Loans From the Litigants

The senior judge of a federal appeals court was tried with others for selling his rulings. Prosecutors said a go-between approached parties with cases pending before the judge's court and offered to get them favourable decisions, and that about $182,000 reached the judge through loans to his companies, loans routed through intermediaries and payments disguised as business expenses. The cases included patent disputes, commercial appeals and a criminal prosecution. The defence said the evidence showed several separate deals rather than one conspiracy, did not tie the judge to it, and that in any event his decisions in those cases were legally correct on the merits.