Nevada
Investors sue lawyer embroiled in $300M Ponzi scam
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas attorney who was shot and wounded before his arrest by FBI agents for heading a $300 million Ponzi scheme is facing a class action lawsuit.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Monday that several investors who say they lost tens of thousands of dollars are suing Matthew Beasley.
In the suit, the plaintiffs alleged they were persuaded to invest in a company that gave short-term funding to people who had settled personal injury cases. J&J Consulting assured investors “10% to 20% returns paid every couple of months.”
The scheme goes back to 2017, according to the suit. Beasley is accused of manipulating the funds through a Wells Fargo bank account and soliciting investors with a co-conspirator who served as the president of the company.
Wells Fargo has also been named as a defendant.
The suit did not specify damages being sought.
Beasley, 49, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to a charge of assault on a federal officer following a standoff at his home.
Beasley’s defense attorney in that case, Robert Draskovich, did not immediately respond to a email message seeking comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.
When FBI agents raided Beasley’s home March 3, acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou said that Beasley stepped into view behind his glass front door pointing a gun at own head. But then he pointed it at the agents in a sweeping motion — causing one or more of them to shoot.
A four-hour standoff with FBI negotiators followed. Prosecutors say Beasley “repeatedly confessed” to his involvement in the investment scheme.
Ohio
Judge wants names behind bribes in statehouse scandal
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered attorneys for investors in utility giant FirstEnergy Corp. to reveal who from the company paid bribes in an alleged $60 million scheme to win a legislative bailout for two Ohio nuclear plants.
U.S District Court Judge John Adams told the lawyers he wanted the names by noon on Wednesday, saying “the public has a right to know how it is that the political process was so easily corrupted.”
The order stems from a proposed settlement of lawsuits filed by shareholders on behalf of FirstEnergy against board members and top executives in the wake of allegations that the company paid out bribes to win the $1 billion bailout for the nuclear plants operated at the time by a wholly-owned FirstEnergy subsidiary.
Adams ended a hearing earlier this month when FirstEnergy’s lead attorney refused to say who at the company was responsible for paying the bribes — he would only say it was a senior executive and that he could not disclose the name while the settlement was pending.
The attorney representing the investors involved with the settlement said last week that publicly disclosing the names could be harmful to FirstEnergy and its related criminal and civil cases. The attorney said they would be willing to provide the information as long as it wasn’t released publicly.
The proposed settlement of a number of lawsuits calls for FirstEnergy’s insurer to pay the company $180 million less attorney fees on behalf of board members and company executives. Other provisions include an agreement that six longtime board members not stand for reelection at FirstEnergy’s next shareholder meeting.
Adams has said he wants to know why the settlement was reached without depositions from current and former FirstEnergy officials and why no effort had been made to force former company executives to return millions in compensation.
None of the company’s executives have been charged in the investigation, but FirstEnergy in July said it would pay a $230 million criminal penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, four associates and a dark money group were indicted in July 2020 on federal racketeering conspiracy charges for their roles in the bribery scandal. Federal authorities say the $60 million from FirstEnergy was used to get Householder supporters elected to help him win passage of the bailout legislation and to prevent bailout opponents from placing a referendum on the Ohio ballot.
Householder has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial early next year.
Ohio
Mapmakers to meet on 4th set of statehouse districts
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — After three failures, Ohio’s powerful political mapmaking body convened Tuesday and set a series of meetings for hammering out a constitutional compromise on boundaries for state legislative districts.
The 7-member Ohio Redistricting Commission scheduled daily hearings beginning Wednesday and running through its next court deadline on Monday, as needed. It will be helped this time by mediators from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and a pair of independent mapmakers hired in a unanimous vote Monday night.
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected three sets of Ohio House and Ohio Senate maps drawn by the panel, ruling in a 4-3 vote each time that the plans were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to unduly favor Republicans.
Some GOP lawmakers have said they want to impeach Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a moderate Republican who joined the court’s three Democrats in those decisions. Legislative leaders have given no indication they would let such an action proceed.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the redistricting commission have asked the high court to move the state’s May 3 primary election to June 28 to allow ample time to craft the maps and make necessary adjustments to ballots. Justices have set a Wednesday deadline for responses to that request.
Separately, a three-judge panel has been appointed to hear a federal lawsuit brought by a group of Republican voters asking essentially the opposite. The parties want the court to greenlight the most recent legislative maps — which were declared unconstitutional on March 17 — because the May 3 primary is so close at hand.
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is both the state’s elections chief and a member of the redistricting commission, paused certain preparations for the primary last week after the latest maps were invalidated.
A Democratic group that’s challenging Ohio’s congressional map also has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to delay the date of the primary.
In a new suit filed Monday, the National Democratic Redistricting Commission, led by Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, argues that the latest plan for U.S. House districts is still gerrymandered to favor Republicans. Replies to their complaint are due Tuesday.
