Akin Gump Lawyer Accused of Trying to Sell Lawsuit Under Seal
A Washington lawyer at a prominent firm was arrested in a disguise while trying to sell a copy of a secret lawsuit involving a company that was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, Bloomberg Law is reporting.
Jeffrey Wertkin immediately lost his job with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP after he was picked up Jan. 31 in the lobby of a hotel in Cupertino, California. The FBI said he believed he was about to collect $310,000 for selling the lawsuit.
Wertkin believed he would hand a copy of a complaint to an employee of the company, which was accused in the complaint by a whistle-blower of falsely billing the government, report Bloomberg’s Jef Feeley, David Voreacos and Joel Rosenblatt.
That employee turned out to be an FBI agent, according to arrest documents unsealed on Feb. 6.