Taking Stock of The DOJ's Next Targets

Out of dozens of stocks Joseph Russoniello owns, the Department of Justice identified eight of them as potential conflicts of interest once he becomes Northern California’s U.S. attorney. They are: Intel, NVIDIA Corp., Cisco, Verisign, Extreme Networks, Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service, and Washington Mutual.

A DOJ spokesman told Cal Law that the department identifies conflicts based on what’s “pending” in the district, meaning ongoing litigation — or investigations.

It’s those investigations that tickle Legal Pad’s curiosity.

We know NVIDIA and Verisign received grand jury subpoenas for stock option backdating. And even though the SEC has cleared them, it stands to reason backdating is what landed those companies on Russioniello’s conflict list. Extreme Networks has also had backdating issues.

But what about those five other companies?

Washington Mutual has been in the news lately in connection with the subprime mess. New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed suit alleging the company was involved in an appraisal rigging scheme. With the mortgage crisis worsening, perhaps the honchos at DOJ think WaMu could come across the Northern District’s radar screen.

As for the other four, might federal prosecutors have secret probes under foot? Readers, by all means share your conspiracy theories.

—  Dan Levine