Mystery donor gave $100K to law firm representing ex-husband of Missouri governor's accuser
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens/Shutterstock.com.
Lawyers for embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens revealed in court Monday that a law firm representing the ex-husband of the governor’s accuser received two mystery cash payments of $50,000 each.
The ex-husband’s lawyer, Al Watkins, told reporters after the court hearing on Monday that a person believed to be a courier had dropped off the payments at his law firm in January in Clayton, report the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Associated Press and the Kansas City Star. Though he was given no instruction on what to do with the money, Watkins said “there’s no doubt” it was related to the Greitens case.
Greitens is facing a felony charge of invasion of privacy for allegedly trying to blackmail his former mistress by taking a partially nude photo of her without her permission. The woman’s ex-husband made recordings of her speaking about the affair.
Watkins said his office later received a call “from an intermediary” who assured him the money was from a legal source. He said there was no explicit instruction on how to spend the money, but some of it went to pay some of the ex-husband’s legal bills.
Watkins said he disclosed the payments to federal investigators and they determined there was no crime.
Judge Rex Burlison of St. Louis Circuit Court disqualified Watkins on Monday from also representing an investigator hired by prosecutors because of the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The judge also ordered the ex-husband and the woman who accused Greitens to turn over their cellphones to a special master to look for information relevant to the defense.
Defense lawyers have accused the investigator of perjury when questioned about his interviews with the woman. The investigator did not appear for a second deposition on Monday. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said she wasn’t able to reach the investigator before the deposition and said he was no longer the lead investigator.
The defense is citing the investigator allegations in a motion seeking to disqualify Gardner’s office from the prosecution.
Gardner did not respond when asked for the name of the new lead investigator. Her first assistant said the new lead was a former FBI agent hired to lead the office’s investigators. He wrote a probable cause statement supporting a new, unrelated charge filed against Greitens last week alleging he misused a charity donor list to solicit campaign donations.
