Rick Gates, left, leaves the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with his attorney, Shanlon Wu, right. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM
A criminal defense lawyer who is representing a defendant in one of the cases brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team pushed back Friday against the suggestion from prosecutors that his advocacy poses a possible conflict of interest.
Prosecutors last month raised concerns about criminal defense lawyer Walter Mack’s representation of Rick Gates, who was indicted with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on conspiracy and money laundering charges. Mueller’s team pointed to Mack’s involvement in an unrelated wire fraud case in New York against Steven Brown, a longtime friend and business associate of Gates.
Citing the ties between Brown and Gates, prosecutors on Mueller’s team argued it was possible that one could be called as a witness against the other. Mack on Friday dismissed those concerns, using prosecutors’ own words against them to argue that “neither defendant is presently expected to be a witness in the other’s trial.” He rejected the government’s call for a “Curcio” hearing to explore any conflict.
“In this case, the government seeks to intrude upon the attorney-client relationship by requesting a Curcio hearing based solely on the fact that the two defendants have had a business relationship unrelated to the matters at issue in their respective cases,” Mack wrote in a brief that was also signed by Shanlon Wu, another criminal defense lawyer on Gates’ team. “The government’s own letter characterizes the scenario in which a future conflict might arise as ‘unlikely,’ and ‘remote’ and the charged conduct in each case as ‘separate and apart.’”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson recently questioned prosecutors about their concerns, at one point asking whether Brown is a witness in the special counsel’s case against Manafort and Gates. “He’s not, judge,” responded Greg Andres, a prosecutor on Mueller’s team. Andres also told Jackson that Gates is not a witness against Brown in the New York case.
Manafort and Gates were indicted in late October on money laundering and conspiracy charges, along with allegations they failed to disclose their lobbying work for the Ukrainian government. The two men have pleaded not guilty. A defense lawyer for Manafort, former Miller & Chevalier partner Kevin Downing, has called the accusations “ridiculous.”
Mack said he “invited” Gates and Brown to get independent advice from a lawyer not involved in any of the cases. “My representation of both defendants in their separate cases does not presently require me to take an action to advance a position adverse to the interests of the other—and it is difficult to conceive of such a situation arising in the future,” Mack said in court filings on Friday.
“While defense counsel accedes to whatever course of action the court deems prudent, it bears noting that the government’s prolix and speculative Curcio filings have damaged the defendants’ reputations and peace of mind, incited intense media interest and inaccurate musings, affected public perceptions of their characters, and cost them significant expense,” Mack wrote.
The charges against Gates and Manafort were among the first filed from Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
On Friday, in the latest set of charges, Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition. In a statement issued after his guilty plea, Flynn said he accepts responsibility for his actions, and that he is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
Mack’s latest court filing in Washington is posted below:
