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player ready...A argument has broken out between attorneys in a federal case charging a Munster accountant with defrauding a local doctor over whether each side has violated legal ethics.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Berkowitz filed a motion Wednesday asking for a hearing to discuss whether lawyer Kevin Milner should be representing William Bercaw, who was charged last month with six counts of wire fraud.
The government claims Bercaw, who worked for Munster accountant Jack Weichman, helped steal $2.5 million from one of Weichman’s firm’s clients over a period of five years until 2013. Weichman has also been charged in a separate case.
Berkowitz said in her motion that she had reason to believe Weichman was paying Milner’s bills, which could create a conflict of interest for Milner and something that other courts have ruled against.
“This is especially true if the strategic decisions that the lawyer has to make requires him to choose between seeking leniency for the client and causing certain and significant harm to the interests of the reliable provider of the attorney fees,” Berkowitz wrote.
Milner defended himself in a response filed Thursday and questioned Berkowitz’s own ethics, saying she misled the court.
Milner said that Bercaw is paying him from his own savings and argues that Berkowitz never asked him about the payments before filing the motion.
He also argues that he has represented Bercaw for a long time and that he had previously offered Bercaw’s cooperation in the government’s case against Weichman in exchange for immunity, an offer the government never responded to. A plea deal, which Milner argues the government is angling for, could hurt Bercaw’s interests, he said.
“The government’s actions were shameful and, in the humble opinion of defense counsel, unethical and possibly criminal,” Milner wrote, adding that he would report the issue to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
He did say that both he and his client would happily attest to the issue under oath.
Bercaw is set to be arraigned Friday.
Contact Teresa Auch Schultz at [email protected].