The new movie “American Hustle”, the Martin Scorsese comedy loosely based on the 1970s Abscam scandal, evoked memories in NAFUSA member Hickman Ewing, shown above with his wife, Mary, at the NAFUSA conference in Washington. Ewing served on the Attorney General’s leak investigation team in the 1970s, along with NAFUSA Executive Director Rich Rossman. Ewing writes:

Starting in the 1970’s some U.S. Attorney’s Offices made efforts to begin using the federal statutes to combat corruption in state, federal, and local government. WD Tennessee was in the forefront of this.

 

The FBI came along, but in the beginning wanted to concentrate more on “stats” (statistics based on volume of cases) rather than invest lots of time and manpower into undercover investigations which might not result in prosecutions in the end.
By Mike Cody’s time as U.S. Attorney, they were getting the hang of it.  In about 1978, 3 districts (FBI, USAO) were recognized as doing the most in corruption – ED PA (Philadelphia), ND IL (Chicago), and WD TN (Memphis).

 

The ABSCAM investigation did not touch Tennessee per se. It was run out of Washington DC, NY, NJ. At the same time there were two other major federal undercover investigations. One was code named BRILAB (Bribery-Labor), and the other PENDORF (involving Nevada, organized crime, and elected officials).

 

Early in 1980 the ABSCAM investigation got leaked to the media. The Department of Justice and FBI responded quickly to try and find the leakers. They wanted to take the position before the courts where the congressmen were going to be prosecuted that this was not an intentional orchestrated leak which would require dismissal.
Because it was so widespread, the normal OPR (Office of Professional Responsibility) of both the DOJ and the FBI were not staffed adequately to handle it.
The Attorney General (Benjamin Civiletti) called on the then U.S. Attorney from Connecticut Dick Blumenthal (now a senator from that state) to come to Washington and head up the leak investigation.  Dick had been a Washington Post reporter before his legal career.  He was given an office at DOJ. He worked closely with John Otto, who was the head of the FBI OPR.

 

Two First Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA’s) were brought in to assist him with the ABSCAM leak investigation:  Rich Rossman from Detroit and Jerry O’Neill from Vermont. An extra FBI supervisor and 10 experienced agents rounded out that leak investigation team.

 

** Now how it touched us – Shortly after the ABSCAM investigation leaked, the BRILAB investigation leaked – it covered many more cities than ABSCAM. Dick Blumenthal called his colleague Mike Cody.  On a break from court, Mike told me [Ewing was Cody’s first assistant at the time] that Dick had asked if I would be interested in being the AUSA to help on the BRILAB leak investigation.  I was told that it would take 4-6 weeks.  I went to Washington DC at the end of Feb 1980.  Dick asked me to look at the materials and recommend to him how much manpower we would need. I recommended that we have another First AUSA, and FBI supervisor, and 10 field agents.  Bill Skretny, the First AUSA from Buffalo NY became my investigating partner.
It took us about seven months to complete our part – as we travelled to Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, San Antonia, Oklahoma City, New Orleans (Carlos Marcello was involved), Mobile, and Washington DC.  We interviewed in excess of 1,000 people, including FBI, AUSA’s, judges, etc.  Among those I remember, all of whom were without fault, were: the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles Andrea Ordin, and then AUSA Ron Woods in Houston. We did not interview or try to talk with any of the reporters in question. I remember who they were.
[Richard Stephens, First AUSA in Dallas came in later to head the PENDORF leak investigation]

 

Though we did not investigate the ABSCAM matter per se, there were lots of common “subjects” of the leak investigations, especially at the DOJ/FBI Washington DC level. We asked a number of government employees – FBI, DOJ, USAO, etc – to take polygraphs.  We pretty well figured it all out and made reports to the Attorney General. He and the Director of the FBI determined the discipline.

 

Rossman became U.S. Attorney in Michigan at some point, served in the DOJ during the Clinton administration, and is now the director of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys (Mike and I just saw him in Washington at the end of Sept. 2013). Bill Skretney became a U.S. District Judge in Buffalo.
You know the rest of our stories.

 

Blessings, and happy new year,
Hickman

On Friday, December 20, 2013, the United States Senate voted 54-41 to confirm NAFUSA member Alejandro Mayorkas as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the second-ranking official at DHS. Mayorkas had served as the Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since 2009 until his confirmation as deputy secretary. He was a participant on the NAFUSA panel on immigration at the Atlanta conference in 2012.

He served as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California 1999-2001. At the time of his appointment by President Clinton, Mayorkas became the youngest U.S. Attorney to serve the nation at that time.

Prior to becomming the director of USCIS, Mayorkas was a partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. He served as a member of firm’s worldwide governing Policy Committee. In 2008, the National Law Journal recognized Mayorkas as one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.” He was born in Havana, Cuba and is a graduate of Loyola Law School.

In the lead editorial in The New York Times on December 26, 2013, Homeland Security’s New Chief, The Times urges the the newly confirmed DHS Director Jeh Johnson to bring immigration enforcement into balance and gives favorable mention to the Mayorkas appointment:

Mr. Johnson has little experience with immigration. But the homeland security deputy secretary confirmed on Friday, Alejandro Mayorkas, does. Mr. Mayorkas is the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency within homeland security that handles legal immigration. Under Mr. Mayorkas’s capable leadership, it has done a good job in managing the deferred-action program. Mr. Mayorkas, an immigrant himself, looks to be an excellent partner for Mr. Johnson in beginning the formidable job of bringing the department’s immigration policies and practices into line with its mission.

NAFUSA lifetime member John Ratcliffe filed for the GOP primary this week, moments before the filing deadline. He seeks to represent the 4th Congressional District of Texas, which covers the northeast corner of the state. He will take on Rep. Ralph Hall, the 90 year old GOP incumbent, the oldest member of Congress.

Ratcliffe served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, 2007-2008. He had served as first assistant to NAFUSA President-Elect Matt Orwig, and succeeded Orwig when the latter returned to private practice.

Ratcliffe is currently a partner with the Ashcroft Law Firm in the Dallas office. He earned his Juris Doctor at the Southern Methodist University School of Law. He has served as adjunct professor of law at both SMU and Texas Wesleyan University. He also served as mayor of Heath, Texas for eight years.

For more information on the campaign, visit www.ratcliffeforcongress.com.

NAFUSA member B. Todd Jones was interviewed yesterday on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Click here to read or listen to the interview where Jones describes the tough challenges at ATF. Jones was confirmed by the Senate on July 31, 2013, as the first permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since 2006.

“There’s a sort of collective sigh of relief that not another person’s going to show up here for a bit,” Jones says in his interview with NPR. “You know, they had five acting directors in the seven-year span since they made it subject to Senate confirmation, which is difficult for any organization to build momentum or have continuity.”

NAFUSA member Peter Vaira, (ED PA, 1978-1983), shown right, was appointed  by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on October 31, 2013 as Executive Director of the Independent Advisory Commission  to probe the cause a building collapse on Market Street, Philadelphia on June 5, 2013 that killed six persons. The Commission which  consists of 16 persons will be chaired by Glenn Corbett, associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, of the City University of New York. The Mayor signed an executive order directing the Commission to examine the role of the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections in licensing and inspecting the contractors who were demolishing the building when it collapsed, and to further examine the entire regulatory and licensing function of L& I. The Commission is to make a final report to the mayor on July 15, 2014.

The daughter of city Treasurer Nancy Winkler was one of the persons killed while she was visiting the Salvation Army gift shop  which was adjacent to the building being demolished when the building collapsed on the  gift shop. Two persons involved in the demolition have been indicted by the  Philadelphia District Attorney.

The Department of Licenses & Inspections has long been the subject of allegations of shakedowns and bribes, political influence, and general inefficiency regarding licenses and inspections of commercial buildings and businesses in Philadelphia.

NAFUSA board member Hal Hardin, won the latest battle on behalf of the former governor of Tennessee and the former deputy to the governor. On October 29, 2013, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee, dismissed for the second time an appeal in a civil case against the governor and his deputy for actions alleged to have occurred during a 77 day and night protest in 2005 inside the Tennessee Capitol over changes to the state health care program.

Contrary to State Capitol rules, plaintiff and other protestors entered the Capitol and were allowed to stay. The governor and the deputy took no action to evict the protestors, even though they could have lawfully done so. Plaintiff claimed the governor and the deputy retaliated against him for the exercise of his First Amendment rights during the protest. The Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment against him and the lower court’s ruling that certain documents created by the governor’s legal counsel were protected from discovery by the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges.

Click here to read the full opinion of the Tennessee Court of Appeals

The law firm Bryan Cave LLP announced on October 7, 2013, that NAFUSA member Mary Beth Buchanan has joined the firm as a partner practicing in both the New York and Washington, D.C., offices.  She will practice within Bryan Cave’s White Collar Defense and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Client Service Group.

Buchanan served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania from September 2001 to November 2009, having been appointed by President George W. Bush.  As the U.S. Attorney, Buchanan oversaw the prosecution of more than 5,000 cases, including corporate and securities fraud, bank fraud, foreign corrupt practices, false claims, money laundering, health care fraud, public corruption and a broad range of violent crimes.  Prior to that time, Buchanan spent more than 13 years as an Assistant United States Attorney litigating criminal, civil and appellate cases.

At Bryan Cave, Buchanan will concentrate her practice on internal investigations, corporate compliance, white collar criminal defense, foreign corrupt practices violations, corporate and accounting fraud, antitrust litigation, health care fraud, SEC enforcement matters, Congressional investigations and complex civil litigation.

Buchanan joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1988.  She spent her first five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division, and the next nine years in the Criminal Division.  During her tenure as the U.S. Attorney, she also had assignments at the DOJ, including serving as the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys,  acting director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women and chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Buchanan also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Organizational Guidelines Advisory Committee, which made recommendations to the Commission for amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines for Business Organizations.

Buchanan joins Bryan Cave from the United Nations, where she served as the ethics and reputational risk officer. Buchanan conducted the United Nations’ first ethics and reputational risk assessment for U.N. Peacekeeping and Special Political Operations.  She received a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Bryan Cave LLP (www.bryancave.com) has a diversified international legal practice. The firm represents a wide variety of business, financial, institutional and individual clients, including publicly held multinational corporations, large and mid-sized privately held companies, partnerships and emerging companies. Subsidiary Bryan Cave International Consulting provides trade and customs consultancy. Aided by extensive investments in technology, Bryan Cave’s more than 1,100 lawyers and other professionals in over 30 offices across the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia efficiently serve clients’ needs in the world’s key business and financial markets.

On Wednesday, October 16, 2013, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, SDNY, appointed NAFUSA life member Michael Bromwich to monitor Apple’s antitrust policies and procedures for two years. Judge Cote found Apple guilty of colluding with five of the six largest publishers in the U.S. in an e-book price-fixing scheme.

Bromwich was selected by President Obama in June 2010 to reform the regulation and oversight of offshore drilling in the wake of the DeepwaterHorizon accident and oil spill. He first served as the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management Regulation and Enforcement (June 2010-September 2011), and then as Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (October-November 2011). Bromwich served as the chief public spokesman for the Obama Administration’s reform of offshore drilling.

At the end of 2011, Bromwich left government and in 2012 joined Goodwin Proctor as a partner in its DC and New York offices, specializing in internal investigations and white-collar defense. He served as inspector general of the Department of Justice, 1994-1999. He also served as associate counsel in the Iran-Contra Office of Independent Counsel and as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.