Article: DOJ’s New No. 3 Faces Delicate Balancing Act

Article - Media, Publications

DOJ’s New No. 3 Faces Delicate Balancing Act

Jack Queen, 21 April 2021

Vanita Gupta was fresh out of law school when she heard about what happened in Tulia, Texas. Two years earlier, in 1999, nearly half of the town’s adult Black population was rounded up in a drug sting on the word of a single undercover cop, accused of selling him small amounts of cocaine. Several convictions swiftly followed, accompanied by sentences of up to 361 years. The remaining defendants, 43 of whom were people of color, started pleading guilty.

Gupta, weeks into a job at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York, sensed something was amiss. She flew down to Texas, where families shared the humiliation of seeing loved ones marched through the streets handcuffed and half-clothed, with a local newspaper later declaring, “Tulia’s Streets Cleared of Garbage.” Documents in the Swisher County courthouse told a remarkable story as well. Gupta, then 26, stuffed a suitcase full of copies and flew back to New York to pitch her bosses. Continue reading “Article: DOJ’s New No. 3 Faces Delicate Balancing Act”

Article: Las Vegas Sands probes potential money-laundering breaches at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino

Article - Media, Publications

Las Vegas Sands probes potential money-laundering breaches at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino

Bloomberg,  29 March 2021

Las Vegas Sands Corp. set up a special committee to look into potential breaches of anti-money-laundering procedures at its Singapore casino, which has already been the target of probes by US officials and local police.

The committee of three independent board members is reviewing money transfers among high rollers and third parties at Marina Bay Sands, as well as any possible retaliation against whistle-blowers, according to people familiar with the matter.

US law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP has been hired to assist with the review, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality involved. Las Vegas Sands declined to comment. Continue reading “Article: Las Vegas Sands probes potential money-laundering breaches at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino”

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