September 11, 2001

3:34 AM

Lawyer Joseph Gersten fled to Australia after uncovering official corruption in Florida. He is trying to restart his career, but the FBI wants its pound of flesh.
posted by flowerdale (5 comments total)

I should have added this link , which gives more info, plus Janet Reno's involvement.
posted by flowerdale at 4:24 AM on September 11, 2001

Read the Government Reform Committee of the US House of Representatives's report on Gersten: very damning.
posted by LAM at 4:28 AM on September 11, 2001

So i guess the honest question is, "what in the world can we do about this?" What can we possibly do to prevent this from happening again, or better yet, ensure this situation itself is remedied? Where are the apologies?
posted by das_2099 at 5:08 AM on September 11, 2001

This is a fishing expedition by Dan Burton, the chair of the of the House Government Reform Committee, to find something that will damage Janet Reno. The report was prepared by committee staffers who took every one of Gersten's claims at face value. They didn't even interview the prosecuting attorneys to get their side (which is pretty ironic, considering all the accusations in the report about prosecutors refusing to talk to relevant witnesses).

As described in a June Washington Post story, Gersten reported his car stolen from his house on April 29, 1992, and the next day Miami police arrested three people -- a pimp and two prostitutes -- riding in his car. They told police that they stole the car while Gersten was having sex with a prostitute and smoking crack at a crack house.

Gersten subsequently refused to be interviewed by police and had to serve contempt of court charges. Then the longtime Florida politician, who was planning a bid for mayor, left the country five months later and has refused all court orders compelling him to return and testify about the allegations.

None of these things helps his credibility. Gersten reminds me of the credibility challenged Danny Ferguson types that David Brock and other rabid right-wingers used as tools to discredit President Clinton.
posted by rcade at 5:56 AM on September 11, 2001

"It is a matter of some concern that the State Attorney’s [ie, Janet Reno's] Office made great efforts to determine whether Gersten filed a false police report regarding his stolen car, and yet appears to have made no effort to determine why a demonstrably false report was made linking Gersten to a murder. It appears, in hindsight, that the State Attorney’s Office was protecting the person responsible for the false murder allegation." [footnote 49]
Thanks for that link, LAM.

And why is the persecution continuing under the Bush administration?
posted by flowerdale at 7:40 PM on September 12, 2001