Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Is firing of U.S. attorney delaying cases?

|
|
 
  
Published: July 19, 2007 at 11:19 PM

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 (UPI) -- Prosecution of stock-options backdating in the San Francisco area has been delayed by the firing of the U.S. attorney and departure of top lawyers.

The office is involved in investigations at Apple Computer and dozens of other companies. In some cases, the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering moving ahead with civil cases, instead of waiting for the U.S. Justice Department, the Financial Times reported.

Kevin Ryan was one of eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration. Chris Steskal, who headed the options task force, has also left.

Scott Schools, who serves as temporary U.S. attorney, stayed on instead of leaving last week so someone would be in charge.

Michael Wang, who heads the office's criminal division, told the newspaper he does not believe the departures have caused major problems.

"Some degree of turnover is a fact of life," he said. "We have a robust inventory of white-collar cases here, and there remain extraordinary attorneys in this office who are more than capable of handling each and every one of them."

Topics: Kevin Ryan
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
Man killed in Spencer fire. The lava lamps must have ignited the blacklight posters
Passenger jet crashes into apartment building in Nigerian capitol. Over 150 princes, bank officials,...
I'll see your zombie apocalypse, and raise you "swarms of deadly spiders" invading a town in India...
Photoshop this woman at the wheel
New book is full of girls in their bedrooms, will be read by people who need to have a seat right...
★☆☆☆☆ Michigan is an uninhabitable swamp. Do not settle