Archive for November 2014

By: Stella Park In Fogo de Chao (Holdings) Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec.,[1] the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently overturned a district court decision denying Fogo de Chao’s L-1B visa petition for churrasqueiro (Brazilian-trained) chef, Rones Gasparetto. The district court upheld a determination by Vermont Service Center, an…

By: Rocco DiCicco In early November, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a harsh prison sentence for Bernard Bagdis, a Philadelphia tax attorney convicted of several white-collar crimes in 2012. Bagdis was the organizer of a complex tax-obstruction and tax evasion scheme that used shell corporations, a phony Irish bank,…

By: Charlene Collazo In In re City of Detroit[1], Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes determined that the City of Detroit’s (“City”) plan of adjustment to cut their $18 billion debt to $7 billion was “reasonable, fair, and equitable”[2] and their exit-financing plan to pay this debt met the requirements of the federal bankruptcy code under Chapter…

By: Carter Norfleet Washington, D.C., Marijuana Legalization Initiative 71 was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the District of Columbia, and it was approved. Initiative 71 fully legalizes the possession and use of up to two ounces of marijuana and the possession and cultivation of up to three marijuana plants.[1] However,…