This earlier post noted how the shadow of the sad case of Jamie Olis continues to hang over the KPMG tax shelter case in New York, and this post explored how Olis’ defense was financially undermined by the Justice Department’s overt threats to go Arthur Andersen on his employer, Dynegy.
Now, this Lynnlee Browning/NY Times article analyzes evidence that has been generated in the KPMG case about how the Justice Department threatened KPMG with indictment unless it abandoned its policy of paying the defense costs of its partners who had been indicted. It’s a harrowing tale and a stark reminder of how the federal government’s awesome prosecutorial power is being abused to cause job loss and erosion of wealth while ruining careers and damaging families in the process. This is not the product of a truly civil society.