Prominent Lawyer Won’t Face Money Laundering Charge in Tainted Fees Case
A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a key money laundering charge against a prominent Miami defense lawyer accused of laundering Colombian drug proceeds to pay legal fees.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge’s decision to throw out the charge against lawyer Ben Kuehne, according to the Daily Business Review and the Associated Press. The 11th Circuit agreed that Kuehne was protected because of a 1988 exemption in the money laundering statute for lawyers’ legal fees.
According to AP, the Monday ruling (PDF) “was a blow to the U.S. Justice Department, as it was being closely watched in legal circles as a test of whether federal prosecutors could charge a defense lawyer with money laundering under anti-drug laws that target profits from trafficking.”
The money laundering charge alleged Kuehne conspired to transfer $5.2 million in Colombian drug proceeds to pay legal fees to defense lawyers for an accused drug kingpin. Kuehne had been hired to investigate the source of the money and vouched that it was clean.
Kuehne had once represented Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential recount.
AP says Kuehne still faces a separate money laundering charge, but it will be harder to prosecute.
