Breitbart News has learned that a central figure in the Jon Corzine/MF Global case seeking immunity from federal prosecutors, former MF Global treasurer Edith O’Brien, is represented by lawyer Reid Weingarten.
What is the significance of this revelation?
According to this 2008 New York Times article, Reid Weingarten was previously Eric Holder’s attorney.
Furthermore, the website of Mr. Weingarten’s law firm, Steptoe & Johnson, notes that Mr. Weingarten “is the chairman and co-founder, along with US Attorney General Eric Holder, of a non-profit program, See Forever Foundation, which is designed to assist juvenile offenders in rehabilitation to prevent recidivism.”
What’s more, the Main Justice website notes that Mr. Weingarten is “one of Holder’s best friends.”
The above new conflicts of interest may be part of a broader culture of cronyism endemic to the Department of Justice over the last decade.
Indeed, just hours after Breitbart News reported that MF Global was a client of Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer’s former law firm, Covington & Burling, the Justice Department’s inspector general issued a report finding widespread nepotism at the DOJ. According to The Hill, “the report is the third investigation in less than a decade that has found numerous examples of illegal hiring practices, amounting to nepotism, within the DOJ.”