (d) sophisticated scheme add 2. Just with these he would be at 42 points which is a base offense of 360 months. Even with acceptance of responsibility, he would never be camp eligible.
1000am here
Make no mistake, a decent plea deal gets all of that down. Its all negotiable and they will dole out the 5k1.1. The partners will land under the 135 months required for Camp Eligibility. Even if they don't, they'll start at a low and are camp eligible after a couple years. But, Beasley now has a gun charge. He's done for camping and gets to do hard time with REAL criminals.
Also, intended loss is whatever they say it is. Often times, its closer to actual loss with a little more thrown in for leverage.
Judge Abbi Silver should participate in reading week by reviewing her God awful Nevada Supreme Court opinions.
As a primer for practitioners, who are the judges who start early and lambaste you for not being early? Who are the judges who you can almost safely assume will not take the bench until 15-20 minutes after their calendar was scheduled?
Um I always fondly recall that time I arrived at 7:50 am at Doug Smith's court for an 8am hearing only to be told my case had already been heard.
Stew Bell was routinely on the bench 10 minutes early.
Judge Barker, also would call civil cases early as well. I arrived once at an 815AM hearing time, around 810AM, and OPC was up arguing before Judge on the case. Haha.
Judge S. Johnson and Delaney are routinely 20 minutes late to start their calendar. Of course don't be later than Judge Johnson because you will not her the end of it.
Just assigned Judge Jennifer Dorsey in a removal case? Anyone have advice? I have not heard good things about her.
If Judge Dorsey were assigned to my case, I would simply tether all of my arguments to the law and write efficiently.
2:02, my apologies. Be early. Don't deal with her court reporter. Be prepared for the outrageous.
She is one of the likelier judges to make you go to trial rather than ruling on summary judgment. Maybe warranted, maybe not, I don't know. Just seems to be the case with her.
Who is she?
3:13. I love how all the average (below) state court lawyers hate on the federal court judges. The major leagues are rough on the minor leaguers who forged their careers throwing junk balls and lack the ability to bring real heat.
8:08, the way you put this is just :chef's kiss:
8:08, definitely not Judge Jennifer Dorsey
Ben Bateman deserves an award.
Who?
The defendant's name is Kim Blandino. Jury trial in front of Judge Leavitt. Tried to represent himself, Judge Leavitt was having none of that, Ben Bateman is tasked with representing him. Mr. Blandino is something of a celebrity in the RJC, just ask him. He does seem to get a personal marshal to watch him whenever he is in the building. I believe most criminal practitioners are somewhat familiar with him. I think he may be big with the judicial watch types but I really don't pay attention enough cause I don't care. Even though its amazing how much I do know about something I care nothing about.
I agree w/ Mr. Nadig, above. I'm sure Mr. Bateman is working WELL over what he is getting paid as an appointed attorney. My prediction: if found guilty Judge Leavitt is going to max the defendant out!
Likely that any conviction will be overturned due to violation of the defendant's right under Faretta to represent himself. Leavitt doesn't make the best record.
Likely hmm, maybe if the case was presented to your grandpappy's NSC…
Appears Christian Morris knocked another one out of the park earlier this week. Anyone have info on the verdict amount?
6.9 mil
Reading the RJ's story on Beasley, it sounds as if he was attempting suicide by cop.
Of course he was. Family gets paid out. Not subject to the restitution amounts that Greg Addington would go hunting for. I do think it is always interesting that the guy who gets shot gets charged with assault for holding a gun to his own head while the guys who do the shooting are the victims.
*holding a gun to his own head and then pointing it at law enforcement officers. I fixed it for you.
FIF 9:25. None of the articles state he pointed it at the agents. Had gun to head. Ordered to lower the weapon. Starts lowering weapon in a (perceived) sweeping motion. Shot for following commands.
I have wondered the same thing as 9:30 regarding the mechanics of it. If you have your elbow bent to hold a gun against your head, your elbow does not hinge to go straight down or backwards. The natural pivot would bring the elbow (and thus the gun forward) in order to be able to lower the weapon. Not saying it was a bad shoot or not; however I think it is easily conceivable that Beasley tried to lower the weapon in compliance with commands and was shot for following commands.
Spoliation of evidence? Same Justin Jones accused of hiding emails for Sheldon Adelson and Las Vegas Sands.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/clark-county/county-commissioner-accused-of-deleting-texts-prior-to-red-rock-canyon-housing-vote-2542521/
There's something not right about that guy. He seems like a shadester. Just something off about him from the things I've read about him in the news. Also, wasn't he the genius who tried (suceeded?) at passing law in Clark County prohibiting landlords from using income as a basis to deny a tenant application, or something equally asinine? Can he just go away?
11:41 – Sounds like you might be one of Jim's lackeys. Also – your use of "shadester" seems to be more applicable to you then to Justin Jones.
@10:10, ok Justin… why don't you delete that comment while you're at it
Yikes I am not a conspiracy poster but yes 10:10 that comment does smack of someone either (a) in the first person, (b) someone from Jones Lovelock or (c) someone intimately involved in the case.
2:13 and 3:50, @10:10 here. (a) Nope (although your phrasing is strange, I think you mean to imply I was justin). I think Justin has much better things to do. (b) nope or (c) nope. Three strikes you are out. I am a conspiracy poster, because I know how things work. You don't believe that Jim Rhodes and his attorneys etc don't know how to work the PR game?
So you are alleging that Jim Pisanelli/Jim Rhodes are making Justin Jones delete text messages from his phone? Yes you are a conspiracy poster.
6:07 – Do you still beat your dog?
The Nevada Supreme Court has created the Bar Licensing Commission, a study committee to study the bar examination and licensing procedures. Findings and recommendations are due to be filed September 30, 2022.
http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/public/caseView.do?csIID=63512
One interesting note, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is appointed to the study committee.
It's a committee on licensing and the bar exam that has only two practicing attorneys. You can see where this is going right? In the name of "equity" they are going to water down or eliminate the bar exam or allow non-attorneys to practice. The order doesn't say what lead to the creation of the commission, but obviously this didn't happen in a vacuum.
I love this Nevada Supreme Court. Make the bar dumber than what it already is to endangered the public. Who is the asshole spearheading this?
Its the Californiation of Nevada. Been going on for decades. DECADES!
"Who is the asshole spearheading this?" I would guess that it's everyone's favorite justice.
9:55 – over half the the committee is practicing attorneys: Trachok, Chemerinsky, Morgan and Hymanson. One is a Supreme Court justice, a job that involves observing practicing attorneys every day. I didn't check the other two but it's possible they practice as well, in addition to their academic positions.
I don't care one way or the other about this committee but I think the criticism should be based in fact at least.
The 2 California deans have advocated for effectively gutting the bar examination in California.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/insight-pandemic-provides-opportunity-to-rethink-the-bar-exam
"Faigman has long been a leader in the call to reform the California bar exam, which presents a high hurdle for people who want to practice law in the state. For decades, California had one of the nation’s most difficult bar exams, with a passing score, a.k.a. “cut score,” of 144. (The nationwide average is 135; New York’s cut score is 133.) The California Supreme Court moved to permanently lower the state’s cut score to 139 last year, a decision that has already yielded a fairer playing field for California’s law graduates and one that was widely applauded by law school deans, including Faigman." https://www.uchastings.edu/2021/10/12/uc-hastings-leads-bar-exam-study/
Why do we have Californians weighing in on this?
State Bar website is down again. Remember when we had a website that worked and then they completely overhauled it to be a website that routinely fails.
Absolutely shocked.
One more comment on the State Bar website. I am a member of LRIS. They email you referrals that have contained a broken link to a 404 error on the SBN website for over a year. Called SBN; no one fixes it. Lately I have repeatedly gotten referrals that have other attorneys' names on the top. Called SBN; no one fixes it.