As expected another government racket is quietly forgotten and one of the conspirators gets zero prison time and zero fines. Meanwhile, ordinary people get prison time for trivial or lesser offenses.
Ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith given probation after guilty plea in John Durham probe
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was sentenced to 12 months probation and 400 hours of community service Friday after pleading guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
Clinesmith in August pleaded guilty to "one count of making a false statement within both the jurisdiction of the executive branch and judicial branch of the U.S. government, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000."
U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia James Boasberg on Friday during Clinesmith's sentencing hearing said Clinesmith had suffered by losing his job and standing in the eye of a media hurricane.
Boasberg gave him 12 months probation, 400 hours of community service, and no fine.
Government prosecutors had been asking for Clinesmith to spend several months in jail, but Clinesmith's defense had been advocating for probation only.
Clinesmith was initially referred for potential prosecution by the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office, which conducted its own review of the Russia investigation. The inspector general had accused Clinesmith, though not by name, of altering an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to say that he was "not a source" for another government agency.
Page has said he was a source for the CIA. The Justice Department relied on Clinesmith’s assertion as it submitted a third and final renewal application in 2017 to eavesdrop on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-lawyer-kevin-clinesmith-sentenced-john-durham-probe
An absolute slap on the wrist.
Ex-FBI lawyer agrees to one-year bar sanction after convictionMike Scarcella
(Reuters) - Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith has agreed to a one-year suspension of his attorney license in Washington, D.C., following his conviction in August 2020 on a felony false-statement charge arising from the internal review of the special counsel's Russia investigation, new bar records show.
Clinesmith and his lawyers at Lathrop GPM signed a negotiated discipline with the District of Columbia office of disciplinary counsel on June 11 that set out the proposed suspension.
A hearing committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility is expected to take up the proposal at a public hearing on July 19.
D.C. bar disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox III declined to comment Monday on the ethics case against Clinesmith, an assistant general counsel at the FBI focusing on national security and cyber law from 2015 to 2019.
Clinesmith's lawyers at Lathrop GPM, D.C.-based partners Eric Yaffe and Frank Sciremammano, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The hearing committee can approve or reject a negotiated bar sanction.
If the panel approves the penalty, Clinesmith would lose the ability to practice law until August 2021, one year after he reported his guilty plea to the D.C. disciplinary counsel's office. Clinesmith's bar license is suspended on an interim basis in Michigan, where he has an attorney license.
The director of the Michigan attorney discipline board did respond to a request for comment Monday.
Clinesmith admitted in Washington, D.C. federal court in August 2020 that he altered an email that was included in information presented in 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court concerning whether or not then-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had been a "source" for the CIA. Clinesmith said he believed he was conveying accurate information to the court and had no intent to deceive it.
The disciplinary counsel's office said it "does not believe that there is sufficient evidence to prove moral turpitude on the facts." The office pointed to other attorney ethics cases where a lawyer received a one-year bar suspension for the submission of a falsified document to a U.S. agency.
The office also cited Clinesmith's otherwise decade of "distinguished public service" and said he was not driven "by any personal financial, economic or commercial motive." His conduct, the office said, "involves only a single incident, not a pattern of misconduct." Clinesmith met with the disciplinary office and cooperated with the ethics investigation.
As a would-be aggravating factor, bar enforcers said Clinesmith's "misconduct has been used to discredit what appeared otherwise to have been a legitimate and highly important investigation" of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Clinesmith was sentenced in January to one year of probation and 400 hours of community service.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ex-fbi-lawyer-agrees-one-year-bar-sanction-after-conviction-2021-06-28/
