A Phoenix real estate agent has pleaded guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme that costs lenders almost $10 million.

Federal prosecutors said 31-year-old Jason Thomas Williams pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

It was unclear Wednesday when Williams will be sentenced. Prosecutors said he could be facing up to a 30-year prison term.

Three others charged in the same case also have entered guilty pleas while the remaining defendant is scheduled for trial in July.

Prosecutors said that from September 2005 through September 2007, Williams facilitated the submission of mortgage loan applications for unqualified straw buyers that contained false information.

They said Williams and the others concealed cash kickbacks to the straw buyers from lenders.

A former Georgia bank executive who pleaded guilty to using customers and family members in a multimillion-dollar fraud conspiracy that led to his bank's downfall is scheduled to be sentenced to prison.

Randy Jones could face at least 12 years in prison on Wednesday when he is sentenced in federal court. Three others who have pleaded guilty to conspiring with Jones are also set to be sentenced.

Jones, 50, pleaded guilty in January to receiving kickbacks for real estate loans while he was an executive vice president at Community Bank & Trust, the failed Cornelia-based bank where he worked for 30 years.

The hearing started Tuesday but attorneys spent the day in court arguing over how much restitution Jones should pay and how much time he could face behind bars.

George Villanueva, charged with first-degree murder in the death of an NYPD officer, will not leave jail for months of pretrial hearings.

Instead, he'll be beamed into the courtroom via video as lawyers discuss his case in front of the judge.

Villanueva's case is part of a surge in court appearances done by video in New York and around the country, as cash-strapped communities look for ways to boost efficiency and cut costs. The tools are used in courts large and small, and the savings for some are staggering: $30 million in Pennsylvania so far, $600,000 in Georgia, and $50,000 per year in transportation costs in Ohio.

"We've had to trim our spending wherever we can and still provide what we think is effective constitutional justice, and we're doing that with the help of modern technology," said Pennsylvania State Supreme Court Justice Ronald D. Castille.

Advocates say the virtual hearing is easier on defendants, who don't have to get up at 4 a.m. to be shuttled with other criminal suspects to court, only to wait hours standing and handcuffed for an appearance. Judges say their cases are moving faster. And civil liberties groups say the practice raises no red flags.

The Consumer Justice Foundation, a free online resource for those who are struggling with legal or personal injury issues in relation to insurance companies and/or large corporations, hereby announces that Depakote class action lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs in St. Clair County, Illinois against the manufacturer of Depakote, Abbott Laboratories. These Depakote lawsuits, which carry the case numbers of St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 10-L-651 and St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 11-L-143, respectively, seek damages for the classes of plaintiffs that would be used to compensate them for medical expenses incurred and future costs that will be incurred in caring for those who have been harmed as a result of using Depakote.

The Depakote class action lawsuits mentioned above involve claims regarding pregnant mothers who used Depakote while pregnant. Depakote is generally used by people in order to help them treat the symptoms of seizure disorders that include migraine headaches, epilepsy and the manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Unfortunately, parents around the United States have claimed that using Depakote while pregnant can lead to the possibility of children of mothers who used this medication while pregnant being born with severe birth defects. Examples of these alleged Depakote birth defects have included spina bifida, neural tube malformations, heart defects and brain defects.

The lawsuits that have been filed against Abbott Laboratories claim that the company knew of the risks of the use of one specific active ingredient, known as valproic acid and its tendency to raise the risk of birth defects developing in children of mothers who ingested this substance during the early stages of a pregnancy.

These Depakote class action lawsuits further claim that Abbott Laboratories misled doctors and the public in general by downplaying these known risks, and that this downplaying of these potential risks led to the harm suffered by the children who were born with these birth defects. Plaintiffs in these Depakote class action lawsuits are seeking compensation for medical expenses and future costs of care.

Scott Johnson calls himself a crusader for the disabled. The hundreds of small businesses he routinely sues call him a legal extortionist.
Welcome to the rough and tumble world of providing access to the disabled. At the heart of the matter is the American with Disabilities Act, the controversial federal law requiring a minimum level of access in all public places.

Disabled advocates say since no government agency enforces the law, that task has fallen to private attorneys who file lawsuits to compel the noncompliant to provide equal access to all. Because of a quirk in California law, the state stands out as a magnet for disabled-access lawsuits and several lawyers have made a name for themselves as frequent filers.

Few, though, are as prolific as Johnson.

Since 2004, Johnson has filed more than 1,000 boiler plate lawsuits in Sacramento federal court, slightly tweaking the documents to fit the target: a restaurant's service counter is too high or an apartment complex doesn't have enough disabled parking. Just last week, the Carmichael lawyer filed more than two dozen lawsuits, mostly aimed at apartment complexes.