By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

New York State Senator Thomas W. Libous, the second highest ranking state senator, was found guilty Wednesday of false statements to the FBI.

The conviction came after a  seven-day federal trial in White Plains.

“Public corruption is a scourge. Every New Yorker wants us to work as hard as possible to end it,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “But lies to law enforcement make the job of fighting corruption doubly difficult. Today, a jury unanimously found that Tom Libous, the second highest ranking New York Senator, told lie after lie to hide the truth from federal agents investigating corruption in Albany. Libous’s lies have been exposed, his crime has been proven, and Albany will be the better for it.”

Authorities charged that Libous, 62, had obtained a job for a family member at a Westchester law firm in exchange for a promise to refer business to the firm, and had arranged for an Albany lobbying firm that regularly lobbied him to secretly pay the law firm $50,000 per year to defray the cost of the family member’s salary and lease of a Range Rover.

The lobbying firm specialized in transportation issues and Libous served as the Chairman of the Senate’s Transportation Committee at the time.

Libous then lied to FBI agents investigating the matter.

By Steve Neavling

A federal prosecutor who once was the third highest-ranking official in the Justice Department’s fraud section is headed to the private sector.

The New York Times reports that James Koukios is joining private law firm, Morrison & Forester.

He was named a partner in the firm’s security litigation and white-collar criminal defense group, The Times wrote.

In other words, Koukois will help defend the people he once tried to prosecute.

Koukois’ last day is Friday.

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Robert Mueller

Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is joining the private sector.

The New York Times reports that Mueller, who served as director for 12 years before stepping down in September, is becoming a partner of the law firm WilmerHale.

“Bob brings to the firm his broad range of experience as a career prosecutor, an ability to lead the most sensitive investigations, his steady hand in a crisis and unquestioned integrity,” Robert Novick, co-managing partner of WilmerHale, said in a statement.

Mueller brings quite the background, which includes a Princeton degree, a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam and years as the U.S. attorney in both San Francisco and Boston.

By David S. Hilzenrath

WASHINGTON –By mid-March, as the government tells it, Matthew H. Kluger knew the FBI was closing in.

As a lawyer for three of the nation’s premier corporate law firms, most recently in the Washington office of Wilson Sonsini, he had allegedly stolen secrets that yielded tens of millions of dollars of insider trading profits. Now he was trying to eliminate the evidence.

Out went his computer, and his iPhone.

“Those are gone. I mean history,” he allegedly told a friend and co-conspirator.

But he was still worried.

Matt Kluger/wsgr

“If they start looking at me and look at my bank records and all that other stuff . . . it could get ugly,” he said.

To read more click here.

Vincent H. Cohen Jr./law firm photo

WASHINGTON – Vincent H. Cohen Jr. has left private practice to return to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington as the number two person, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.  announced Monday.

Cohen, 39, a partner in the D.C. law firm Schertler & Onorato, served as an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1997 to 2003. He worked cases involving bribery and gratuities, embezzlement, false claims, theft of government property, Worker’s Compensation fraud and violent crimes including murder, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

Cohen also worked on the civil side in the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Alberto Gonzales

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — Sadly, Alberto Gonzales was one of the worst U.S. Attorney General’s this country has ever had.

Gonzales, who has taken a teaching job at Texas Tech, told the New York Times that he has not been offered a job at any law firms since leaving his post, and he has not spoken to President Bush since the Bush left office.

Here are some questions and answers from an interview with the New York Times’ Deborah Solomon.
Isn’t there still an ongoing investigation by a special prosecutor who was appointed last year to look into the removal of the attorneys?
I wish I could comment on that, but because it’s an ongoing investigation, I cannot.

Would you agree that your reputation was damaged by your service as attorney general?
It has had an effect, a negative effect, no question about it, and at times it makes me angry because it is undeserved. But I don’t want to sound like I am whining. At the end of the day, I’ve been the attorney general of the United States. It’s a remarkable privilege, and I stand behind my service.

Has any law firm offered you a job since you left the White House?
Listen, I’ve had some interest and I’ve had some discussions, but there has been no offer made. In a tough economic climate, I can understand why a company or a firm would want to make sure that the investigations are complete and there is no finding of wrongdoing before they make a hiring decision.

Do you still talk to President Bush?
I have not spoken with the president since he left office.

Have you ever been tempted to pick up the phone and say hi to him?
I do, of course, think about our time together, and there are times when I think about doing that. But listen, I know that he has his life to live. I’ve got challenges and my life to live as well.

To Read Full Interview