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Big law firm hit
with suit over Cuba trade scheme
By Paul Tharp. New
York Post, February 12, 2004.
February 12, 2004 -- Park Avenue law firm
Morgan Lewis & Bockius has been hit
with a $40 million malpractice lawsuit for
allegedly lying and concocting a Cuba trade
cover-up for clients - who didn't even ask
for the scheme.
The alleged scheme got the clients convicted
in a rare criminal case for trading with
Cuba, but the conviction was tossed out
months later by a federal judge who said
the case was loaded with "misconduct."
The clients, brothers Stefan and Don Brodie
who founded the water purification firm
Purolite, said they were fed to the wolves
by their law firm and given bad advice that
nearly caused them to spend the rest of
their lives in prison.
What's worse, they claimed, is their law
firm's senior partner, Thomas Sharbaugh,
fed privileged company information to his
wife, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Hayes,
who was openly prosecuting the Brodies while
her husband's firm defended them.
Morgan Lewis declined comment on the lawsuit.
The Brodies said they originally feared
their small $2 million Cuba order might
be illegal under the U.S. trade ban on Cuba.
But their lawfirm, Morgan Lewis, assured
them it was all legal, even though the lawfrim's
own internal research said the Brodies may
not have legal leg to stand on in a trial.
The complaint said another Morgan Lewis
partner, Edward Dennis, lied to a customs
agent probing the sale by saying that Purolite
wasn't connected to its foreign units.
The Justice Department prosecuted on the
alleged lie, not the actual sale. The Brodies
and a senior Purolite executive in Canada,
James Sabzali, were convicted and faced
more than 205 years in prison until their
case was overturned in June.
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