(Detroit Free Press)- Geoffrey Fieger's law firm has agreed to pay the Federal Elections Commission $131,000 to settle allegations it had improperly funneled money to John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign, according to documents made public this week.
The settlement effectively ends enforcement action against Fieger and his law partner Vernon Johnson, who also were acquitted in a 2008 criminal trial of charges of having illegally reimbursed employees for donations to Edwards.
The case began when a swarm of federal agents raided Fieger's Southfield office in 2005.
Fieger's lawyer Michael Dezsi said Thursday evening the settlement with the FEC does not include an admission of liability, and that "we continue to believe that reimbursements are not prohibited by" campaign finance laws, the same position Fieger took in defense of the criminal charges.
FEC officials took a dim view of that claim in documents made public with the settlement Wednesday, suggesting that Fieger and Johnson were experienced attorneys familiar with campaign finance restrictions. But the settlement agreed to by the commission did not conclude the violations were "willful and knowing," which could have significantly increased the fines, said Paul Ryan, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C.
Ryan said that Fieger, the former lawyer for assisted-suicide practitioner Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the Democratic Party's 1998 candidate for governor, apparently benefited from the reluctance of three Republican commissioners to seek more severe penalties.
Despite the assertion that the conduct was lawful, Dezsi said: "I've never heard Geoffrey say he wants to do it again."
By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press Staff WriterIn your voice
