Legal News

Afternoon Crim-Law Roundup: Blago?s Legal Bill; Madoff?s Lawyer

By Ashby Jones

Jeesh. We thought we had our hands full with the Marc Dreier situation. But between Rod Blagojevich and the unfolding saga with Wall Street fixture Bernie Madoff, it seems we could turn this whole blogging gig into a 24/7 occupation.

We’ve hit Dreier enough already, but let’s get you up to speed on the latest involving the other two fellas:

Blago Stiffs Winston: We’d like to be reporting and writing more about Blagojevich’s odd coiffure (we love it, truly), but the folks who employ us keep pushing us in other directions. Fine. Anyway, we did sniff out that Blagojevich stiffed Winston & Strawn to the tune of at least $500,000 for work he or his campaign had the firm do over the past few years. Click here for the WSJ story.

Winston & Strawn has been the governor’s primary counsel since federal investigators began looking into various allegations of corruption five years ago. The governor had largely relied on the legal representation of Winston partner Bradley Lerman, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago. The firm billed Blagojevich close to $2 million in 2006 and 2007.

But it didn’t get all of it back. People close to the matter say that at least $500,000 of it went unpaid. Perhaps all this explains why Blagojevich didn’t tap Lerman or superstar white-collar defense lawyer Dan Webb. “If he asked us to represent him, we’d say no,” the partner said. Blagojevich’s attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, didn’t return several calls seeking comment.

Madoff Taps Horwitz: The big news that broke this afternoon: famed Wall Streeter Bernie Madoff (pictured) was arrested Thursday morning by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and charged with criminal securities fraud by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madoff alleges that he told senior employees Wednesday that his business was “a giant Ponzi scheme,” according to a person familiar with the matter. The alleged scheme involved tens of billions of dollars, but the extent of investor losses wasn’t immediately clear.

This much is clear: He’s tapped Dickstein Shapiro’s Dan Horwitz to represent him.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 11, 2008 (boomark / email).