That raises questions about whose interests the lawyers were serving, the organizations' or Fumo's, prosecutors said in a motion filed yesterday asking the judge to consider removing the defense lawyers from the case.
The firm might have represented all those clients "for the single purpose of protecting Fumo's position, even at the expense of others," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease wrote yesterday.
He went on to suggest that Fumo might have placed lawyers there in an effort to "control and limit" how much employees and board members told the FBI.
"A jury may readily conclude that Fumo placed his chosen attorneys . . . to assure the entities that Fumo's conduct was blameless, at the same time that criminal activity actually continued," the motion said.
Mark Sheppard, a lawyer at the Sprague firm, would not comment on the specifics of the motion.
But he said it was unfortunate that the U.S. Attorney's Office files such motions "for tactical reasons to smear defense counsel and to remove attorneys who vigorously defend their clients."
Yesterday's filing was the most pointed attack in what has become years of fierce exchanges between prosecutors and Fumo's defense team.
Two weeks ago, prosecutors sent a secret, advance copy of the latest motion to defense lawyers and offered not to make the conflict allegations public if the defense lawyers dropped out of the case.
"The answer was an emphatic no," a person involved said. "Two words you can't print."
Pease declined to comment.
The sweeping 66-page motion also provides fresh details of the case not found in Fumo's Feb. 6 indictment:
Frank Wallace, a private investigator used by Fumo and paid with state funds, swept the senator's offices and those of his City Council allies for listening devices. Those allies weren't named.
