Kirkland & Ellis Partner Faces Senate Spotlight for Work With Russian Bank
Partner Brian Benczkowski, the nominee for the DOJ's Criminal Division, said he wouldn't have taken Alfa-Bank as a client looking back.
July 25, 2017 at 06:01 PM
12 minute read
Kirkland & Ellis partner Brian Benczkowski told a group of senators Tuesday that if he could go back in time, he wouldn't have taken on a Russian bank as a client.
Benczkowski is President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Justice Department's Criminal Division. He faced little scrutiny until Monday, largely due to his experience in various leadership positions at the DOJ under President George W. Bush and bipartisan support. But news reports Monday revealed Benczkowski represented a Russian bank this past spring that was reportedly under investigation by the FBI for potential connections between its computer servers and Trump's presidential campaign. Benczkowski and Kirkland's work for Alfa-Bank thus became the focus of Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
“I was a lawyer in private practice doing what lawyers in private practice do,” Benczkowski said of his work for the bank. Though Benczkowski had no role in the Trump campaign, he served on Trump's transition team from September 2016 through January 2017. Several Democratic senators appeared concerned Alfa-Bank specifically chose Kirkland & Ellis as its law firm knowing Benczkowski was likely to be nominated for a DOJ position. Benczkowski began work for the bank in March, and was approached about the DOJ post in April, he said.
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