COMPANIES

Terrafugia Inc., the Woburn maker of a flying car, has taken in $960,000 in new equity financing, according to a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This adds to the $2m the company raised in a Series-B round held in May.

Legendary New York gangster, 93-year-old John Sonny Franzese, the alleged underboss of the Colombo crime family, has been sentenced to eight years in prison – essentially a life term – for extortion.

Safaricom, Kenya's largest company by market capitalisation, dragged down the main index after losing more than 4.0 percent on Friday.

Telkom, Africa's biggest fixed-line phone operator, said on Friday its acting chief executive officer will not renew his contract when it expires at the end of March, sending its shares lower.

Most law firm partners are only somewhat satisfied with their pay and think they should be paid more, according to a survey conducted by Major, Lindsey & Africa on the satisfaction of law firm partners with their compensation and compensation systems.

The legal sector has lost 1,000 jobs in December, recording its third straight month of job losses, but overall, the sector has more jobs than a year ago, according to the data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Linklaters has played a lead role in advising private equity investment group Apax Partners on the $1.7 billion acquisition of the value-clothing retailer, Takko Holding GmbH from Advent International.

A federal court has granted a permanent injunction, barring a Pembroke Pines, Florida woman from preparing federal income taxes for others after federal investigators found she falsely claim tax credits and deductions, including the first-time-homebuyer credit, for her customers.

A former leader and two other members of the San Francisco branch of La Mara Salvatrucha or the dreaded MS-13 criminal gang have pleaded guilty in federal court to various federal charges that include racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and the use or possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to the Department of Justice.

The U.S. Department of Justice has struck a severe blow on the members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the Gambino Family) by securing a guilty pleas from the final two of the 14 defendants, all of whom were charged with crimes that included racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, extortion, and wire fraud in April 2010.

Churchill Downs Inc., the race track operators, announced a five-year extension of their sponsorship agreement with Yum Brands Inc, making the restaurant company the presenting operators of the Kentucky Derby.

Howrey is struggling with its European intellectual property (IP) practice following the departure of its London-based managing partner Mark Hodgson, who has joined Field Fisher Waterhouse.

CMS Cameron McKenna said it has hired Simmons & Simmons US securities partner Daniel Winterfeldt to head its newly launched international capital markets (ICM) group.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has strengthened its regulatory practice with the appointment of DLA Piper's financial services litigation expert Daren Allen.

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed Robert Ashworth for the role of Asia managing partner.

Legal dramas on television helped an Illinois ex-con hone his acting skills and pass off as a hotshot lawyer, enabling him to represent paying clients for between $500 and $4500 till a court clerk recognized him and blew the whistle.

A robber, who has been nicknamed the Holiday Bandit by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has been identified as Marat G. Mikhaylich and is being sought after pulling his third bank robbery in the New York City over the past few weeks, the federal authorities said.

Nevada's new governor-elect and former federal judge Brian Sandoval has named his former clerk Lucas Foletta as his general counsel even though the latter has not passed the Nevada state bar exam.

A man who had hijacked a Puerto Rico-bound Pan American flight 281 to Cuba four decades ago and then voluntarily returned to the United States in October 2009 and surrendered to federal authorities so that he could see his family again, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison without parole.

Bank of America (BofA) has paid $2.8 billion to mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it had sold mortgages to them that did not meet specifications.

Federal authorities are clueless about the mysterious circumstances in which the dead body of a former Pentagon political appointee in President George W. Bush's administration had landed up in a dumpster.

Seven hospitals located throughout the southern part of United States have agreed to pay a total of $6.3 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they were overcharging for osteoporosis procedures, said Department of Justice (DOJ).

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to hold off a $60 million contract awarded to Microsoft to integrate 13 DOI e-mail systems and consider competing bids from Google and others.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the federal agency, which oversees U.S. offshore drilling, has allowed Shell Offshore Inc. and 12 other oil and gas companies to resume deepwater drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico without the need to submit revised exploration or development plans for supplemental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews.

A former and longtime employee at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has been charged with illegally exporting infrared military technology to South Korea, though he is not accused of taking technology or related materials from the research center, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The new council of U.S. regulators will face a major test on Tuesday when it unveils recommendations on how to enforce one of the most recognizable if inscrutable aspects of the six-month-old Wall Street reform law: the Volcker rule.

CES 2011 is over but Motorola Xoom still continues to wow the media, even as reports tumble out that the Xoom can act as a weatherman too but RIM is closing in with its PlayBook which received rave reviews at the event.

The fulfillment of Google's dream to rule the sky which neared reality with its $700 million acquisition of ITA Software may fail as the U.S. Department of Justice gears up to file an antitrust motion to block the deal.

World’s largest coffee chain Starbucks Corp on Thursday signed a pact with Tata Coffee Ltd, part of India’s Tata group conglomerate, and Asia’s largest publicly traded coffee grower, to source beans and explore opening retail stores in India.