This column reports on several significant, representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Arthur D. Spatt declined to stay a civil case pending defendant’s appeal of his criminal conviction involving substantially the same facts. Judge William F. Kuntz II, granted the government’s motion to disqualify an attorney in a criminal case for an unwaivable conflict of interest. And Judge Margo K. Brodie held, in the context of a criminal sentencing, that the court had no authority to apply forfeited funds to a restitution order.

Stay Pending Criminal Appeal Denied

In Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Lamarco, 17 CV 04087 (EDNY, May 7, 2018), Judge Spatt denied a defendant’s application for a stay pending appeal of his related criminal conviction, and vacated a clerk’s default entered against his corporate co-defendant.