New Ethics Case re Lawyer's Testimony About $8.4M Detroit Pact & Ex-Mayor's Racy Texts
New ethics trouble is brewing for a Michigan lawyer who helped two police officers win a controversial $8.4 million settlement from the city of Detroit in a whistle-blower case after they agreed to help keep the lid on racy text messages between the then-mayor and a top aide.
As an appeal by the Attorney Grievance Commission proceeds over whether Mike Stefani should be reprimanded—as a hearing panel in an earlier ethics case recommended—or suspended over the way he handled the settlement, the attorney discipline authority is now bringing new charges against Stefani, the Detroit Free Press reports.
They concern the way Stefani testified in hearings and depositions about the text messages. Specifically, he is accused of “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, misrepresentation or violation of the criminal law,” the newspaper reports.
Attorney Kenneth Mogill is representing Stefani and says that the charges will be shown to be unfounded.
Related earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com (Oct. 2009): “I Gave Mayor’s Text Messages to Paper, Lawyer Testifies in Discipline Case”
