Watchdog Lawyer Sentenced for Withholding Info Sues Karl Rove and Other Officials for $202M
A government watchdog lawyer sentenced to one month in prison for withholding information from congressional investigators has filed a $202 million RICO suit against former White House adviser Karl Rove and dozens of others.
Former U.S. special counsel Scott Bloch contends that Rove and the other defendants tried to block the efforts of the agency he once headed, which protects federal whistle-blowers. When that didn’t work, Bloch alleges, the defendants sought to oust him from his post through a bogus criminal investigation. The Washington Post and Courthouse News Service have stories on the suit.
Bloch admitted in a March guilty plea that he withheld information about a scrub of his computer in 2006, undertaken as investigators probed allegations that he had abandoned whistle-blower cases and retaliated against employees who disputed his policies.
His pro se suit (PDF), filed last month in Fairfax County court, also names as defendants former White House counsel Fred Fielding, former Virginia congressman Tom Davis; and some private groups that protect whistle-blowers. Another defendant, James Byrne, resigned from his job as a top deputy to Bloch in 2008, accusing his boss of putting “political agendas and personal vendettas” ahead of his mission.
The complaint says Rove apparently retaliated because Bloch was investigating allegations that Rove had misused campaign funds and used Air Force One for political purposes. After Rove’s office was informed of the probe, the suit says, the White House dispatched an emissary who informed Bloch that the West Wing wanted him to leave his job, and if he complied, an investigation of Bloch by the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general “would likely fade away.”
“Plaintiff was further told that the emissary knew of several large law firms where he had contacts and with plaintiff’s background and experience, ‘gold in this town,’ he could get a good job. The emissary also said he would go to the White House within six months or so if plaintiff cooperated, and seek a judgeship for plaintiff.”
