JACKSON - The secretary for a high-profile attorney testified on Tuesday that she wrote a $27,500 check to pay off a loan guaranteed by wealthy Gulf Coast attorney Paul Minor for a judge.
Minor is accused of buying favorable decisions from Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., former Circuit Judge John Whitfield and former Chancery Judge Wes Teel.
All have pleaded innocent to charges of bribery and fraud, and Minor has pleaded innocent to an additional count of racketeering.
Charlene Bosarge, personal assistant for Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, testified Tuesday in federal court in Jackson that Minor asked her to pay off a loan Minor guaranteed for Teel. Bosarge, who was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony, said she wrote the check out of Scruggs' law firm account.
Scruggs led the charge in tobacco lawsuits that resulted in a $4.2 billion settlement for Mississippi and set the stage for other states to pursue billion-dollar deals.
Prosecutors called Bosarge to support the government's claims that Minor guaranteed loans for the judges and used third parties to pay them off in an attempt to conceal Minor's connection to the payments.
Bosarge testified she sent the check and a promissory note to Teel, saying Teel would repay the loan by March 23, 2000, one month from the date the check was issued.
However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth Morgan claimed Minor later sent Scruggs a $33,000 check to repay the loan. She presented a copy of a letter in which Bosarge noted that $27,500 was repayment for the Teel loan and the rest was to reimburse Scruggs for expenses incurred on a trip Scruggs, Minor, then-Attorney General Mike Moore, and another attorney took to New Zealand.
Much of the day was spent with defense and prosecutors wrangling over what questions could be asked of Bosarge.
Diaz's attorney, Robert McDuff, said testimony that Scruggs guaranteed an $80,000 loan for Diaz and the justice's former wife "would be extremely prejudicial to Justice Diaz."
Prosecutors did not want to open the door for the defense to bring up claims of selective prosecution.
In pretrial motions, Minor's attorney, Abbe Lowell of Washington, claimed Minor was singled out for nearly identical actions taken by other attorneys, including Scruggs.
Lowell had claimed Scruggs was not indicted because Scruggs is U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's brother-in-law and has supported the Republican Party. Lowell says neither Scruggs nor Minor did anything wrong.
Lowell had claimed that Republican-appointed U.S Attorney Dunn Lampton has a political bias and a personal vendetta against Minor because Minor won a large settlement from one of Lampton's family members. He also had claimed Minor, a Democratic supporter, was singled out after Minor opposed Lampton's political goals.
Also on Tuesday, Jackson attorney James Grenfell testified that his firm gave $5,000 to a business owned by Diaz at Minor's request.
Grenfell said he believed the check - made out to Green Oaks LLC, Diaz and his former wife's bed and breakfast - was to repay campaign debts or a catering bill.
He said Minor walked in his office unexpectedly and asked for the check to repay Diaz's expenses for his 2000 election. Grenfell said he did not know Green Oaks was owned by Diaz and his former wife, Jennifer.
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