A federal investigation has pushed the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard situation into a far more serious lane, and a former Justice Department prosecutor says the league’s $700,000 fine may barely register compared with what could come next.
Michael Weinstein, now at Cole Schotz and one of two former prosecutors who recently spoke with Front Office Sports, said he was “slightly surprised” to learn the government had opened a criminal probe while the debate over the Clippers’ response was still unfolding.
“The opening of a criminal investigation brings this into new territory, and it’s a problem for all parties involved. The $700,000 fine is the least of [Leonard’s] problems at this point,” he added.
Weinstein also warned that if the Clippers decide to come out swinging against the NBA, they could create even more trouble for themselves.
“Everything the Clippers were threatening to do- thumping their chest and going after the NBA to be disruptive and challenge the report- their lawyers are likely telling them, ‘hold on, let’s sit tight,’” Weinstein said.
“If they go on offense against the NBA, everything they do becomes fodder for the government in its investigation.”
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now with Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner LLP, offered a different kind of guidance for anyone connected to the probe: bring in legal help and keep quiet.
“To the extent this hasn’t already happened, each of the Clippers owners and employees who are part of the investigation almost certainly need their own lawyers,” Epner said, before suggesting “do not talk to the press.”
Even with the investigation underway, Leonard is not automatically the easiest target for prosecutors. Epner said the distance between Leonard and the alleged conduct could make any case against him harder to build.
“If the charge is money laundering or wire fraud, it is harder to charge Leonard than other people,” Epner said.
“With regard to money laundering, you have to know about the underlying criminal activity, and Leonard is insulated by many layers. He would, I assume, be able to say, ‘I picked up the money, that’s all I did.’”
Epner said Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson and his former agent Mitch Frankel may be the more exposed figures because they likely served as his “first layer of protection.”
“If neither of those two people communicated an underlying illegal activity to Leonard, he can’t be guilty of money laundering, for the same reason that, if you are a grocery store and somebody comes in with drug proceeds to buy groceries, you’re not guilty of money laundering,” Epner added.
He also said the investigation’s next steps may not depend entirely on subpoenas, even though the New York Times reported that at least one has already been issued.
“You see who will voluntarily talk to you. You want to do as much with voluntary cooperation, and people voluntarily giving you documents, as you can.”
Epner closed with a line that captured just how much attention Pablo Torre’s reporting has drawn.
“Back in the 70s and 80s, the scariest sentence an executive could hear was, ‘Mike Wallace from 60 Minutes is here to speak to you,’” Epner said. “Today, it’s, ‘Pablo Torre is here to speak to you.’”
Torre has said there is more to come, and he believes the probe could leave Steve Ballmer and others in even deeper legal trouble. With the Clippers’ next move still hanging over the situation, the story has moved well beyond a simple league punishment and into a much bigger fight with consequences that could stretch across the NBA.
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