Let me get this out of the way first: Former tax attorney James Colliton pleaded guilty to having sex with a 15 year old and a 13 year old girl. He is, to put it mildly, a scumbag. He received a 2-year sentence when it should have been at least twenty years. He's a disgrace to himself and the legal profession. Even worse than him is the mother of the two girls, who is the one who took the money. Sick people.
That said, I'm tentatively supporting the lawsuit he's filed against American Express. My entire opinion is likely to change if the AmEx contract grants AmEx the right to work with law enforcement without a subpoena:
AP reports that a disbarred Manhattan lawyer, who has been convicted of statutory rape, has sued the American Express Co. for giving police credit card information that he says led to his capture in Canada, where he had fled to avoid prosecution.
Source: PointofLaw.com | PointOfLaw Forum: Convict-lawyer sues AmEx for helping police find him
Does this lawsuit remind you of anything that's been in the news recently? OK, the headline tipped you off - FISA. Think about it: Many of us are upset that Congress caved and granted immunity to the telecoms who provided law enforcement with information about subscribers without requesting a subpoena. If AmEx gave up this information without a subpoena, they've committed the same sin as the various telephone companies did. But in this case, it's actually even worse. Supposedly, the telecoms provided data to help us prevent a terrorist attack - lives were supposedly in danger. This guy, on the other hand, wasn't a terrorist. If he wasn't captured immediately, a bomb wasn't going to go off. People weren't going to die. The guy was too busy hiding out to be soliciting sex.
The reason the cops needed this info may be because they dropped the ball:
Of all the many stories that have fallen within our jurisdiction, the story of James Colliton is perhaps the most sordid. In March 2006, Colliton, a former tax attorney at Cravath, was indicted on charges of paying two teenage sisters for sex (and paying their mother to permit it). After being arrested in Canada, he was mistakenly released and became a fugitive for a few days before being caught in an East Village hotel room. Click here for our Law Blog Coverage.
Source: Law Blog - WSJ.com : In Plea Deal, Ex-Cravath Lawyer Admits To Sex Crimes
The stories are unclear as to whether AmEx provided info to the cops after he "escaped" their custody. If that's the case, do you think that fear of getting caught for their mistake is why the cops didn't try and get a subpoena? I mean, on the facts presented I don't think any judge would have declined to issue one. Even if AmEx was giving the cops information before the "escape," it still sounds like there would have been no problem getting a subpoena.
It's easy not to get up in arms over this because, as I said, the guy is a total scumbag. But surely at least one of the people caught up in the warrantless surveillance the telecoms engaged in was as big a scumbag, if not bigger. I just can't see anyway not to be a hypocrite if I oppose this guy's lawsuit since I supported the lawsuits against the telephone companies. What AmEx did is what the telecoms did, but on an individual scale.
P.S. Michael Krauss asked if this lawsuit is the definition of chutzpah.
Nope, what this guy's defense attorney did is: "In April 2006, Greenberg was singing a different tune, reportedly calling the two young alleged rape victims perjurers and one of them a “skank.” “My client made $500,000 a year,” he said. “He had the wherewithal to pay for any piece of tuchus on the planet. And he paid that skank?”
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