Prosecutors seek probe of whether Trump-allied lawyer is funding Oath Keepers defense
Source: NBC News
WASHINGTON — U.S. prosecutors asked a judge on Wednesday to launch an ethics inquiry into whether defense lawyers for prominent members of the right-wing Oath Keepers are improperly allowing an attorney closely allied with former President Donald Trump to help pay their legal fees.
The Justice Department’s court filing cited media reports alleging that the legal fees for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes are being paid by Defending the Republic, an entity controlled by Sidney Powell, an attorney who played a key role in Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat. The group is also paying fees for Oath Keeper defendants Kelly Meggs, Connie Meggs and Kenneth Harrelson, it said.
The payments, if true, could violate professional conduct rules limiting compensation methods for attorneys in the District of Columbia, prosecutors said.
Under those rules, defense lawyers must only accept payments from their own clients, unless three conditions are met: The client must give informed consent, information related to the representation must be protected, and the third-party fee arrangement cannot cause “interference with the lawyer’s independence of professional judgment or with the client-lawyer relationship.”
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/prosecutors-seek-probe-trump-allied-lawyers-funding-oath-keepers-defen-rcna34830
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