U.S. Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. Credit : Diego M. Radzinschi/ ALM Media
A Washington federal district judge this month ordered a former lawyer for Paul Manafort to testify before the grand jury convened as part of the special counsel investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, according to a court ruling unsealed Monday.
In a 37-page opinion, U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia rejected the argument that the testimony would violate two shields that provide some protection to attorney communication and work product. Howell, who is overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s grand jury, did not name the lawyer in the Oct. 2 opinion.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to The National Law Journal that the lawyer is Melissa Laurenza, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who specializes in campaign law and lobbying registration matters. In August, CNN reported that Mueller’s team was seeking testimony from Laurenza, who was identified then as a former lawyer for Manafort. Howell’s ruling used the pronoun “her” to identify the lawyer. Laurenza did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Prosecutors had argued that the “crime fraud” exception—where an attorney-client relationship is used to further alleged criminal activity—trumped the power of the lawyer to shield her work from the grand jury investigating Manafort and a business partner named Rick Gates.
Citing ethical obligations, Laurenza had refused to testify unless directed by a judge, Howell wrote. The judge noted that Laurenza’s lawyer, who was not identified in the ruling, said Laurenza was “committed to complying with the grand jury subpoena” so long as compliance was “within the bounds of her ethical obligations to her former clients.”
Prosecutors on Monday unveiled indictments that charge both men, alleging a money laundering conspiracy to hide wealth derived from advocacy for foreign entities. The government alleged Manafort and Gates “repeatedly provided false information to financial bookkeepers, tax accountants and legal counsel.”
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM
The special counsel’s office had sought to compel Laurenza to testify about “limited aspects of her legal representation of the targets,” Howell wrote. Mueller’s team said the testimony would reveal whether Manafort and Gates intentionally misled the Justice Department about their work for foreign governments and officials, which they were required to disclose under a federal law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
“When a person uses the attorney-client relationship to further a criminal scheme, the law is well established that a claim of attorney-client or work-product privilege must yield to the grand jury’s investigatory needs,” Howell wrote.
Mueller’s prosecutors, according to Howell’s ruling, would ask “narrow questions to confirm the source of the facts she submitted to the government, including whether her clients gave her the information represented in the letter as coming from them and/or reviewed a draft of the letter for accuracy.” According to the ruling, Mueller’s team stressed that it was not seeking “witness interview notes or to probe which witnesses she believed” but rather “just seeking to confirm that the source of the factual representations is what it purports to be: the clients’ recollections.”
Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty Monday to the charges in the indictment, the first filed in connection with Mueller’s probe. Separately, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign secretly pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI about his contacts with foreign nationals. That man, George Papadopoulos, who is cooperating with prosecutors, is awaiting sentencing.
Outside federal court on Monday, Kevin Downing, a lawyer for Manafort, described the charges as “ridiculous.” Downing, who left Miller & Chevalier in August to represent Manafort, highlighted the fact that the alleged misconduct predated his client’s time with the Trump campaign.
“There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government,” Downing said.
Downing said Monday that Manafort “represented pro-European Union campaigns for the Ukrainians and, in that, he was seeking to further democracy and to help the Ukraine come closer to the United States and the EU.” He called Mueller’s charges “a very novel theory to prosecute Mr. Manafort regarding a FARA filing.”
Howell’s ruling, compelling the grand jury testimony, is posted below:
