Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has called in some heavy legal reinforcements to help her deal with the continuing probe of how she and her office charged and then dropped charges against TV star Jussie Smollett over an allegedly faked downtown attack.
Retained to represent Foxx’s office is the Chicago office of Akerman LLP and specifically litigation partner Ruben Castillo, who joined the law firm this fall after stepping down as chief judge of the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Hired by Foxx personally is prominent Washington D.C. attorney Michael Bromwich, a spokesman for Foxx’s campaign confirmed. Bromwich is a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice but probably is best known for representing witness Christine Blasey Ford in U.S. Senate hearings on the confirmation of then U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The high-level hirings are an indication of just how much is at stake in the probe of the Smollett matter by Dan Webb, who was appointed a special prosecutor last year. It joins in the same case Castillo, whose biography on the Akerman web site says his practice will focus on “corporate investigations (and) white-collar criminal defense,” and Webb, for whom Castillo once worked when Webb was U.S. Attorney here.
In a phone interview, Castillo said a team headed by him was retained in October and, as per Foxx’s direction, is “fully cooperating” with Webb, the Winston & Strawn co-executive chairman who is a former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and served as the Special Counsel in the Iran-contra affair back in the '80s. Webb “has kept us busy” with requests for documents that other sources say run into the tens of thousands, but has not indicated where his review is going or when it will conclude, Castillo said.
“I don’t see that I’m defending” the office, Castillo said. “I see myself as assisting.” But there are no guarantees where the case will end up, he conceded.
Foxx spokeswoman Aviva Bowen said is “not uncommon” for the office to retain outside counsel, especially in complex civil cases. She said Akerman has not yet been paid anything, and did not immediately know its pay rate.
Castillo said the figure is “not anywhere near my usual rate”—believed to be in the hundreds of dollars an hour—but declined to provide a specific figure. Taxpayers will be footing the bill for Castillo's services.Bromwich was not immediately available for comment.
The Smollett case has stirred considerable controversy ever since the “Empire” actor reported that he’d been accosted near his River East hotel by mask-wearing men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him and declared he was in “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
At the prompting of police, Foxx’s office initially filed felony charges against him, alleging that he faked the matter and paid his attackers in a publicity stunt. But Foxx’s office later dropped the charges against Smollett after he agreed to forfeit his bail, suggesting there were difficulties with the case.
Webb has given no indication whether he will announce his decision in the case before or after the March Democratic primary, in which Foxx faces three opponents.
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January 08, 2020 at 05:26AM
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Foxx calls in big legal heat to help with Smollett probe - Crain's Chicago Business
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