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D.C. Residents Rank Highest
As Victims of Fraudsters
The District Columbia had more fraud victims per capita last year than any other state or region in the United States, according to a new Federal Trade Commission report.
Maryland ranked 11th and Virginia 26th when Washington is included in the rankings, the report says.
Nationwide, consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which represents a 25 percent increase over the previous year.
Investment scams were the most common kind of fraud. They accounted for $5.7 billion in losses. Imposter scams ranked second with $2.95 billion reported lost.
Fraud induced through bank transfers or cryptocurrency payments created more losses than all other payment methods combined.
“The data we’re releasing today shows that scammers’ tactics are constantly evolving,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a press release.
In one example, fraudsters posing as charitable organizations advertised websites in January where donors could make online bank transfers to help victims of the California wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area.
The scams prompted Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb to issue a consumer alert in which he said, “Many Washingtonians understandably want to help those harmed by the devastating wildfires in Southern California. Unfortunately, there are bad actors who prey upon that generous spirit, taking advantage of a natural disaster in order to line their pockets.”
The FTC reported similar pitfalls for consumers that showed they commonly fell victim to fraud through online shopping, followed by payments to take advantage of business and job opportunities.
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
Judge Says Musk Team’s Foreign Aid
Terminations Lack Constitutional Authority
A federal judge in Greenbelt, Md., last week ordered the Trump administration to halt the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development in the first ruling to take aim directly at Elon Musk.
The judge said Musk appears to lack constitutional authority because he is unelected and not confirmed by the Senate.
In addition, the agency was created by Congress so only Congress has the constitutional authority to shut it down, the judge ruled.
If the court ruling is upheld on appeal, it could undercut nearly all government reform efforts ordered by Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency he leads.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang said the Department of Governmental Affairs "likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only plaintiffs, but also the public interest."
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Latest News
Trump Says Biden’s Pardons
Void by His Use of Autopen
Skepticism continues in the legal community this week over President Donald Trump’s announcement on social media that the pardons granted by his predecessor are invalid because they were signed with an autopen.
He was referring to a wave of preemptive pardons former President Joe Biden granted in the final hours of his presidency.
They included members of his own family and the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. The committee’s report accused Trump of inciting a riot as part of an attempt to block Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social. “In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”
Autopens are electric devices with motorized arms used for quick and automatic signing of signatures. They are used commonly by government and corporate officials who are called upon to sign documents frequently.
Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
Our work is as important today as it has ever been. Through your support, you can play a role in creating justice for thousands of marginalized members of our community. Together, we will dismantle injustice and pursue lasting change.
Join us! Donate & subscribe: https://www.washlaw.org/support-us
Volunteer with us: https://www.washlaw.org/get-involved/
For more information, contact Gregg Kelley at Gregg_Kelley@washlaw.org
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Letters to the Editor
D.C. in Brief
Virginia Judge Says Human Embryos
Are Not Property in Divorce Partitioning
A Fairfax County judge’s ruling that frozen human embryos are not “goods or chattel” is putting a new spin on how Virginia defines property that can be divided through divorce proceedings.
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Dontaè L. Bugg invoked a 19th century slave law in saying that humans – or their embryos – could not be considered property.
State law allows partitioning of marital property through divorce but until now was silent on embryos.
The case involved a dispute between former spouses Honeyhline Heidemann and Jason Heidemann over ownership of two embryos they froze during a 2015 cycle of in vitro fertilization.
They divorced three years later while the embryos still were in storage.
Honeyhline Heidemann testified at a bench trial that the embryos were her only chance to have another biological child after cancer treatment left her infertile. She asked the court to give her ownership of the embryos so they could be implanted in her.
Jason Heidemann disputed his ex-wife’s right of ownership and to be fertilized with the embryos without his consent. He said he did not want to become a biological father to another child after the divorce.
Bugg wrote in his opinion that there was no law authorizing the purchase or sale of fertilized eggs, similar to property. As a result, they could not be part of the marital property for which a divorce court determines ownership.
“In fact, the embryos are as unique as any two people that may be selected from the population, including siblings with the same biological parents,” Bugg wrote.
D.C. and Maryland Attorneys General
Join to Halt Education Dept. Shutdown
Attorneys general from the District of Columbia and Maryland are joining a 21-state legal effort to stop President Donald Trump from shutting down the U.S. Department of Education.
Trump signed an executive order last week that seeks to shut down the Education Department but he also raised questions on whether he can succeed in closing the department that has overseen student loans, grants to schools and civil rights in education since 1979.
Trump said he wants to return supervision of schools to the states.
Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts that asks for an injunction to block Trump’s order.
It says halting the Education Department’s key functions is “equivalent to incapacitating key, statutorily-mandated functions of the Department, causing immense damage” to states and educational systems.
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Legal Briefs
We Could Use Your Help
Thousands of DC residents need a lawyer, but can’t afford one. They could be illegally evicted from their homes, lose custody of their children, experience domestic violence, and more, all because they lack legal representation.
You could make a difference. By making a donation to the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, you will provide free, high-quality, zealous legal representation to low-income DC residents.
Your support could prevent homelessness, domestic violence, hunger, or family separation. In fact, if just 10 people who see this ad give $28 to Legal Aid, it will be enough to staff an experienced attorney at the courthouse for a day.
That way, DC residents like Keith King (pictured above) can get the legal representation they need to win their cases. As Mr. King put it, if it wasn’t for his Legal Aid lawyer, “I would have been homeless again.”
Here is the link to the Legal Aid website for donations: https://www.legalaiddc.org/donate-to-legal-aid/
For more information, contact Rob Pergament at Legal Aid at rpergament@legalaiddc.org