Federal Criminal Defense Blog : Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gillen Withers & Lake Law Firm : White Collar Crime, RICO, Trial : Atlanta, Savannah, GA

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida have dropped charges of mortgage fraud against Plantation, Florida, attorney Steven Stoll and police officer Dennis Guarancino, according to the Miami Herald. Stoll and Guarancino were charged in relation to a $16.5 million dollar loan fraud scheme by Guarancino's brother, Joseph Guarancino, also a police officer, which involved purchasing and flipping properties. However, their trial last month ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict. The Government has stated that it will re-try Joseph Guarancino. Three other Plantation police offers and an FBI agent were acquitted by a jury in April.

Contact the attorneys of Gillen Withers & Lake LLC for your criminal and civil matters, in Savannah or Atlanta.

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Scott Allen, of Atlanta, was charged last week with securities fraud and insider trading in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, according to the Wall Street Journal. The government alleges that Mr. Allen and John Bennett of Norwalk, Connecticut, conspired to make more than $2.6 million in profits on insider trades of pharmaceutical stocks. Mr. Allen was a former employee of Mercer, a gloabl human resources consulting firm, and Mr. Bennett was an independent film producer and stock trader. The criminal complaint against the defendants charges that Mr. Allen allegedly obtained information regarding acquisitions by pharmaceutical companies in 2008 and 2009, and gave the information to Mr. Bennett. Mr. Bennett is charged with using the information to make $2.6 million in trades, while paying Mr. Allen $100,000 in kickbacks.

For exceptional criminal representation, drawing on decades of Federal prosecutorial and defense experience, contact Gillen Withers & Lake LLC.

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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama has postponed the retrial of eight defendants on corruption charges relating to the gambling industry and various State legislators and employees, originally scheduled to commence on October 3, until January 9, 2012, according to Forbes.com. The charges stemmed from an FBI investigation into alleged bribery of legislators relating to an upcoming vote on a gambling bill. Two of the defendants, Alabama State Senator Quinton Ross and VictoryLand casino lobbyist Bob Geddie, were acquitted on August 11, following a nine week trial and an additional week of jury deliberations. The jury deadlocked as to the other defendants. None of the defendants were convicted.

The Court stated that ti would rule on whether to retry the defendants together or in separate trials. The defense has opposed severance, citing that the defendants were all tried jointly and claiming that the government is attempting to change the rules midway through the game.

The defense raised concerns regarding the rescheduled date, suggesting that it might conflict with the college football National Championship game in New Orleans. 

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Jerry Eversole, a Harris County (Houston), Texas, Commissioner, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas with conspiracy, accepting bribes and filing false income tax returns in 2003 and 2004. Eversole was alleged to have accepted $100,000 in gifts from a developer, Michael Surface, in exchange for being awarded County contracts.

Eversole was tried on the charges back in March. The defense put up no evidence of its own at trial. Nevertheless, the jury, during deliberations, raised questions about Eversole's friendship with Surface and the line between friendship and criminal conspiracy. On March 30, 2011, the Court declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the charges. Eversole has spent $1.1 million on his defense. His second trial is scheduled to commence on October 24. He has just $51,000 remaining in legal defense funds.

Image source: examiner.com

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Arthur "Avi" Hiaeve, owner of the Manhattan diamond store, Hiaeve & Co., was acquitted last Wednesday on money laundering charges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. According to Reuters, Senior District Judge Allyne Ross granted Mr. Hiaeve's motion for judgment of acquittal on the seven counts of laundering drug money through his business as well as charges of avoiding currency reporting requirements, holding that a single telephone call by Mr. Hiaeve to a government informant was insufficient to establish venue in the Eastern District, and that Mr. Hiaeve should have been prosecuted in Manhattan in the Southern District of New York. The prosecution responded that Mr. Hiaeve allegedly had reason to know that he was laundering money coming from drug operations operating in the Eastern District of New York. Double jeopardy bars a subsequent prosecution of Mr. Hiaeve in Manhattan.

The government had alleged that Mr. Hiaeve laundered at least $106,000 on five occasions. Employees of Hiaeve, Kevin and Tanny Donaldson, were also charged with laundering drug money and entered pleas of guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering, respectively. Mr. Hiaeve is still involved in a civil forfeiture suit involving $3 million in diamonds and $17,900 in seized currency.

 Source: Elite Choice

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Two years ago, Western Titanium was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on 19 counts, including mail fraud and conspiracy, for allegedly selling substandard titanium to the government to use in aerospace equipment and engine mounts for military jets and allegedly falsely certifying that the metal met technical specifications, according to an article on San Diego Signon. Also indicted were Western Titanium's CEO, Daniel Schroder, and three other current and former executives. The "titanic" prosecution involved some 900 docket entries, extensive pretrial hearings and finally an 11 week trial.

However, the trial terminated last week with Western Titanium pleading guilty to a single count of mail fraud for causing an alleged loss of $51,350 and the charges against the executives being dismissed under deferred prosecution agreements. The reason for the abrupt end was the defense's accusations that the prosecution had withheld thousands of pages of documents favorable to the defense showing that the titanium was not substandard. Counsel for the defendants claimed that the government did not disclose the materials until approximately six weeks into the trial in an act of intentional prosecutorial misconduct.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has denied that the prosecution acted in bad faith.

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Federal criminal activity has been brisk in the Southern District of Georgia. First, six defendants were charged with conspiracy to defraud Medicare and money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The charges were the result of a nationwide investigation which included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which has resulted in the arrests of more than 35 defendants across the country.

The government has alleged that, beginning in 2006, the defendants allegedly opened five sham medical clinics in Savannah, Macon and Brunswick, and allegedly stole the identities of physicians and Medicare beneficiaries. The defendants are alleged to have submitted over $4 million in false claims to Medicare for services which were allegedly never provided. Nationwide, the scheme is alleged to have cost Medicare $163 million. The Georgia defendants are also charged with allegedly laundering the proceeds through various shell corporations.

Later in the week, an Augusta man was indicted for allegedly defrauding a program which provided meals to low income children in the Savannah River area under the Federal Head Start program of tens of thousands of dollars.

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Last week was a good one for public officials charged with Federal crimes. First, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced that it would not seek a second trial of former San Diego Councilman Michael Zucchet on alleged honest services fraud charges pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1346, relating to political contributions from the owner of a strip club, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Zucchet was indicted with two other City Council members and an aide in 2003. The government alleged that the Council members had a meeting with a lobbyist for the strip club owner for the alleged purpose of changing the City's "no touch" ordinances relating to strip clubs. The Council members, however, argued that they reported the contributions on their financial disclosure forms. The government's decision was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Skilling, No. 08-2349, in which, as we have noted,  the Court held that the "honest services" mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. §1346, applies to bribery and kickback schemes, and not to mere "undisclosed self-dealing by a public official or private employee," alone.

Councilman Charles Lewis died before trial. Mr. Zucchet and Councilman Ralph Inzunza were convicted by a jury following trial in July of 2005. However, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the jury's guilty verdict on seven counts against Mr. Zucchet. The Judge permitted the government to retry Mr. Zucchet on the two remaining counts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court's ruling on appeal. Mr. Inzunza has also appealed his convictions. Mr. Zucchet resigned from the Council soon after his conviction, and is currently General Manager of the San Diego Municipal Employees Association.

Then, according to the Achorage Daily News, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska announced that it would agree to the dismissal of the honest services fraud conviction of Jim Clark. Mr. Clark was the former Chief of Staff to Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski, a lobbyist and attorney, and was once viewed as the most powerful unelected official in Alaska. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that Mr. Clark's 2008 guilty plea was to a felony that no longer exists, pursuant to the Supreme Court's Skilling decision. Mr. Clark pled guilty to alleged conspiring with former officials of the defunct oil-field services company Veco Corp. to channel $68,550 in illegal contributions to Governor Murkowski's political campaign -- without the Governor's knowledge. He is expected to be a witness for the government in a possible upcoming trial of State Representative Bruce Weyhrauch on bribery, extortion and conspiracy charges. Mr. Clark's law license, which was suspended following his guilty plea, is expected to be reinstated by the Alaska Supreme Court.

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We have commented on the case of Alfredo and Niurka Rasco of South Georgia, who were charged in a $6.5 million Medicare fraud scheme. Well, despite a heated and well-founded defense against the charges based upon illegal use of immunized evidence by the government, Mr. Rasco and his wife pled guilty to the charges against them last week during their trial, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Rasco face maximum terms of imprisonment of 12 years and 6 months respectively.

In other news, the U.S. Senate will convene next week to hold an impeachment trial of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., of the Eastern District of Louisiana according to the National Law Journal. Judge Porteous is charged with corruption. Specifically, Judge Porteous is charged with accepting meals, trips and other gifts from bail bondsman Louis Marcotte III and his sister Lori Marcotte in return for giving the Marcottes and their clients special treatment while he was a state court judge. Judge Porteous is also alleged to have made false statements to the Senate and to the FBI in 1994 regarding his past.

Judge Porteous' attorneys are vigorously defending him, however, pointing out that much of the conduct charged against Judge Porteous occurred prior to his appointment to the bench. Furthermore, a federal grand jury had investigated Judge Porteous as part of wide-ranging probe into Louisiana corruption, however no charges resulted. The U.S. Department of Justice also decided to drop the case against Judge Porteous. Judge Porteous' attorneys have denied any wrongdoing by Porteous, and state that he has done nothing to justify his removal from office.  The defense also contends that the FBI and the Senate were aware of the allegations against Judge Porteous prior to voting to confirm his appointment.

A fascinating fact is that Congress is also the nation's least used court. The trial of Judge Porteous will be the Senate's first since the impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton (who appointed Judge Porteous to the bench) in 1999, and the first of a federal judge since 1989. The U.S. House of Representatives has considered bringing impeachment proceedings against federal judges in the interim, but the judges had resigned before the proceedings could be brought. Judge Porteous was referred to the Senate for impeachment by the Judicial Conference of the United States, led by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., in June of 2008. A committee of 12 senators will serve as both judges and jurors at his trial. Members of the House will serve as prosecutors, or "managers." The Senators will vote on whether to convict Judge Porteous, with a two-thirds majority required to convict. Any of the Senators may question witnesses following examination and cross-examination by counsel. The Senate Committee will first gather evidence for consideration by the full Senate. Each side will have 20 hours to put on evidence. The Senate can only vote to impeach Judge Porteous, and cannot impose any sentence of imprisonment or fine. The trial will take place in the same chamber the Senate uses for confirmation hearings.

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As reported by the New York Law Journal, Michael Scarpaci is current charged as an alleged associate of the Gambino crime organization in the Southern District of New York in an indictment charging racketeering violations, including murder, witness tampering, murder of a witness, extortion, narcotics and sex trafficking a minor. In a twist, however, Scarpaci's lawyer, Joseph R. Corozzo, Jr., is also alleged to have connections to the Gambino family, and the prosecution sought to disqualify Corozzo from the case for alleged conflicts of interest. Specifically, Corozzo's father, Joseph Corozzo Sr., is a consigliere of the Gambino family. His uncle, Nicholas Corozzo, is a capo. And Corozzo himself is alleged to serve as the organization's "in house counsel."

Prosecutors moved to disqualify Corozzo from representing Scarpaci, citing Corozzo's disqualification in April from representing Gaetano Napoli, Sr., on the ground that Corozzo had been present at two meetings with his client in 2009 in which they discussed what to do if Napoli was ever approached by law enforcement. Corozzo had advised Napoli to say nothing and give investigators the number for his attorney. Sound advice from a criminal defense attorney--which the government of course alleged constituted obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors also cited a 2006 recorded conversation in which Scarpaci's co-defendant, Daniel Marino, and an alleged Gambino associate, Lewis Kasman, discussed the possibility of Corozzo being arrested and disbarred, arguing that the conversation implicated Corozzo in the racketeering conspiracy charged in the indictment. Finally, the government contended that Corozzo had previously represented a witness for the government in the case.

District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the government's motion, holding that the government had not identified any actual conflict from Corozzo's representation of Scarpaci, and noted that Scarpaci could make a knowing and intelligent waiver of any potential conflicts. The Judge found that the alleged conflict in the Napoli case was not related to the case against Scarpaci, and that the Court in that case never made any finding that Corozzo's alleged conduct obstructed justice. Judge Kaplan also observed that the conversation between Marino and Kasman did not suggest that Corozzo had engaged in any criminal conduct. The Court further noted that the subject matter of Corozzo's representation of the government witness, and was only "tangentially related" to the subject matter of the case. Finally, regarding Corozzo's family connections with the Gambino family, the Court held that there was no evidence that Corozzo's father or uncle had had in any way supervised any of the RICO acts allegedly committed by Scarpaci.

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Arthur Marshall, a former wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, was sentenced to 69 months imprisonment yesterday for bank fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Augusta Division, as reported by the Augusta Chronicle. Marshall was indicted in June of last year and pled guilty to two counts of bank fraud last October for defrauding banks in the Augusta area of over $3 million in mortgage loans. Marshall admitted to falsifying information to obtain the loans.

Marshall's victims included veterans whom Marshall met through his father's American Legion post, who never received title to the properties they purchased. The post is in bankruptcy and has filed a $91,000 claim against Marshall. Marshall's company, Custom Contractors, declared bankruptcy in August of 2008, listing $11 million in debts.

Marshall was born in Fort Gordon, Georgia. He played football at Hephizbah High School before going on to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Marshall was a wide receiver for the Broncos from 1992 through 1996, receiving for 1,267 yards during his five year NFL career and scoring four touchdowns.

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Florida attorney and mastermind of a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, Scott Rothstein, was sentenced to 50 years yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The scam involved investments in non-existent settlements, and resulted in the loss of about $400 million to 400 victims. Rothstein wrote a letter to the court stating that he had entered into the scheme in order to help his law firm, Rothstein, Rosenfeldt & Adler, meet its costs of expansion. Rothstein used the income and his client's funds to live a lavish lifestyle, and to associate with the powerful and famous, including Florida Governor Charlie Crist and California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger. When the scheme unraveled last October, Rothstein fled to Morocco, but returned after "praying" for several days.

The government had sought a sentence of 40 years, and Rothstein's counsel had argued for a reduced sentence based upon Rothstein's cooperation with authorities following his arrest, however the court imposed a longer sentence, citing Rothstein's "greed and arrogance." Rothstein reportedly has assisted authorities in helping to set up a reputed organized crime figure.

Only one of the many victims, a client whom Rothstein had represented in a municipal proceeding, spoke at the sentencing. Another victim, auto magnate Ed Morse, has claimed $57 million alone in losses from Rothstein's conduct.

The chief operating officer of Rothstein's firm, Debra Villegas, is expected to plead guilty on Friday to charges of conspiring with Rothstein in the scheme. Villegas is the only other individual from Rothstein Rosenfeldt & Adler to face criminal charges. A bankruptcy proceeding continues to attempt to recover assets, and investors have sued numerous defendants, including Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank, which Rothstein moved his monies through.

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As reflected in an FBI press release, an indictment was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Robert Egan, President of Mount Vernon Money Center (MVMC) on Wednesday charging Egan with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud and six counts of bank fraud for allegedly defrauding banks and other financial institutions of approximately $50 million.

MVMC operated various cash management businesses, including replenishing cash for over 5,300 automated teller machines (ATMs), payroll services for businesses, and an armored car service, Armored Money Services (AMS). MVMC's clients included banks and financial institutions, businesses and universities. MVMC also had several cash vaults to store and process cash from its businesses.

The government alleges that, from 2005 through 2010, Egan and MVMC's Chief Operating Officer, Barnard McGarry, allegedly collected hundreds of millions of dollars from MVMC clients based on false representations that they would not commingle clients' funds or use the funds for purposes other than those specified in MVMC's agreements with the clients. However, Egan and McGarry are alleged to have engaged in a practice known as "playing the float," in which they misappropriated funds from the substantial cash flow into MVMC to their own uses, to pay prior client obligations or to cover operating expenses of MVMC's businesses. Egan and McGarry are also alleged to have commingled its clients' monies in its accounts and cash vaults, and instructed employees to use whatever monies were available to replenish ATM machines. McGarry is alleged to have transferred clients' monies among MVMC's accounts. In addition, both defendants are alleged to have made false representations in reports to ATM clients regarding the amount of funds MVMC allegedly held in its vaults for the clients. MVMC was entrusted with approximately $70 to $75 million by its clients, but allegedly only kept approximately $20 to $25 million in its accounts and vaults.

Egan was arrested last month. A receiver has been appointed to administer MVMC. The press release stated that the case was brought in coordination with the White House's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. Among the officials who addressed the media in conjunction with the press release was the Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) Neil Barofsky.

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As reported in the South Florida Business Journal, Lewis B. Freeman, one of the best-known forensic accountants in South Florida was indicted yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Freeman is alleged to have misappropriated funds from fiduciary accounts from 2000 through 2009 by writing checks to himself and his firm, Lewis B. Freeman & Partners, and depositing the funds into the firm's operating account. Freeman is alleged to have misappropriated some $6 million in funds by writing approximately 162 unauthorized checks and using the proceeds to support a lavish lifestyle.

Freeman put his firm into receivership last fall during the federal criminal investigation. The firm previously did millions of dollars in business. The government alleges that out of the $6 million misappropriated, some $2.6 million of clients' monies were lost. Freeman, oddly, worked routinely as an expert for the court in liquidating the assets of companies. According to Freeman's counsel, he turned himself in and is cooperating with authorities. His counsel have stated that he made "serious mistakes," and will "accept the consequences for his actions.” 

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As reported here and here in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has had its own leadership under scrutiny by investigators. This week, three SCLC officials met in Atlanta with Federal and local authorities investigating allegations that its National Chairman and its former Treasurer allegedly mishandled hundreds of thousands of dollars. Last week, FBI agents in Dayton, Ohio, raided the home of its Chairman, Reverend Raleigh Trammell, the home of Trammell's daughter, Angela Goodwine, as well as the SCLC's Dayton office. Rev. Trammell and former national Treasurer Spiver Gordon are alleged to have diverted at least $569,000 in SCLC funds to bank accounts which they controlled and made out checks to themselves and their relatives. The SCLC's Atlanta General Counsel, Dexter Wimbush, has voluntarily and temporarily stepped down.

Law enforcement agencies in Georgia, Ohio and Alabama were provided information on possible mismanagement of SCLC funds.

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Of course we knew it was coming, but disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein, architect of a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme selling phony interests in settlements in employment and civil cases, pled guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering,

and various other sources. Rothstein was also charged with taking monies from client trust accounts and making unlawful campaign contributions to politicians. Former attorneys and employees of Rothstein's former law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, are currently being investigated for illegal campaign contributions.

Following his surrender to authorities last fall, Rothstein assisted authorities in locating assets. His sentencing hearing has been set for May 6.

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As reported by Law.com, yesterday, U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn of the Southern District of Florida issued an order requested by the government to preserve all assets of accused Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein for forfeiture. Rothstein is alleged to have defrauded investors of an $1.6 billion--according to the most recent estimates--by soliciting investments in alleged settlement agreements in civil and employment cases. He voluntarily surrendered assets to authorities last month, without conceding any wrongdoing.

Rothstein's former law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, is currently going through dissolution in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. The District Court's order shifts jurisdiction for marshalling the assets from the Bankruptcy Court to the District Court. The Court will consider any claims by third-parties in ancillary proceedings to the criminal case against Rothstein.

The bankruptcy trustee had sought to bring Rothstein and his companies into the law firm's bankruptcy proceeding, claiming that they were "alter-egos" of the firm. The District Court's intervention will impede the trustee's pursuit of any claims against the assets, according to Rothstein's bankruptcy counsel.

The District Court has set trial on the money laundering, fraud and racketeering charges against Rothstein for January 11. Rothstein is currently being held in federal custody.

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Last Wednesday, the Government, through Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco, filed a brief Motion to Dismiss Third Superseding Indictment with Prejudice seeking to dismiss its indictment against Miami, Florida, attorney Benedict P. Kuehne, and also Colombian attorney Oscar Saldarriaga Ochoa, in the criminal action of U.S. v. Velez, 1:05-cr-20770-MGC, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Government’s motion stated that it was based upon the “totality of the circumstances,” including the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ affirmance of the District Court’s dismissal of the Government’s charge of conspiracy to launder money against Mr. Kuehne. The Government stated that it believe that dismissal was in the interest of justice. On the same day, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke entered an order dismissing the Third Superseding Indictment.

The dismissal marked the end of a long ordeal for Kuehne, who was indicted over two years ago for alleged money laundering conspiracy, money laundering concealment conspiracy, concealment money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy. According to the Government’s indictment, Fabio Ochoa Vasquez was one of the leaders of the Medellin Cartel, one of the largest cocaine trafficking and money laundering organizations in the world. In 2001, Ochoa was extradited from Colombia to the U.S. to face charges of conspiring to smuggle approximately 30 tons of powder cocaine into the U.S. per month between 1997 and 1999. Ochoa hired distinguished attorney Roy Black, of the Miami law firm of Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf, P.A., and other attorneys to represent him, and the defense in turn retained Mr. Kuehne, of the Law Offices of Benedict P. Kuehne, P.A., to investigate the funds which Ochoa would use to pay his legal team. Kuehne drafted various opinion letters for the offense. The Government alleged that Kuehne was paid for his investigation and opinions by various wire transfers with monies which were the proceeds of specified unlawful activity—the distribution and sale of illegal drugs, including monies from the Colombian “Black Market Peso Exchange” and drug proceeds supplied by undercover U.S. agents.

Kuehne, through his attorney, Jane Moscowitz of Moscowitz & Moscowitz, P.A., filed a motion to dismiss the indictment in July, which may be viewed here, relying on the fact that one of the federal money laundering statutes, 18 U.S.C. § 1957, contains an express exemption for “any transaction necessary to preserve a person’s right to representation as guaranteed by the sixth amendment to the Constitution.” 18 U.S.C. § 1957(f)(1).The motion began with a quote from Banking Crimes: Fraud Money Laundering and Embezzlement, by John K. Villa: "There is an inestimable difference... between expecting a defendant to be able to find an attorney willing to risk his fee, and expecting him to find an attorney willing to risk his personal liberty." Kuehne argued that Congress enacted the exemption in § 1957(f)(1) out of a concern that the threat of prosecution of criminal defense attorneys for accepting fees would have a “chilling effect” on attorneys’ willingness to accept clients, and therefore impose an unacceptable burden on the exercise of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The defense argued that the monies paid fell squarely within § 1957(f)(1)’s exemption and that Count One of the indictment should be dismissed. The District Court agreed and dismissed Count One, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in United States v. Velez, No. 09-10199, 2009 WL 3416116 (11th Cir., October 26, 2009).

As reported by the Miami Herald, Kuehne addressed reporters on the steps of the courthouse, stating that he always believed “things would turn out well in the end.” Prior to the allegations against him, he had been a prominent member of the legal community, serving on the Florida Bar board of governors, as a past president of the Dade County Bar Association and as a member of Vice President Al Gore’s legal team in the 2000 Florida presidential election dispute. Kuehne expressed his appreciation to the Department of Justice for the dismissal of the matter. Cynthia Hujar Orr, President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which filed amicus briefs in Kuehne’s case, called the Government’s prosecution of Kuehne “disgraceful.”

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