Lawyer Ethics and the Registered Sex Offender
An associate who was fired from Kirkland & Ellis in 2004 after admitting he attempted to arrange a meeting "to engage in an oral sexual act" with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl has been suspended from practicing law in New York for three years.
In a rare 3-2 decision in a disciplinary matter, a five-judge panel of the New York Appellate Division, 1st Department, agreed that Steven J. Lever "brought shame to himself and to this State's Bar" by using the Internet "to prey on minors for purposes of sexual gratification." They also agreed his conduct required "a ...
Child Rape Death Penalty Case Dies
I know that I am once again courting controversy on this topic, but here it goes anyway.
Last week the Supreme Court declined to reconsider its controversial June ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana which sounded the death knell for the death penalty for child rape.
As you might recall, the Court based much of its reasoning on the emerging "national consensus" that the death penalty for rape is wrong. What no one seemed to realize at the time, however, was that Congress passed a law in 2006 specifically allowing the death penalty for child rapists under military law. Once ...
FTIA-ROTIA-AAA and the Axis of Evil
On September 27, 2006, Families Thru International Adoption potentate Keith Wallace repeatedly testified, under oath, before the United States Congress that he "didn't have much information" about Masha Allen's adoption even though he had been "invited here today to provide the committee with all the information I have about the adoption of Mr. Mancuso."
A close comparison of Wallace's spoken and written testimony, however, reveals that he left out a lot of unqualified praise for Jeannene Smith. Here's what Wallace says in his written testimony:
FTIA's working relation...
Governing the Flesh Trade
By now almost everyone has heard about NY Governor Elliot Spitzer's participation in a high-end prostitution ring. The criminal enterprise responsible for the Emperors Club VIP was indicted in federal court under the same law which prohibits human trafficking. The Governor himself engaged in such trafficking when he ordered up a $2000/hour seven diamond rated prostitute, Kristen, from NYC for delivery to his hotel room in Washington in violation of the Mann Act.
According to the New York Times:
The official said the discussions were likely to focus not on prostitution, ...
Womb Outsourcing Threatens International Adoption
I guess it was only a matter of time before a simple straightforward technological solution was found to eliminate the abuses in international adoption. Today's New York Times highlights the Rent-a-Womb outsourcing movement in India.
An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of India's mix of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low ...
Global Corruption in the Global Village
The Joint Council on International Children's Services has a worldwide reach into some of the darkest corners of the child trafficking industry. Apparently so does Masha Allen's not-really adoption agency unless you believe Deborah Spivack, Families thru International Adoption.
A concerned reader of this blog recently forwarded a large number of emails purportedly from FTIA's [CENSORED] Senior Coordinator [CENSORED].
In these emails from 2006, [CENSORED] details her close relationship with longtime JCICS past-president and board member Deb Murphy-Scheumann.
In a message ...
Focus on Adoption – a Rogues Gallery
Let me keep it as simple as possible. Since as early as December 5, 2004, the "intercountry adoption advocacy organization" Focus on Adoption has been a virtual rogues gallery of the leading unethical playas in international adoption.
On December 5, 2004, the FOA website listed Jeannene Smith as the organization's treasurer. Smith's name, along with Keith Wallace of Families thru International Adoption, appeared prominently in Masha Allen's October 7, 2003 Child Profile Study Report. Clearly Smith, along with Wallace, knew exactly what had become of "child porn star" ...