Greg Craig's Team Ditches Plan to Introduce Law Firm Evidence, Resolving Judge's Recusal Issue
The prosecution of former Skadden partner Greg Craig in Washington had kicked up a judicial ethics question when the defense team said they wanted to introduce evidence linked to the judge's former law firm.
July 19, 2019 at 07:32 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
The federal judge presiding over the prosecution of Greg Craig is no longer considering whether to recuse herself from the case, after defense lawyers for the former Obama White House counsel abandoned plans to introduce evidence involving the judge's former law firm.
Craig's defense lawyers had told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia this week that they might show jurors a report that her former firm, Trout Cacheris & Solomon, prepared in 2010 for Ukraine, the country at the center of Craig's case. Jackson had been a partner at the firm from 2000 to 2011, when she joined the federal bench, but she had not worked on the report.
Prosecutors charged Craig in April with making false and misleading statements about his work for Ukraine to avoid reporting it to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, an 80-year-old law requiring the disclosure of foreign influence in the United States.
Although Craig has not been charged with violating FARA, his defense team has taken steps to show at trial that his work for Ukraine—as a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom— did not require him to register with the Justice Department. Craig's lawyers plan to point to examples of other firms that worked for foreign governments and officials but did not register under FARA. A report Trout Cacheris prepared for Ukraine, in 2010, had been one of those examples.
But Craig's defense lawyers advised Jackson on Friday they were dropping plans to mention the report Trout Cacheris prepared on alleged financial improprieties by Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine and political rival of the country's president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych. The move appeared to end the discussion about whether Jackson should recuse herself.
“The bottom line is that I determined this morning that I should not be deciding whether this evidence is relevant or not. And what you've told me this afternoon is I don't have to decide because you've decided you don't want to put it before the jury,” Jackson said Friday on a call with the lawyers in the case. “And if that's your decision, then I agree with you, that I don't need to recuse myself or refer the evidentiary issues to another court.”
Earlier in the call, Jackson said she wanted to confirm that the defense team would not later argue they had been “pressured in any way to withdraw this evidence” by her proposal to have another judge consider the Trout Cacheris evidence and rule on it.
A lawyer for Craig, Zuckerman Spaeder partner William Murphy, affirmed that the defense team had not felt pressured. The decision to back away from the evidence involving Trout Cacheris, he said, was made “based on the complexity of the procedures that would be necessary to solve the problem.”
“And we thought that a better solution, in light of all of the facts that we are aware of, would be to agree not to introduce any evidence regarding the Trout Cacheris report,” he said.
Jackson had proposed an unusual approach to remain on the case and avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.” Jackson determined another judge could rule on the admissibility of evidence concerning the work of Trout Cacheris and other firms. If the judge had allowed the evidence involving her former firm, Jackson said she would revisit the question of whether to recuse herself.
Craig's defense lawyers still hope to present evidence about dealings between major U.S. law firms and Ukraine that was not registered under FARA. Prosecutors have questioned the relevancy of that evidence given that Craig has not been charged with violating FARA. Craig's trial is set to begin Aug. 12.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllAn ‘Indiana Jones Moment’: Mayer Brown’s John Nadolenco and Kelly Kramer on the 10-Year Legal Saga of the Bahia Emerald
Travis Lenkner Returns to Burford Capital With an Eye on Future Growth Opportunities
Legal Speak's 'Sidebar With Saul' Part V: Strange Days of Trump Trial Culminate in Historic Verdict
1 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Husch Blackwell Hires Former Adobe Counsel to Oversee AI Advisory Offering
- 2CFPB Finalizes Rule Removing Medical Debt From Credit Reports
- 3'Don't F-- With Me in My Court:' Texas Judge in Hot Water
- 4Special Counsel Jack Smith Prepares Final Report as Trump Opposes Its Release
- 5Appeals Court Rejects Trump Attempt to Delay Friday Sentencing
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250