Subject:  Some bad news coming for Geoff? |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 01/17/06 6:00pm
In reply to:
Chris
's message, "Re: will Geoff return to t.v. now???" on 01/17/06 5:21pm
He's not keeping a low profile, I think the man just has a lot on his mind right now.
There are two stories below from today:
Fieger: I expect to be indicted
It's part of GOP attack, he says
January 17, 2006
BY JOE SWICKARD
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Just two days after avoiding state criminal charges, attorney Geoffrey Fieger predicted Monday that a federal grand jury will indict him for illegal fund-raising on behalf of John Edwards' 2004 presidential bid.
The federal charges would focus, Fieger said, on bonuses he gave to "civic-minded employees."
"I fully expect that I will be indicted by a grand jury who will indict a bottle of beer if the Republican U.S. attorney told them to do it," Fieger said in a prepared statement at a news conference. Federal investigators are trying to determine whether he tried to skirt federal limits on campaign contributions by funneling money through his employees.
Fieger's preemptive strike against possible felony charges came as little surprise to people who have become accustomed to his brash, confrontational style during a meteoric career that has made him Michigan's best-known attorney, specializing in personal injury cases.
At stake now are his freedom and his multimillion-dollar law practice.
U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy III, who recused himself from direct involvement in the case, declined to comment on Fieger's prediction.
Federal agents raided Fieger's Southfield office on Nov. 30, seizing financial records and documents related to $35,000 that Fieger helped raise with donations from his firm's employees and others for Edwards' presidential bid. His corporate tax records were later seized from his accountant.
Nearly all of the lawyers in Fieger's firm, and several other employees, were listed as contributors to Edwards' campaign, according to federal records. The Democratic nomination went to John Kerry with Edwards as his running mate.
"The federal investigation of my law firm for giving bonuses to employees who are civic-minded and who care about this country and the judicial system is obscene," Fieger said.
He refused to discuss the bonuses beyond insisting there is "no law whatsoever" prohibiting them.
Richard Steinberg, who represents Fieger in the criminal investigations, said authorities will attempt to characterize the payments as camouflaged campaign donations to Edwards.
"The feds are going to claim they were not bonuses, but were conduits" to skirt campaign contribution laws, Steinberg said.
According to the Federal Election Commission Web site, campaign contributors who have given the $2,000 maximum to a candidate cannot channel additional donations through other people.
"Similarly, a corporation is prohibited from using bonuses or other methods of reimbursing employees for their contributions," the Web site says.
Campaign finance records show most of the Fieger firm's 14 lawyers contributed at least $2,000 each to Edwards' presidential campaign. Their contributions totaled $26,000. Another lawyer now with the firm also gave to Edwards, but he was working for another firm at the time.
Three other people who listed the firm as their employer in 2003 contributed $2,000 each to the campaign. All told, Fieger and his colleagues contributed at least $32,000. Fieger also earlier contributed $2,000 to Edwards' Senate campaign committee.
The source of all the contributions being investigated was not immediately known.
A federal grand jury is expected to start taking testimony Friday as part of the investigation of Fieger's fund-raising for Edwards.
Fieger opened the news conference at his Southfield office saying he was grateful to Patrick Shannon, the special state attorney general who said Saturday he was dropping the criminal investigation of Fieger's secret funding of a 2004 TV ad campaign to unseat state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman.
Shannon was called in by state Attorney General Mike Cox who stepped aside last year, saying Fieger had tried to derail the investigation by threatening to expose an extramarital affair of Cox.
On Monday, Fieger went on to link Cox and Markman to powerful state Republicans, including former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham and former Gov. John Engler.
Fieger, who ran as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate against Engler in 1998, has said he might seek the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge Cox for attorney general this year.
He said the federal probe is part of a coordinated attack to intimidate opponents of the Republican agenda.
In late October, a federal grand jury in Ohio indicted Tom Noe, a Republican Party leader in Toledo, on charges of illegally funneling $45,400 in campaign funds to President George W. Bush's re-election. Prosecutors say he violated the $2,000 limit on individual contributions by having friends contribute and then reimbursing them.
Wayne State University law professor Robert Sedler, who has represented Fieger in other issues, said predicting his own indictment and launching a broadside is vintage Fieger.
"When he's attacked, he goes on the attack," Sedler said. "It certainly fits his pattern."
Geoffrey Fieger refused to discuss the bonuses beyond insisting there is "no law whatsoever" prohibiting them.
Timeline look at the investigations
June 2005: More than seven months after the election, Geoffrey Fieger discloses he spent $453,000 in the 2004 campaign to defeat state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman. State Attorney General Mike Cox is investigating possible campaign law violations.
Nov. 9: Cox discloses an extramarital affair he had while he was a Wayne County assistant prosecutor; accuses Fieger of threatening to expose him unless he drops his investigation.
Nov. 15: Following up on Cox's allegations, Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca says he won't charge Fieger with extortion.
Nov. 30: In an unrelated case, federal agents raid Fieger's Southfield office and seize records. A federal grand jury is investigating whether Fieger urged employees to donate to John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign with the promise that he would reimburse them.
Dec. 19: Cox appoints Patrick Shannon to take over as independent prosecutor in the state case.
Saturday: Shannon says he won't file criminal charges against Fieger in the state case; recommends that the Secretary of State's Office consider civil penalties.
Monday: Fieger says he expects to be indicted by a federal grand jury; says he gave civic-minded employees bonuses, but would not discuss the bonuses further.
Friday: Witnesses expected before the grand jury.
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Fieger blasts GOP
Web-posted Jan 17, 2006
By SVEN GUSTAFSON
Of The Oakland Press
SOUTHFIELD - Fresh from the second of two nonindictments in high-profile cases, attorney Geoffrey Fieger said Monday he expects to be indicted by a federal grand jury investigating whether he illegally coaxed employees into donating money to a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004.
But Fieger used the birthday of fallen civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to blast what he called the "Republican power structure" in Lansing and Washington for targeting him and other opponents in a political witch hunt. He said he was concerned mostly "for the rights of people that stand up to these people."
Fieger is under investigation for allegedly urging employees to donate money to Democratic presidential candidate and fellow trial lawyer John Edwards in 2004 on the promise that they would be reimbursed by the firm. Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service raided Fieger's office and seized boxes full of records Nov. 30.
Fieger said Monday he gave bonuses to civic-minded employees but refused to discuss the bonuses in detail. He insisted he broke no laws.
"The federal investigation of my law firm for giving bonuses to employees who are civicminded and who care about this country and the judicial system is obscene," he said in prepared remarks. "It has never been illegal in this country to give bonuses to civic-minded employees."
He added: "I fully expect that I will be indicted by a grand jury who will indict a bottle of beer if the United States Republican U.S. attorney asks them to do so."
In recent months, Fieger has made a quick enemy of Republican Attorney General Mike Cox, who in March 2005 began investigating Fieger's financing of $457,000 worth of television attack ads. The 2004 ads targeted Republican state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, and Fieger admitting paying for the ads several months late.
Fieger, the 1998 Democratic candidate for governor, has sued Cox, Markman and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land in federal court, alleging a conspiracy to retaliate against him in the case.
In October, Fieger announced he wanted to run against Cox, whom he accused of cronyism. A month later, Cox held a news conference with his wife in which he accused the infamous trial attorney of orchestrating a blackmail scheme. Cox said Fieger threatened to publicize his extramarital affair if he did not drop the campaign fi nance investigation.
Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said in November he lacked evidence to bring blackmail charges against Fieger.
More recently, special prosecutor Patrick Shannon, a former Chippewa County prosecutor whom Cox asked to take over the campaign fi nance case in December, said over the weekend that he would not file criminal charges against Fieger. But he referred the case to the Secretary of State offi ce for possible civil fi nes.
Fieger on Monday accused Cox of rigging his case against him, saying he had obtained affidavits for search warrants from a "friendly" East Lansing district judge, despite the fact that Cox's office is in Lansing. He also accused Cox of steering the blackmail investigation to Gorcyca, although the original phone conversation revealing the alleged blackmail scheme to a Cox aide took place in Wayne County, he said.
Cox's own handling of an investigation into an alleged wild party at the Manoogian Mansion, home of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, is being investigated by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Fieger said.
Fieger also said Cox made public the alleged blackmail scheme after learning that Gorcyca would not press charges, partly to pressure Gorcyca to reverse his decision.
"It's hard to imagine an attorney general who is so willing to carry out a political vendetta and who is so unapologetic for making false allegations of crimes against innocent people for political gain," Fieger said in a statement.
A message seeking comment was left for Gorcyca.
"This is exactly what people have come to expect from Geoffrey Fieger," said Nate Bailey, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party. "It's circus politics at its worst and all this is accomplishing is more self-promotions of Geoffrey Fieger by Geoffrey Fieger."
Bailey said Fieger's actions involved serious issues of violating the public trust and campaign fi nance laws.
"It's just him trying to get a serious matter moved into a three-ring circus and that doesn't serve anyone's interests except Geoffrey Fieger's," he said.
In addition to a possible federal grand jury indictment, Fieger could still face sanctions from the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission as well as civil fi nes from the Secretary of State offi ce.
Fieger has dismissed the testimony of a former employee who told investigators he was pressured to donate money to the Edwards campaign and later reimbursed, saying the former associate has a history of mental illness.
He insisted Monday that Cox worked closely with federal officials on the Nov. 30 raid. A spokesman for the attorney general could not be reached.
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