Jeffrey Wertkin
Jeffrey Wertkin blew up his own career. This we know — hell, he knew it the second he was arrested last February, when he told the arresting agent, “My life is over.” (Yeah, he was also wearing a disguise that included a wig at the time of his arrest.) But the $64,000 question underlying the arrest of the once-successful Georgetown-educated lawyer has always been, “Why?” Why did someone with such a successful legal career throw it all away?
For those who need a refresher on the Wertkin matter, he pleaded guilty to two charges of obstruction of justice and one count of transporting stolen goods across state lines for trying to sell an as-yet-unfiled whistleblower complaint to the target company for $310,000. He’d gotten hold of the complaint through his former work at the Justice Department prosecuting cases under the False Claims Act.
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Now the plea agreement reveals his motivation for destroying his life — he wanted to be successful at Akin Gump, the Biglaw firm he’d recently joined as a partner. As reported by the Washington Post (yes, mainstream media has apparently figured out this scandal exists), he wanted to use the complaints he had access to while at Justice in order to solicit business at his new firm:
When he gathered up the cases in his last month on the federal job in April 2016, “I knew and understood that doing so was an illegal theft of the complaints and, during my exit process, I intentionally lied to the Department of Justice about taking the complaints with me,” Wertkin said in court at his plea hearing.
Exactly how many cases he stole or what he did with all of the information remains murky, but Wertkin was clear in his 10-page plea agreement about why he did it: “I began secretly reviewing and collecting complaints to identify clients to solicit for business when I was in practice and, thereby, to make myself more successful at Akin Gump.”
As part of the plea, prosecutors have agreed to not seek more than 30 to 37 months in jail for Wertkin, and from all reports the incident appears to be a break in character — though a pretty severe one:
“On its face, it’s a breakdown,” said a legal colleague who asked for anonymity to avoid jeopardizing a friendship with Wertkin and his pending sentencing. “It’s hard to understand and it’s not understandable, because it doesn’t fit anything else in his life. He was an unusually straight arrow.”
“Wertkin has resigned from the bar,” the person said, and is “back to the guy he’s always been” and is spending time taking care of his children.
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Sentencing is scheduled for March 7.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).