H
Harry Hope
Guest
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/28/trent-lotts-brotherinl_n_74572.html
November 28, 2007
Trent Lott's Brother-In-Law, Nephew, Indicted On Federal Bribery
Charges
Max Follmer
Prominent Mississippi trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, the
brother-in-law of outgoing GOP Sen. Trent Lott, was indicted by a
federal grand jury Wednesday on charges that he and four other men
tried to bribe a Mississippi state court judge.
According to the 13-page indictment, Scruggs and three other attorneys
-- including Lott's nephew Zach -- attempted to bribe Mississippi
Third Circuit Court Judge Henry L. Lackey with at least $40,000 in
cash.
Lackey was assigned to hear a lawsuit in which Scruggs' firm was named
as a defendant in a dispute involving $26.5 million in attorneys' fees
stemming from a court settlement with State Farm Insurance over
Hurricane Katrina claims.
The indictment alleges that the bribe was intended to resolve the case
in Scruggs' and his firm's favor.
Also charged was Sidney A. Backstrom, an attorney at Scruggs' firm;
Timothy R. Balducci, a New Albany, Miss., lawyer; and former State
Auditor Steven A. Patterson, an employee of Balducci's law firm.
Neither Scruggs nor an attorney for the firm, Joey Langston, returned
telephone messages seeking comment.
Langston does not work at The Scruggs Law Firm.
Lott's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Lott is not named in the indictment, and has not been accused of any
wrongdoing.
Lott, the second-highest ranking Republican in the Senate, announced
Monday he was resigning his seat after 35 years on Capitol Hill.
Lott's decision to leave Congress came one year after he won
re-election to his fourth term.
Scruggs, long a power player in Mississippi legal circles, rose to
prominence after securing huge verdicts for plaintiffs in asbestos
litigation, and from his role in brokering a multibillion dollar
settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s.
He later represented hundreds of Gulf Coast homeowners -- including
Lott -- whose claims were denied by insurance companies in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina.
Lott's home in Pascagoula was destroyed by the storm.
The case at the center of the bribery allegations involves a fee
dispute between Scruggs' firm and an attorney, John Jones, who did
work on behalf of Katrina plaintiffs.
According to the indictment, the five defendants met at Scruggs'
Oxford, Miss. office in mid-March to discuss the scheme.
On March 28, Balducci allegedly traveled to Calhoun County, Miss. to
meet with the judge in order to make "an overture" to resolve the
lawsuit "favorably to the defendant Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs and The
Scruggs Law Firm."
The indictment says that Lackey immediately reported the bribery
scheme to the FBI, and began cooperating with federal authorities.
In May, Balducci allegedly had a conversation with Lackey where he
said "for over the last five or six years there, there are bodies
buried that, that you know, that [Scruggs] and I know where...where
are, and, and, my, my trust is his, mine in him and his i mine."
Between September 27 and November 1, Balducci allegedly made three
cash payments to Lackey, returning from the last meeting with a court
order favorable to the defendants.
"We paid for this ruling; let's be sure it says what we want it to
say," Balducci told Zach Scruggs and Backstrom, according to the
indictment.
On Tuesday FBI agents searched Scruggs' law office in Oxford, Miss.,
removing copies of a computer hard drive.
A statement issued by the FBI office in Jackson, Miss. said the search
was "in furtherance of an ongoing investigation," according to the
Associated Press.
____________________________________________________
Harry
November 28, 2007
Trent Lott's Brother-In-Law, Nephew, Indicted On Federal Bribery
Charges
Max Follmer
Prominent Mississippi trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, the
brother-in-law of outgoing GOP Sen. Trent Lott, was indicted by a
federal grand jury Wednesday on charges that he and four other men
tried to bribe a Mississippi state court judge.
According to the 13-page indictment, Scruggs and three other attorneys
-- including Lott's nephew Zach -- attempted to bribe Mississippi
Third Circuit Court Judge Henry L. Lackey with at least $40,000 in
cash.
Lackey was assigned to hear a lawsuit in which Scruggs' firm was named
as a defendant in a dispute involving $26.5 million in attorneys' fees
stemming from a court settlement with State Farm Insurance over
Hurricane Katrina claims.
The indictment alleges that the bribe was intended to resolve the case
in Scruggs' and his firm's favor.
Also charged was Sidney A. Backstrom, an attorney at Scruggs' firm;
Timothy R. Balducci, a New Albany, Miss., lawyer; and former State
Auditor Steven A. Patterson, an employee of Balducci's law firm.
Neither Scruggs nor an attorney for the firm, Joey Langston, returned
telephone messages seeking comment.
Langston does not work at The Scruggs Law Firm.
Lott's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Lott is not named in the indictment, and has not been accused of any
wrongdoing.
Lott, the second-highest ranking Republican in the Senate, announced
Monday he was resigning his seat after 35 years on Capitol Hill.
Lott's decision to leave Congress came one year after he won
re-election to his fourth term.
Scruggs, long a power player in Mississippi legal circles, rose to
prominence after securing huge verdicts for plaintiffs in asbestos
litigation, and from his role in brokering a multibillion dollar
settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s.
He later represented hundreds of Gulf Coast homeowners -- including
Lott -- whose claims were denied by insurance companies in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina.
Lott's home in Pascagoula was destroyed by the storm.
The case at the center of the bribery allegations involves a fee
dispute between Scruggs' firm and an attorney, John Jones, who did
work on behalf of Katrina plaintiffs.
According to the indictment, the five defendants met at Scruggs'
Oxford, Miss. office in mid-March to discuss the scheme.
On March 28, Balducci allegedly traveled to Calhoun County, Miss. to
meet with the judge in order to make "an overture" to resolve the
lawsuit "favorably to the defendant Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs and The
Scruggs Law Firm."
The indictment says that Lackey immediately reported the bribery
scheme to the FBI, and began cooperating with federal authorities.
In May, Balducci allegedly had a conversation with Lackey where he
said "for over the last five or six years there, there are bodies
buried that, that you know, that [Scruggs] and I know where...where
are, and, and, my, my trust is his, mine in him and his i mine."
Between September 27 and November 1, Balducci allegedly made three
cash payments to Lackey, returning from the last meeting with a court
order favorable to the defendants.
"We paid for this ruling; let's be sure it says what we want it to
say," Balducci told Zach Scruggs and Backstrom, according to the
indictment.
On Tuesday FBI agents searched Scruggs' law office in Oxford, Miss.,
removing copies of a computer hard drive.
A statement issued by the FBI office in Jackson, Miss. said the search
was "in furtherance of an ongoing investigation," according to the
Associated Press.
____________________________________________________
Harry
