Subject:  Fieger, law partner indicted in campaign finance case |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 08/24/07 6:36pm
Interesting that Fieger's lawyer is the renowned Gerry Spence.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Fieger, law partner indicted in campaign finance case
Fieger responds and accuses the Justice Department of becoming a political arm of the Republican Party
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A federal grand jury has indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger and his law partner Vernon (Ven) Johnson of conspiring to make more than $125,000 in illegal contributions to presidential candidate John Edwards' 2004 campaign.
Fieger issued a statement denying the charges and accusing U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of waging "an unprecedented campaign to turn the United States Justice Department into a political arm of the Republican Party."
The indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Detroit. A grand jury, which works in secret, had returned it under seal on Tuesday, officials said.
"It's going to be the battle of the titans," Detroit lawyer Richard L. Steinberg, who has represented Fieger in the past, said of the confrontation between Fieger and the U.S. Justice Department. "It will be the trial that Detroit has never seen before."
The 30-page, 10-count indictment charges Fieger with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, making illegal campaign contributions and causing false statements. Johnson, 45, of Birmingham, is charged with conspiracy, causing false statements, and making illegal campaign contributions.
Steve Fishman, Johnson's lawyer, said Johnson has done nothing wrong.
"In America, despite what the attorney general might think, people have the right to support political candidates who share their views," Fishman said.
"If that is a crime, citizens should be even more afraid of this administration than they already are."
Obstruction of justice carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The other charges carry a maximum penalty of five years.
Fieger, 56, of Bloomfield Hills, has waged an aggressive battle against an ongoing federal grand jury investigation of him and his firm, suing Gonzales, the FBI agent who headed the investigation, and others. Fieger, a Democratic candidate for governor in 1998, has repeatedly claimed the investigation is politically motivated, a charge Justice Department officials have denied.
The bombastic Southfield attorney rose to national prominence as the lawyer for Royal Oak suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian. He built a reputation for winning massive personal injury judgments against municipalities and corporations while receiving reprimands for his outspoken criticism of Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court judges.
In an unusual twist, Fieger's criminal case was assigned by random draw to U.S. District Judge Sean Cox, the brother of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. Fieger and Mike Cox have also sparred publicly, with the attorney general holding a news conference last year at which he confessed infidelity to his wife and accused Fieger of trying to use knowledge of the affair to blackmail him into ending a criminal investigation of Fieger.
Judge Sean Cox could not immediately be reached to say whether he would recuse himself from the case.
The indictment alleges Fieger illegally circumvented limits on individual campaign contributions by recruiting "straw donors" to purport to make the then-maximum contribution of $2,000 to Edwards, when the more than $125,000 in donations were actually paid for by the Fieger firm.
The use of conduits caused the Edwards campaign to make false statements about the source of the donations, the indictment alleges. But Edwards and his campaign officials were unaware of the illegal nature of the contributions and the Edwards campaign cooperated fully with the investigation, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.
On the obstruction of justice charge, Fieger tried to impede the grand jury investigation by shifting responsibility for the contributions to a decease officer of the Fieger firm, attempted to mislead the grand jury by telling witnesses false information which he expected to be repeated, and attempting to conceal an incriminating document, the indictment alleges.
In his statement, Fieger said federal officials have "repeatedly threatened to prosecute my employees unless they lie about me."
Edwards is again a Democratic presidential candidate for 2008.
Fieger has retained famed criminal defense attorney Gerry Spence of Wyoming to defend him in the criminal case, an associate said. Spence successfully defended former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos on federal racketeering charges and defendant Randy Weaver on murder and other charges in the Ruby Ridge case, among other high-profile cases.
A call to Spence's office was not immediately returned.
The FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents raided Fieger's law offices in November 2005 and carted away boxes of records.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
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