Legal Briefs: Michael Carona, Orange County Sheriff Sentenced to 66 Months for Witness Tampering, Ross Perot

Michael Carona, Orange County Sheriff Gets 66 Months for Witness Tampering

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona was sentenced to 66 months in federal prison and fined $125,000 for witness tampering. At his trial, federal prosecutors said Carona had accepted illegal campaign contributions and cash bribes totaling at least $432,000. Carona had been under investigation for corruption by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service when he was secretly recorded trying to persuade former assistant Don Haidl to lie to a federal grand jury.

Class Action Lawsuit Claims the Perot Family Trust Blew $2.5 Billion

DALLAS (CN) - The Perot Family Trust lost $2.5 billion in its wholly owned Parkcentral Global Hub, whose value sank from $2.5 billion to "less than zero," investors say in a federal class action. Plaintiffs say they lost "100% of their invested capital."

Among the allegations in this complicated 28-page complaint are that investors paid the defendants more than $94 million in management and incentive fees from Sept. 1, 2007 through Oct. 31, 2008, and that "from July 1, 2007 until Nov. 30., 2008, defendants wrongfully induced investors to place $219,248,551 in new capital into the Global Fund."

Here are the defendants: The Perot Family Trust, Hill Air Co. I LLC dba Perot Investments Inc., Perot Management GP LLC, Perot GP Inc., Petrus Securities LP, Steven Blasnik, and Joy Leffingwell.

Lead plaintiff Levine Capital Ltd. is represented by Ellen Presby of Dallas and Coughlin, Stoia, Geller of San Diego, Calif.