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When 'tainted' money's frozen, who pays for lawyers?

By DAVID ADAMS
Published March 30, 2005

MIAMI - For years the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers were said to be the wealthiest drug traffickers in the business.

In the mid 1990s their smuggling operations raked in a staggering $8-billion a year, say U.S. drug agents.

But now that the brothers face trial in Miami, can any of those funds be used to hire high-priced lawyers?

That was the dilemma Tuesday when they were brought before U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno. Extradited only a few weeks ago, it was time for the brothers to hear the charges.

But what is normally a brief hearing where defendants are asked to enter a plea instead turned into an hourlong courtroom debate about whether the government has a right to block legal fees tainted by unproven drug allegations.

"If he is not given a lawyer he can't be brought to trial," Miami criminal defense attorney Jose Quinon told the judge, referring to his client, 66-year-old Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela.

Rodriguez Orejuela and his brother Miguel, 61, are facing life sentences on drug smuggling and money laundering charges. Their trial is one of the most anticipated U.S. drug cases in history. The alleged kingpins of the Cali cartel, they are accused of masterminding one of the most sophisticated trafficking organizations in the history of drug trade.

After being arrested in Colombia in the mid 1990s, they both pleaded guilty and served short sentences. But they continued to run their drug empire from behind bars, U.S. drug agents say.

The dispute over their legal representation stems from the inclusion of the two brothers on a U.S. Treasury Department blacklist of alleged traffickers in the 1990s. Under U.S. law, Americans are prohibited from doing business with any person or business on the list without first obtaining a special license from the Treasury Department.

The list, which includes most of the brothers' businesses, as well as family members, was originally designed to disrupt trafficking networks in the United States.

But it has raised mounting legal controversy as more and more traffickers are extradited from Colombia to stand trial in U.S. courts.

Quinon filed suit Monday against the Treasury Department protesting the denial of his client's constitutional right to chose his legal counsel.

Although Quinon was granted a license last year to represent Rodriguez Orejuela, it did not specify the unblocking of funds. A second application seeking to allow Rodriguez Orejuela's wife to pay his legal fees through the sale of a house was rejected in January.

The house, in the Colombian capital, Bogota, was inherited by Rodriguez Orejuela's wife in the 1970s, well before his involvement in the drug trade, he said.

"It's a legitimate asset. It's totally untainted."

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami had no objection to the house sale being used to pay legal fees. But it could not speak for the Treasury Department, said veteran prosecutor Richard Gregorie.

The lack of government clarity about the legality of fees in the Rodriguez Orejuela case put Quinon in what he described as a "dangerous" position for him and his family.

Several Miami lawyers have recently faced prosecution on money-laundering charges after accepting funds from traffickers. But some criminal defense attorneys complain the government is highly selective in the cases it chooses to prosecute. Prosecutors made no objection when one defense attorney allegedly received $3-million in payments from several traffickers who became government informants.

In the absence of an immediate solution Tuesday, the judge gave both sides two weeks to come up with a solution. A lawyer also needed to be found to represent the younger of the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers, he pointed out.

"I am very concerned about this," said Moreno, warning the entire case was in jeopardy. "If the only remedy is the dismissal of the indictment, so be it."

[Last modified March 30, 2005, 01:04:14]