Key Money Laundering Charge Against Attorney Dismissed

From the Miami Herald, December 22, 2008:
Read the judge's decision
" A federal judge on Monday shattered the foundation of the government's criminal case against prominent South Florida lawyer Ben Kuehne, who faces trial next month on charges of laundering drug-trafficking profits for legal fees. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke threw out the central money-laundering conspiracy charge against Kuehne, calling the government's legal reasoning for the count ``flawed.'' ''I'm thrilled with the timing of the judge's ruling and believe it was the right ruling to make,'' he said. ``I'm gratified that she ended the year on a very positive note.''

Kuehne, 54, was indicted earlier this year after vouching for a Colombian kingpin's legal payments to his defense attorney, Roy Black, in a major cocaine-trafficking case in 2001-03. The payments totaled $5.2 million. Federal law makes it a crime for anyone to receive more than $10,000 from illegal activity such as drug trafficking. But Cooke ruled that a congressional exemption in the money-laundering statute for lawyers' legal fees applied to Kuehne, saying it was critical to a defendant's constitutional right to counsel. ''If I were to construe the statutory exemption as the government suggests, the exemption for such transactions would amount to no exemption at all,'' Cooke wrote in her 13-page ruling.

Kuehne is perhaps best known as one of former Vice President Al Gore's lawyers in the Florida presidential election dispute. But he also has a high profile as a criminal defense attorney who served on the Florida Bar Board of Governors and as a past president of the Dade County Bar Association.
The controversial case against Kuehne has attracted keen interest from lawyers nationwide and prompted major legal players -- including two former Florida Supreme Court chief justices -- to donate money to his defense fund.

''This is a crucial ruling not just for Ben and his many supporters in the community, but for lawyers throughout the country who perceived his prosecution as part of a broader attack on attorneys who represent controversial clients,'' said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney in Miami.

The judge's decision did not apply to six other counts in Kuehne's indictment charging him and two other defendants with money laundering and wire fraud in connection with the transfer of drug lord Fabio Ochoa's legal payments to Black. But the main conspiracy count is the glue that holds together the indictment against Kuehne -- and without it, the government's prosecution is fractured.
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TAINTED ASSETS
But Justice Department prosecutor Robert Feitel argued that Kuehne wasn't exempt because he knowingly helped the Colombian narco trafficker transfer drug proceeds for his defense in Miami. ''The evidence will show it's dirty from the start,'' he said.
Feitel also said the exemption shouldn't apply to Kuehne because he knew Ochoa's assets in Colombia -- including prized Paso Fino horses sold at auction to raise defense funds -- were derived from cocaine trafficking.
But defense lawyer John Nields, who is representing Kuehne along with Miami attorney Jane Moscowitz, said the exemption applies not only to Kuehne but to all attorneys who accept legal fees from criminal defendants. He said Congress -- whose exemption was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court -- allowed the Justice Department to pursue ill-gotten fees through civil forfeiture, but not criminal prosecution. In her order, Cooke agreed."