FEC Investigates Justice Dept Lawyer
Robert MacMillan, Newsbytes
11/13/98
Newsbytes News Network
(c) Copyright 1998 Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc. All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1998 NOV 13 (NB). Federal Election Commission (FEC) officials would not tell Newsbytes this morning whether the agency is investigating Justice Department Attorney David Boies for abuse of campaign finance laws.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Boies, the top Justice Department attorney in the agency's case against Microsoft Corp. [NASDAQ:MSFT], violated campaign finance laws when he asked friends to donate $1,000 each to the 1996 election campaign of Florida Democrat Congresswoman Jane Harman. The Journal reported that one of Boies' associates former clients then reimbursed Boies' friends for their contributions.
An FEC spokeswoman said that the agency does not comment on investigations in progress, but if there is an investigation into Boies' conduct, it will be revealed only after the hypothetical case has been closed.
Justice Department officials did not return telephone calls before deadline.
According to the FEC, Boies did donate money to Harman's campaign, in the form of a $1,000 check. Several other $1,000 checks were submitted to the campaign, though the Journal reported that one of them was returned to its donor.
Microsoft sources had no comment on the possible Boies investigation.
The Microsoft-Department of Justice trial has been underway for several weeks. Most recently, Boies and his fellow prosecutors produced an Intel Corp. [NASDAQ:INTC] executive who testified that Microsoft had used illegally anti-competitive business practices to maintain its edge in promoting its software. Microsoft lawyers spent much of their time yesterday making efforts to chip away at the executive's claims.
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