Laundering Money Through Law Firms
According to <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/03/dima…
article in today's Boston </a><span><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/03/dima…; target="”_blank”">Globe</a>,</span>
former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi was indicted by a
federal grand jury on a variety of public corruption charges (see my
blog posts on DiMasi's <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/560" target="”_blank”">legislative
immunity defense</a>, and another on <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/561" target="”_blank”">Massachusetts' ethics
environment</a>).<br>
<br>
Of particular value for local government ethics is the way he is
alleged to have obtained his money: it was given, in monthly payments, to his law partner,
as if in return for legal services. This is one thing to watch for when
lawyers are in local government. They often say that their law firms
have nothing to do with their government work, but they can be a handy
way of laundering money.<br>
<br>