- Oct 17, 2011
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Adam Schleifer was terminated Friday morning, receiving an email informing him that the dismissal was “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” according to two of the sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from federal officials. Joseph T. McNally, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California who is Schleifer’s boss, was not involved in the decision, the sources said.
Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP, said Schleifer was fired via a “one line e-mail, and it came from a White House staff account.”
The sources who spoke to The Times suspected the firing was motivated, in part, by a case Schleifer was assigned involving Andrew Wiederhorn, former chief executive of the company that owns fast-food chains Fatburger and Johnny Rockets.
Last May, a grand jury indicted Wiederhorn on charges that he hid taxable income from the federal government by dispersing “shareholder loans” from the company to himself and his family. Wiederhorn allegedly used the funds for personal benefits, according to the indictment, including payments for private jet travel, vacations, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, other luxury automobiles, jewelry and a piano. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wiederhorn’s lawyers have aggressively pushed Justice Department officials to drop the case, according to two sources familiar with those conversations who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The recent federal case comes nearly two decades after Wiederhorn was first ensnared in financial crimes. In 2004, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Oregon to charges of paying an illegal gratuity to an associate and to filing a false tax return. He spent 15 months in federal prison in Sheridan, Ore., and paid a $2-million fine.
Though U.S. attorneys are political appointees who often ally with the agenda of the current presidential administration, line prosecutors like Schleifer are normally considered career employees. But since taking office, the Trump administration has made a point to drive those seen as political enemies from all levels of the federal government.
In several social media posts during his [own, failed] political campaign, Schleifer attacked the president’s tax policies and Trump’s behavior toward federal agencies
On Friday, Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur who has at times served as an advisor to Trump, shared one of Schleifer’s prior critical tweets on X and called for the prosecutor to be fired.
[And then he was that same day.]
Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP, said Schleifer was fired via a “one line e-mail, and it came from a White House staff account.”
The sources who spoke to The Times suspected the firing was motivated, in part, by a case Schleifer was assigned involving Andrew Wiederhorn, former chief executive of the company that owns fast-food chains Fatburger and Johnny Rockets.
Last May, a grand jury indicted Wiederhorn on charges that he hid taxable income from the federal government by dispersing “shareholder loans” from the company to himself and his family. Wiederhorn allegedly used the funds for personal benefits, according to the indictment, including payments for private jet travel, vacations, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, other luxury automobiles, jewelry and a piano. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wiederhorn’s lawyers have aggressively pushed Justice Department officials to drop the case, according to two sources familiar with those conversations who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The recent federal case comes nearly two decades after Wiederhorn was first ensnared in financial crimes. In 2004, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Oregon to charges of paying an illegal gratuity to an associate and to filing a false tax return. He spent 15 months in federal prison in Sheridan, Ore., and paid a $2-million fine.
Though U.S. attorneys are political appointees who often ally with the agenda of the current presidential administration, line prosecutors like Schleifer are normally considered career employees. But since taking office, the Trump administration has made a point to drive those seen as political enemies from all levels of the federal government.
In several social media posts during his [own, failed] political campaign, Schleifer attacked the president’s tax policies and Trump’s behavior toward federal agencies
On Friday, Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur who has at times served as an advisor to Trump, shared one of Schleifer’s prior critical tweets on X and called for the prosecutor to be fired.
[And then he was that same day.]
