I get email from all sorts of groups, but this one caught my eye earlier today. “Jews United for Democracy and Justice” invited Andrew Weissmann as a speaker for a talk entitled, “THE QUEST FOR ACCOUNTABILITY: An Expert’s Analysis of Trump’s Liabilities” to be given on Wednesday, 6/26. The fact that Andrew Weissmann is speaking on accountability is hypocrisy in its purest forms, given his history of despicable lawyer practices.
During the Colombo crime cases in the 1990s, Weissmann withheld exculpatory evidence and was reprimanded for doing so by a judge in the Eastern district of New York. Several years later during his tenure as head of the task force investigating Enron, he intimidated witnesses and made repeated threats, resulting in his abrupt resignation in the midst of jury deliberations. Similarly, Andrew Weissmann persecuted and prosecuted Jim Brown, a Merrill-Lynch executive, for a deal with Enron during which Weissmann concocted evidence and hid Brady material, and then repeatedly lied to the court about having such material. Initially, Jim Brown was found guilty and sent to prison, but the fraud and conspiracy charges were later overturned for him and three other Merrill Lynch executives.
Likewise, Andrew Weissmann brought an indictment against the Arthur Andersen firm as an entity arguing that it covered up for Enron. No indictment against a company for the action of one person had never been done before — or ever since. But in the end, no crime was actually ever committed, as determined later by a unanimous 9-0 Supreme Court decision. During the oral argument, the Court viciously ridiculed the theory that Weissmann used in order to charge the crime in the first place. Unfortunately, that exoneration came too late: Weissmann had destroyed an 89-year-old accounting institution and eliminated 85,000 jobs by distorting the law, denying the defendants a fair trial, and taking intent out of the jury instructions.
In 2013, Weissmann faced ethical charges before the First Judicial Department Disciplinary Committee in NY for his outrageous behavior, including hiding evidence and lying to the court, during the Enron trial. But the Committee passed the disbarment issue on to the Eric Holder DOJ in DC, who buried the charges.
Having Weissmann give a talk about credibility is utterly laughable. For all the people they could have invited to talk about Trump, he is the absolute worst. Weissmann does anything to win, including violating all moral and ethical principles. Weissmann should have been disbarred years ago; having him as any speaker anywhere whatsoever denigrates the organization that invites him.