Defense Cries Foul in Miami Attorney's Money-Laundering Legal Fees Case
In a repeat of abuses that led Congress to enact a special legislative exemption for defense lawyers a decade ago, over-aggressive federal prosecutors are pursuing a respected Miami attorney for, essentially, representing a criminal client, his counsel contends.
Attorney Ben Kuehne concluded in good faith that the $5.3 million he and other lawyers were being paid by Fabio Ochoa Vasquez, a convicted Colombian drug kingpin, was clean money, according to the Daily Business Review. So even though prosecutors say the feds saw some of the money being laundered, there’s no criminal case to be made against Kuehne, his legal team contends in a defense motion. It includes Miami lawyer Jane Moscowitz and John Nields of Howrey in Washington, D.C.
Although Congress amended in 1988 a 1984 money-laundering law to make clear that attorneys should not be prosecuted in such situations, the government in Kuehne’s case is “openly hostile” to the exemption, the two lawyers wrote, and essentially chills a lawyer’s ability to represent legitimate clients. Under the exemption, they note, the prosecution must show “funds are more concealed after the transaction is completed than before,” according to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals precedent.
Others in the defense bar agree, the business publication reports, and are concerned about the prosecution’s tactics in the case and the impact it will have on others.
“This is clearly designed to prevent those under investigation from obtaining competent counsel of their choice,” says Steve Chaykin, a former federal prosecutor who is now co-chair of the white-collar crime practice group at Akerman Senterfitt’s office in Miami.
“I’m very troubled by this prosecution,” adds Miami criminal defense attorney Milton Hirsch. “This prosecution boldly goes where none has gone before.”
Kuehne’s prosecution has been controversial from the outset, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post. It gives additional details about the payments that got Kuehne into trouble.
