Tyco says Abramoff funneled $1.6 million in company funds to himself News
Tyco says Abramoff funneled $1.6 million in company funds to himself

[JURIST] A Tyco International [corporate website] spokesperson has said that Tyco was the defrauded "Company A" referred to in court documents released Tuesday as part of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea to fraud and conspiracy charges [JURIST report; plea agreement]. The criminal information [JURIST document] which prompted Abramoff's plea alleges that while working for law firm Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff failed to tell the firm or his client, now revealed as Tyco, that he owned a public relations company that he was pretending to negotiate with in order to save costs while personally pocketing $1.6 of the $1.8 million dollars Tyco paid the company for public relations services. Both Tyco [JURIST news archive] and Abramoff [JURIST news archive] have become symbols of corporate and political corruption through high-profile court cases. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges [JURIST report] as required by his plea bargain, which will reduce his sentence if he provides information assisting the US Department of Justice in bringing future corruption charges against members of Congress Abramoff is alleged to have bribed. In 2005, two prominent former Tyco executives were sentenced [JURIST report] to between 8 1/2 and 25 years after being convicted [JURIST report] of grand larceny, conspiracy, and falsifying business records after stealing $150 million in illegal bonuses, forgiving huge loans made to themselves from company money, and manipulating stock prices, though both plan to appeal. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.