Legal News

Guam-O-Rama! Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Greenberg Traurig

By Ashby Jones

The brass at Greenberg Traurig presumably slept well last night. On Monday, prosecutors in Guam (yes, Guam) dropped a case tied to the firm’s imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The firm agreed to refund $324,000 in lobbying fees to the Guam judiciary in exchange for the dismissal of charges of theft by deception, theft and conspiracy. Here’s the story from the Miami Daily Business Review, courtesy of law.com.

The backstory on this odd little tale: Abramoff had reportedly been retained by the Guam Superior Court to try to keep Congress from amending a law to create an appellate court on the island. But prosecutors alleged that Abramoff — and Greenberg Traurig — wound up charging the territory for work he wasn’t hired to do.

In one instance, according to the DBR report, a Guam prosecutor charged that the law firm billed the U.S. territory for work on an open-skies project to expand international air service to the U.S. mainland through Guam.

“Greenberg’s agreement to immediately return these fees avoids the necessity of what would certainly be protracted litigation,” said a dismissal order signed by Guam’s chief prosecutor Phillip Tydingco.

“We are grateful that the attorney general’s office recognizes our cooperation with this investigation,” the firm said in a statement announcing the dismissal.

Greenberg said some of Abramoff’s conduct was unknown to the firm until he pleaded guilty in Washington in 2006 to federal charges of aiding and abetting mail fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy for his dealings with American Indian tribes.

Law Blog Fast Facts of the Day: We could be wrong, but we’re guessing that the average Law Blog reader hasn’t given a heckuva lot of thought to Guam in the past few months. With that in mind, here are a couple fast facts about this unincorporated U.S. territory, courtesy of visitguam.org (D’oh! Doesn’t visitguam.com sound so much cooler?)

Guam’s capital? Hagåtña.
Guam’s native inhabitants? The Chamorro.
Anything happening in Guam this weekend? Glad you asked! At the University of Guam Fieldhouse: The Commons Cup International Large Ball Table Tennis Tournament.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 15, 2008 (boomark / email).