A Philadelphia-based attorney known for representing former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial has joined the defense team in a criminal case against the Trump Organization headed up by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Michael van der Veen will defend the organization in the case. The firm announced van der Veen’s participation in a post to its website over the weekend, saying that the Trump Organization has filed an entry of his appearance in the case. Van der Veen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors allege the company participated in a 15-year tax fraud scheme. The scheme allowed the organization’s executives to avoid paying federal, state, and city taxes on unreported income, the Manhattan DA’s Office said in an August news release.

The case is expected to go to trial next month. Here is what you need to know:

Van der Veen is

In the wake of the transport of nearly 50 Venezuelan asylum seekers and migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida’s rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, immigration lawyers representing the group have labeled the move as an “appalling” political stunt that should never be allowed to happen again.

DeSantis – who is both an ally and a rival to Donald Trump – has claimed responsibility for the flight as an attempt to protest against Joe Biden’s immigration policy. But the move had been widely condemned as racist and abusive towards those dumped on the upmarket resort island in Massachusetts.

Mirian Albert, a lawyer for the group Lawyers for Civil rights, said: “Lawyers for Civil Rights was not looking for this fight. Neither were our clients. But we’re more than ready to take this on. And we’re not gonna let this happen again – not on our watch.”

The result of

An attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers militia charged for her role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol texted former Trump aide Andrew Giuliani in November 2020 about the presidential election, according to former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.).

Kellye SoRelle, the attorney, also attempted to message a White House number in December of that year, NBC News reported. The report was based on Riggleman’s soon-to-be released book, “The Breach.”

The text was not delivered but instead went to a White House switchboard line.

SoRelle, who was charged earlier this month with two counts of obstructing an official proceeding and a third count of obstructing the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, confirmed both incidents to NBC.

Riggleman in late 2021 and early 2022 was an adviser to the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, where he led a digital investigation.

The former congressman

Some insults sting for a long time, especially if you’re a lawyer and the slight comes from a judge.

A Milwaukee public defender says he was insulted in court by Jeffrey Conen, a retired jurist who was back on the bench as a reserve judge earlier this month. Conen found him in contempt of court for making the allegation.

The incident, now under review by court officials, has many in the public defender’s office calling for Conen’s removal from the reserve court.

Conen is one of four reserve judges helping staff an extra branch of the Milwaukee Circuit Court to try to chip away at a massive backlog of cases resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The others are Thomas Wolfgram, Jeffrey Kremers and Daniel Konkol. The judges have been taking the bench a week at a time.

Reserve Judge John Franke has dedicated six months full-time to a second branch

NAIROBI (Reuters) – A Kenyan lawyer charged at the International Criminal Court with bribing witnesses in the collapsed trial of President William Ruto six years ago has died, Kenyan media reported on Tuesday.

Citizen Television and Standard Newspapers reported that Paul Gicheru had been found dead at his home in Nairobi’s Karen area, citing information from police.

The cause of his death was not immediately known. Police spokesperson Bruno Shioso did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In February, Gicheru denied bribing prosecution witnesses in the case against Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Sang, who were both charged with fomenting ethnic violence after a disputed 2007 election in which 1,200 people died.

Sang and Ruto – who was sworn in as president earlier this month – denied the charges.

ICC judges ruled in 2016 that the two had no case to answer, but left the door open