Investments

Even as they face fraud allegations in federal court in Virginia, a pair of former military officers ran afoul of a federal magistrate judge in Mobile this week.

Bank Of America Investment The Virginia case -- the first civil lawsuit related to the reconstruction of Iraq to reach a jury -- began Wednesday.

Earnings among judicial workers also vary significantly. According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court earned $175, 400, and the Associate Justices earned $167, 900. Federal district court judges had salaries of $136, 700 in 1998, as did judges in the Court of Federal Claims and the Court of International Trade; circuit court judges earned $145, 000 a year. Federal judges with limited jurisdiction, such as magistrates and bankruptcy court judges, had salaries of $125, 800.

Investment Opportunity That Virginia trial pits Custer Battles LLC against former employee William Baldwin and Mobile resident Robert "Bob" Isakson, a former FBI agent whose disaster services firm worked as a subcontractor. The two sued under the False Claims Act, a Civil War-era statute that allows private citizens to collect part of damages awarded against defendants who defraud the federal government.

. (AXcess News) Houston, The Utah State Supreme Court has ousted a polygamist judge from the bench, saying his relationships with three women he considers his wives are polygamy and clearly against the law, putting his judicial office into disrepute. Judge Walter Steed who presided over the Hildale Justice Court accepted the Utah Supreme Court's decision, though he stated that he was "extremely disappointed" in the court's ruling Friday.

Banc Of America Investment Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger, and Michael Battles, a former Ranger who also served in the CIA, formed Custer Battles in 2002 and won contracts to provide security for the Baghdad airport and supply some American troops.

dollar contracting effort in Iraq are made public. A report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office in April found that monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor that there was no way to determine how many contractors are working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects in Iraq or how many have been killed.

Banking Investment Witnesses testifying this week in Virginia accused Custer and Battles of delivering trucks that did not work and failing to perform adequately in supplying cabins, mattresses, generators and Internet service.

(AXcess News) Could the third time be the charm for former Credit Suisse First Boston investment banking star, Frank Quattrone A federal appeals court raised that possibilitylast week when it tossed out Quattrone's 2004 conviction on obstruction of justice charges. His first trial, in 2003, ended with a divided jury. In a unanimous ruling, a federal appellate panel ruled that jury instructions were "flawed, " and chided Judge Richard Owen, who presided over the Quattrone trial, for making comments which went "beyond mere impatience or annoyance with the defense."

Investment Solution Strategic On Tuesday, the day before that trial began, a lawyer for Custer Battles was in Mobile federal court, explaining why Custer and Battles did not show up last month to answer questions of opposing lawyers in a separate fraud lawsuit involving Isakson's company, DRC Inc.

page written ruling, the high court unanimously agreed that Steed's personal or religious beliefs cannot transcend the laws that he has sworn to uphold while in office. "In the case of a sitting judge, it is of little or no consequence that the judge may believe a criminal statute is constitutionally defective. A judge ignores the clearly stated criminal prohibitions of the law at his or her peril, " states the ruling written by Associate Chief Justice Michael Wilkins.

Investment Banking Services DRC's lawsuit accuses Custer Battles of fraud and kidnapping. Custer Battles and its two officers have denied those allegations and responded with a countersuit, accusing DRC of fraud. The counterclaim was the subject of the Tuesday hearing in Mobile.

Bank Investment U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady ruled at Tuesday's hearing that Battles' and Custer's absence from a Jan. 23 deposition was a "willful failure to obey" a court order. But he refused a DRC request to dismiss the Custer Battles suit, saying it's not clear that he has the authority to take such action after one violation of a court order.

Alternative Investment "What is clear is if there is a second failure to comply, they get what they ask for," he said.

Online Investment Services Cassady ordered Custer and Battles to show up for a deposition in Mobile on March 21 or face a contempt-of-court charge.

Accompany Essential Investment Isakson has accused Custer Battles' officials of kidnapping him and his 14-year-old son at gunpoint and using offshore shell companies to bilk the Coalition Provisional Authority out of millions of dollars. The authority was the American-run agency that governed Iraq immediately following the 2003 invasion.

Investment Company The countersuit against DRC accuses Isakson and his company of overbilling Custer Battles for work that wasn't done and overstating DRC's financial and personnel resources, among other allegations.

Investment Management Solution Lawyers for DRC have described the allegations as baseless. "We are very suspicious about the motivation for filing this lawsuit," attorney Louis Braswell said at Tuesday's hearing.

Investment Management Services Attorneys for Custer and Battles said their clients were unable to attend the Jan. 23 deposition because they needed to testify at a hearing in Virginia on the False Claims Act case.

Guide Investment Stock Braswell told Cassady that he was suspicious of this explanation, as well.

Investment Manual Solution "We have suspected all along that these plaintiffs have been attempting to avoid their depositions," he said. "This wasn't an evidentiary hearing. There was no chance they'd be called to testify. We think that it's a ruse to avoid appearing for the deposition."

Investment Stock Separately, lawyers for Custer Battles have asked the judge to dismiss the company's two founders as plaintiffs, leaving only the company as plaintiff. Lawyers for DRC contend that is yet another attempt by Custer and Battles to avoid giving depositions in the case.

Essential Investment Solution Braswell said the entire case should be dismissed. "We have egregious conduct here," Braswell said in court this week.

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