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April 23, 2018
Cadwalader White Collar Defense & Investigations partners Jodi Avergun and Joseph Moreno have been highly sought-after commentators on the ongoing probes into the Trump Administration and other investigations.
Last week Avergun, chair of Cadwalader's White Collar Defense & Investigations practice, was quoted in The Financial Times and in BuzzFeed on the recent Democratic National Committee lawsuit alleging a conspiracy between the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election, while Moreno made two appearances on CNN.
Avergun told The Financial Times that it was “a stretch to say the least” to imagine the Russian government responding to the DNC lawsuit, if at all, with anything other than a motion to dismiss on the basis of sovereign immunity. “It’s very hard to sue a foreign government,” she said.
In speaking with BuzzFeed, Avergun noted that the Mueller investigation may limit options for how the two sides can resolve the case. She said that a settlement was unlikely "given the level of anger and the level of denial that has existed about the very existence of a conspiracy of the Trump campaign to collude with Russia." She added, "They can’t settle because that goes to the very essence of the Mueller investigation."
Appearing with CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin last Friday, Moreno addressed the DNC’s racketeering and hacking charges but echoed Avergun in noting that “the case has some jurisdictional hurdles.” Moreno also commented on the controversy surrounding the release of memos written by former FBI Director James Comey.
In addition, Avergun was quoted last week on the opioid crisis – specifically the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s plan to more carefully monitor the diversion of prescription opioids for illicit purposes. In Law360, Avergun commented, “There is no doubt in my mind that it will result in a lower production quota.” She added, “There are … so many different actors in this chain of events that led to the crisis that there is no one party to blame, and no one solution is a catch-all or fully solves the problems without creating others.”
