SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE IGNORES ILLEGITIMATE ATTACK ON
LORETTA LYNCH CONFIRMATION
By: Robert Wolf, Esq.
Attorney for Felix Sater
In a blog that appeared on thehill.com
on January 22nd, rogue attorneys, Frederick
Oberlander and Richard Lerner, made claims that as U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, Loretta Lynch engaged in systematic prosecutorial misconduct. They alleged Ms. Lynch concealed criminal cases to protect fraudsters who cooperated with the government. They claimed that Ms. Lynch sealed one case in particular for more than ten years during the defendant's cooperation with the Department of Justice, and that it was intentionally concealed from his purported fraud victims who may have been entitled to restitution. They hold Ms. Lynch responsible for the fact that in recognition of his cooperation, that defendant, Felix Sater, was sentenced to only a $25,000 fine, without any restitution. Appropriately, their illicit campaign against Ms. Lynch was utterly ignored during the Senate Committee Hearings and failed miserably.
In reality, these baseless claims against Ms. Lynch are simply part of a failed attempt to glorify the otherwise corrupt efforts of lawyers, Paul Cassell, Frederick Oberlander and
Richard Lerner to expose the alleged impropriety of the sealing of Mr. Sater's case, and his $25,000 fine, as part of a claimed victims rights’ crusade. This is nothing more than misdirection to conceal from the public the true motive of Oberlander and Lerner’s campaign—described in court proceedings as an effort to extort Mr. Sater, major law firms and others out of tens of millions of dollars, ostensibly to line their own pockets, not protect alleged victims entitled to restitution.
Not only did Ms. Lynch act properly at all times with respect to Mr. Sater's case, but
Mr. Sater provided extraordinary cooperation to our government. His assistance spanned two decades and involved the most serious matters of National Security, battling some of our greatest enemies at tremendous risk to his own life, and for the benefit of all the citizens of our country. His cooperation extended to the highest levels of our government and involved some of our biggest enemies whose terrorism threatened our safety.
It was suggested that Mr. Sater helped save thousands of lives of our U.S. military and potentially tens of thousands, if not millions, of our citizens’ lives. The light sentence he received from the Federal Judge was more than merited, and the court proceedings in that regard were completely legal and appropriate. Indeed, the sentence accurately reflected a measure of gratitude from our System of Justice on behalf of our citizens in recognition of his heroic National Security assistance. In any event, Ms. Lynch neither recommended nor imposed that sentence. The sealing of Mr. Sater's cooperation was appropriate and ordered by the Court, not Ms. Lynch.
Indeed, as reported today, February 12, 2015, Ms. Lynch confirmed the propriety of her actions with respect to Mr. Sater's case, his extraordinary cooperation, and especially his unprecedented assistance regarding matters involving our national security. Additionally,

she emphasized that every court, right up to the Supreme Court has rejected all claims of any impropriety with respect to Mr. Sater's case.
The real story is the illegitimate scheme that the lawyers and their client, Jody Kriss (a former disgruntled business partner of Mr. Sater and not an alleged victim), have concocted. It involves an extortionate lawsuit and shakedown where One Billion Dollars is being sought against those who supposedly cooperated with Sater—including Nixon
Peabody, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Akerman Senterfitt, Donald and Ivanka Trump, and a federal prosecutor for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of
New York. All of the money sought by Oberlander, Lerner and Kris is solely to line their own pockets and not for restitution to any victim. As part of their scheme, they have filed countless frivolous lawsuits—none of which have succeeded—and have now upped the ante by going after Loretta Lynch herself.
Their claimed concerns about victims’ rights and the First Amendment are a sham as demonstrated by Oberlander's own words and actions—evidenced in court filings in several related litigations that he, his co-counsel Richard Lerner and their primary client,
Jody Kriss, have commenced. Court filings make it clear; this was not a legal effort in connection with the Mandatory Victims Rights Act (“MVRA”) or any alleged entitlement thereunder. In fact, rather than pursue public disclosure of Mr. Sater's sealed court documents and proceedings, Oberlander said that they would:
" … favorably consider settling the entirety of all claims known and unknown for their actual damages of $35,000,000 ... [and it was] the least amount which plaintiffs would be willing to accept for a quick settlement that avoids dissemination." Worse yet, was his boast that he could "… with confidence predict from the settlement discussions I've had that all the defendants will be delighted to keep this quiet...”
To induce this payment, additional threats were made by Oberlander that:
"No power on this earth will much longer prevent as much lawful and legal worldwide dissemination of this Complaint and every document attached thereto or referenced therein as the public and press doing the dissemination thing its value justifies."
Instead however, Oberlander made clear that money was the only object and that: "… the only way to prevent worldwide notoriety [would] be a globally stipulated sealed confidentiality order accompanying a global settlement." He also urged Mr. Sater to comply with their "simple demand for what they are entitled to: one billion dimes."
In another related email, Oberlander again reiterated: “… there are three alternatives here: (a) I file publicly today; (b) I file under seal today; (c) He arrange a tolling agreement with EVERY defendant, but Nixon Peabody ... I don't care how many people he has to get on the phone and how fast he has to work...”
Oberlander and Lerner's misconduct regarding these related cases has been uniformly condemned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and several
Judges from the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of

New York. Oberlander and Lerner are currently under criminal investigation for contempt of court, and are also the subject of civil contempt proceedings. In fact, Paul
Cassell represented Oberlander and Lerner in the very matter in which the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit condemned their conduct. Cassell knowingly joined this illicit crusade by choosing to represent Oberlander and Lerner after they had repeatedly violated court orders, and after they had filed court papers accusing the Federal Judges in the United States District Court and the United States Court of Appeals of “SEDITION”
—which they defined as the commission of Constitutional "High Crimes and
Misdemeanors." Oberlander and Lerner’s contemptuous behavior even proved to be too much for his Lerner’s law firm; Wilson Elser asked him to leave—no doubt wanting to distance themselves from his disgraceful, amoral actions.
There is one other fact that must be considered in analyzing Oberlander and Lerner’s ongoing legal misconduct. The attempt to drag Ms. Lynch through the mud could simply be a calculated ruse—a preemptive strike in order to set up a criminal defense. Should they ever face criminal prosecution charges in Eastern District of New York—where Ms.
Lynch is currently the U.S. Attorney—they could be hoping to claim their prosecution is politically motivated—a retaliation for questioning Ms. Lynch during the confirmation hearings. They could be hoping their outrageous actions and insinuations about Ms.
Lynch might somehow reduce the chances of being prosecuted for criminal contempt of court. Hopefully, they are wrong.
Enough said.
Robert Wolf is the Chair of Moses & Singer’s White Collar Criminal Defense and
Government Investigations practice group, Chair of the Securities Litigation practice group and Co-Chair of the Litigation group.