How Not to Lose Your Shirt When You’re Under Federal Investigation
Typically, people take jobs to make money. But if you work in the White House, you must be prepared for the fact that in the future you may need a lawyer. And it can get … expensive. Half a million dollars is expensive, according to Bloomberg Politics . Writer Shannon Pettypis talks about Michael Caputo, who chaired Trump’s campaign for four months and now has $ 30,000 in legal bills to show. Lawyers’ fees may not be that heavy if you can use your campaign funds to pay them, as President Trump is reportedly doing, but what if you’re a humble administrative assistant? In theory, you may be forced to use funds from your child’s college funds or retirement savings.
To better understand how to protect myself financially during an investigation, I spoke with Matt Kaiser, a former federal public defender and partner of KaiserDillon in Washington DC.
Insurance
FEDS offers insurance to federal employees in case they need to pay legal fees. “It usually does not apply to you if you are charged,” says Kaiser, “but it will take care of you if there is an investigation like the one we are seeing now.” If you are insured, the insurance company will likely want to choose a lawyer to represent you, “so you lose some flexibility,” says Kaiser.
Keep Calm and Comparison Store
“Some people go crazy and hire the biggest name they can find, and it ends up costing a lot,” says Kaiser. His firm represented some of the people involved in the IRS investigation of Lois Lerner , and he notes that some of the IRS staff hired some really big law firms, “and they ended up spending nearly $ 100,000,” he says. “Our clients hired us. We have a different rate structure. Of course, it ended up with more money than they wanted , but we’re talking about a couple of vacations versus your retirement savings. ”
Also remember that in such situations there may be 50 people under investigation, but only 10-15 will incur serious costs. For everyone else, this is one or two interviews. You need representation, but this does not necessarily lead to bankruptcy.
Use campaign funds
This is how Trump reportedly pays his legal fees in connection with the Russian investigation . How these funds are used is left to the discretion of the campaign chair, although Kaiser notes that in practice, there may not be much practical difference between the desires of a candidate and those of the campaign chair. So when you decide to go to work for candidate X, “you bet he is such a nice guy or such a good woman that they will help you.”
Create a legal protection fund
The Clintons set up a legal defense fund , like Scooter Libby , to pay their legal bills (which, in Libby’s case, reportedly reached millions of dollars ). But if you’re not a dignitary, don’t use a big name, or use a big name, you may not get very far.
Ask your employer
“It’s more in the case of someone, like a lobby shop,” says Kaiser. “Sometimes the employer will support you and pay you a fee. Feel free to ask your employer to pay. ” The advantage of this scenario is that the employer pays and the various lawyers can cooperate: “We are strategic about what we talk about, but we need to find what the government is asking for. And if the employer pays, usually all the attorneys are good, experienced lawyers. “
What not to do
Don’t worry about putting all of your assets in a trust, LLC, or something like that before you go to work for, say, a member of Congress. “It won’t help you if you look impoverished,” says Kaiser. “The lawyers are really focused on whether you can pay them.”