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Ben Kuehne Arrested!

Come on, what the hell is going on in America:

Ben Kuehne, a widely respected Miami lawyer whose clients have included former Vice President Al Gore and other major politicians, surrendered Thursday on federal criminal charges for his behind-the-scenes role in a complex international drug-trafficking case.

An indictment, unsealed at his morning court appearance, charges Kuehne in a money-laundering conspiracy with approving tainted legal payments by an accused Colombian drug kingpin to his defense attorney in Miami.

The fee payments turned out to be illegitimate because they allegedly came from drug proceeds in violation of federal law, federal prosecutors said.

Kuehne, appearing in Miami federal court at 10 a.m., said, ``since I am completely innocent of these charges, I am entering a plea of not guilty.''

Two co-defendants, Gloria Florez Velez and Oscar Saldarriga Ochoa, were also named in the indictment. They, too, pleaded not guilty.

Justice Department officials allege that Kuehne broke the law in 2002-03 when he vouched for millions paid by one-time Medellín drug lord Fabio Ochoa Vasquez to his high-profile trial attorney, Roy Black.

Kuehne's research gave Black the confidence -- in the form of legal opinion letters -- to accept payments totaling $3.7 million in fees and $1.3 million in expenses from Ochoa, according to several sources. Kuehne earned a portion of the expense payments -- $220,000 to $260,000 -- from Black for vetting Ochoa's payments.

Is there anyone in the South Florida legal community who doesn't think this indictment is a complete load of crap?

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 07, 2008 (boomark / email).