Howard Stern Jd Harmeyer

"U.S. Lawsuits Rarely Block Secret World: Lawyer Tells Inside Story. Rarely Minded: Those Who Violate Law Know Their Actions Will Be Reviewed. Lawyer Says It's A Dog Whistle To Drive The Legal System Backwards. 'If They Can't Do that, They Won't Get Shoved,'" by Ellen Nakashima and Tish Williams, The Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2009

U.S. law suits rarely block secrets, but then again it's rare for big companies to sue. But Attorney Richard V. Snyder, author of "U.S. Lawyers: How Far Will They Take their Regime?" has one secret to share about one of his own.

Snyder spent years practicing law in the United States, Hong Kong and Bermuda. In 2008, the authorities in the United States seized the secret offshore bank holding company he created in Bermuda. A complaint was filed against him in Boston federal court, alleging that Snyder was violating a federal crime of money laundering law.

After reading the complaint, Snyder says the judge told him: "How dare you. First of all, you didn't file the complaint," Snyder says, "and now you're going to tell us the details of how this other bank got into the United States for the first time and why they're suddenly involved in our business? I don't know how to argue with that."

A few months later, the defendants in the case, Michael Cohen, a wealthy lawyer, and two executives of the same bank who were arrested and charged with part of the money laundering scheme were sent back to America to face criminal charges in Manhattan federal court. Mr. Cohen is a key figure in many of the matters that went on behind the scenes during the fraud investigation and prosecution of Cohen's former business associates -- including: Mr. Cohen's business partner, Essential Sports LLC, the company, and the owner of Essential Sports LLC, Peter Thiel, who was also a central figure in the investigation of the former Cohen business associates.

The charges are connected to a fund set up by Essential Sports LLC, which was under the control of Cohen, to purchase the Manhattan borough property. The fund attracted the attention of the feds, bringing them into contact with Mr. Cohen's company; other directors of the fund are also involved in the Manhattan FBI office that is investigating the Trump Organization.