Indicted: (Retiring Sen. Trent Lott’s brother-in-law) Dickie Scruggs is in deep doo-doo
I started Wednesday morning noting the FBI raid on Dickie Scruggs’ law office. Late Wednesday evening, news broke of Scruggs’ indictment on charges of bribing a judge in the Scruggs/Lott Katrina-related revenge lawsuit against State Farm insurance–and attempting to conceal the bribery. I updated my initial post, but it’s worth a fresh new one. Are the indictment and Lott’s resignation still just a “coincidence?” Like I said when Lott announced his resignation, it sure doesn’t smell right. And now it smells even worse. The Biloxi Sun-Herald has the lowdown and the full indictment:
A grand jury in North Mississippi has indicted Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, his son, Zach Scruggs, Scruggs Law Firm attorney Sidney A. Backstrom, attorney Timothy Balducci and former State Auditor Steve Patterson for conspiring to bribe a state court judge in North Mississippi over a case that involved funds from a settlement with State Farm insurance companies.
The indictment, filed late Thursday, said Scruggs attempted to influence Circuit Judge Henry L. Lackey in the case by offering him $40,000 for an order that would resolve the lawsuit Jones vs. Scruggs in favor of Dickie Scruggs and the Scruggs Law Firm.
Dickie Scruggs also is accused of attempting to conceal his and the other attorneys’ involvement in the alleged bribery attempt.
Alan at Y’all Politics boils it down and points to a Scruggs/Hillary connection that will likely be severed pretty soon:
The crux of the indictment is that these four conspired to commit and actually committed bribery of a judge to deliver a favorable ruling to them over attorneys fees gleaned from Katrina related litigation. There is tape. There is documentation…
…So what does this all mean? Well, for starters, Dickie Scruggs fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on December 15th featuring BILL CLINTON, will likely be cancelled.
David Rossmiller’s all over it, too, as he has been from the beginning:
I had a chance to read the grand jury’s indictment several times on the bus ride home tonight. This scheme, if what is alleged is true, was incredibly lame and stupid. Supposedly, Scruggs and a small group of colleagues decided to bribe a state court judge in the fee dispute case — not for a final disposition of the case in their favor, but to obtain an order compelling the plaintiff, Johnny Jones, to arbitrate rather than sue in court. That may account for the miserly $50,000 total bribe offered. Under a cold, hard calculus, that may have seemed like a reasonable sum to pay for an order that was just one step along the way.
The judge, Henry L. Lackey, of the Third Circuit Court District in Mississippi, went to federal authorities when he was approached about the bribe, and one can see this case has been most of the year in the making.
It isn’t clear when it became apparent to the judge that he was being offered a bribe — the indictment says he was approached by Balducci in March and that Balducci “made an overture . . . to resolve the . . . lawsuit favorably” to Scruggs. On May 4, Balducci allegedly talked with Lackey by telephone and said the Scruggs Law Firm “had changed their strategy” and would rely on a motion to compel arbitration rather than a summary judgment motion. All other things aside, let’s just stop a moment and note the complete unacceptability of a lawyer having ex parte contact with a judge about the merits or strategy of a case, and how brazen one would have to be to carry out such contact.
That same day, Balducci faxed a proposed order to compel arbitration to Lackey. Then on May 9 — and here the indictment contains a long, long quote, so Lackey was evidently wired — Balducci met with Lackey and allegedly said that “We, uh, like I say, it ain’t but three people in the world that know anything about this . . . and two of them are sitting here and the other one . . . the other one, uh, being Scruggs . . he and I, um, how shall I say, for over the last five or six yers there, there are bodies buried that, that you know, that he and I know where . . . where are, and, and, my, my trust in his, mine in him and his in mine, in me, I am sure are the same.” Bodies buried? Hmmmm. I wonder what else might come out during the prosecution of these fellows.
Walter Olson has a round-up.
Something is definitely rotten in Mississippi, my friends.
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This guy Balducci is an attorney and this is how he speaks:
No wonder he’s corrupt. I don’t know how he passed the bar, but he can’t win many cases fairly with that, um, eloquency!
Good job, Michelle; thanks for helping expose rotten apples like him!
Dare I say? “If the Hsu fits again?”
Sounds like politics as normal with the exception of an honest judge. They are right about one thing, you do not know how politics work in a small town if you have never been there. Usually you just have to upset one person before the whole cart goes.
As ye reap so shall ye sow!
You have to love that part. Kudo’s to Judge Lackey. He deserves a cookie.
I’ll say it again – you are correct, it doesn’t smell too good at this point concerning Lott. However, I certainly don’t want to be “indicted” simply by being related by marriage to somebody else being indicted. I for one think Lott is a poster child for much of the sleaze of Washington and would not be surprised to find him neck deep in this mess – but until he’s really linked to it, he doesn’t deserve to convicted in the court of public opinion. (However, with that said, because “you are known by the company you keep”, and the fact there is smoke, I think it only prudent to keep investigating.)
Reason 1,257,895 for term limits.
ajmontana said, “He deserves a cookie.”
Let’s be generous and give him a dozen!
lol, if the bribe would have been over 100k he’d get a dozen.
I am willing to bet that before to long this story will be spun into Lott had more to do with this then just being related. We all have seen the spin machine for the democrats take loose facts and make them fit thier agenda.
Anything to make Republicans look bad.
Lott wanted State Farm to pay for fixing his house. His dubious claim would result in everyone else paying higher premiums in the future. Now would a nice guy like him do that?
look, if the law suite was between lott and state farm, which it was apparently, and if he didn’t know about it well color me surprised! but conservatives-r-us has it right, innocent until proven guilty, and so far the link stops at scruggs.
but color me even more surprised to find out that lott’s brother in law is a hillary clinton supporter.. surprise…surprise…surprise!! makes yah wonder about lott’s shamnesty…things that make you wanna go hummm?
Michelle, another Grand slam
Well Done!
Ok – I’m going to admit my fogginess here:
While I’m not in any way saddened that Trent Lott is leaving – has there been anything besides the fact that he’s related by marriage to this guy that implicates him in any of this?
Maybe I’m just missing something or not reading closely enough… but I don’t see it.
If only Strom Thurmond had been elected president, then Lott wouldn’t be in the mess he’s in today.
I agree Zorro, how about ‘part-time’
legislators with limited staffs,no
per-diem, no perks
quote
On November 29th, 2007 at 6:50 am, zorro said:
Reason 1,257,895 for term limits.
unquote
For those concerned Lott isn’t involved, shouldn’t be tarred by his brother-in-laws acts, etc, Michelle hasn’t convicted him and hasn’t tried, she’s just pointing out that this obviously corrupt loser keeps bad company and this revelation makes his resignation and it’s timing much more suspect, and deserving of much scrutiny. Scorn doesn’t hurt either.
Time will tell….
Does anyone know if Trent married Scruggs’ sister or Scruggs married Trent’s sister? Just curious.
It does smell. Why go through all the trouble of getting re-elected to the senate for a 6 year term and resign after one? Unless it was a health problem, I just can’t understand.
Gee whiz, another unscrupulous lawyer? Anymore you can’t help but tripping over one these blights on society.
Good question, but what else would Trent do? Get an honest, private-sector job? If Senate pension rules are what I’d expect them to be, each additional year of service pads the retirement check just a little bit more.
Burn, baby, burn!
When a member of CONgress is kicked out, resigns, not re-elected, etc., can we require them to return to their home states forever or at least a few years before coming back to the DC area?
Have you ever noticed that very few actually go back to their home districts that they are so proud to have represented? Do you really think Lott is going to go home and live in Mississippi? Yeah, right…
Every thing eventually runs back to the Clinton campaign and now they are going to run around and try to stick their finger in the dyke just to make the water stop.
But hey I know a few of the dyke’s they stuck fingers in and they ain’t happy.
Jane Fonda isn’t there any more to use her magic muffin to convince Ted by shaking the bed that all is well.
Now they have to stand on their own two feet like adults and it aint gonna be pretty.
# 17 – LOL – Trent Lott married the other guy’s sister. If the other guy had married Trent’s sister, they wouldn’t have the same last name
Time will tell if Lott has any involvement in this or not, but the coincidence of the “out of the blue” announcement to resign just before this pops up the news stinks all the way out to Idaho.
But we can’t ignore the corrupting influence a brother-in-law can exert on a politician. Everyone knows Bill Clinton was pure as the wind-driven snow before acquiring Hugh Rodham as a brother-in-law.
wont be missed!!