Lawyer in, out of, back in China bank case

By Jeff German

Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.

One month into an international racketeering trial expected to last into September, one of the defense lawyers in the federal case has been suspended.

The Nevada Supreme Court’s one-year suspension blindsided the lawyer, Mitchell Posin, and the others involved in the complicated, multimillion-dollar case. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro has spent the past two days sorting out the impacts.

Four high-rolling Chinese defendants are being tried in Pro’s courtroom on charges of embezzling at least $400 million from China’s state-run bank.

Posin told Pro he was caught off guard by his suspension. The longtime Las Vegas attorney had stopped practicing law for the past 4 1/2 months, except for his work on the federal case, as part of a deal to settle grievances brought against him by the Nevada State Bar for violating professional standards.

But the high court, in reviewing the disciplinary proceedings, found Posin’s punishment was not stiff enough, and on July 2 quietly issued the suspension order, giving him credit for the 4 1/2 months. Posin had been charged with neglecting the interests of several clients.

Word of the suspension, however, didn’t get out until Pro informed lawyers Tuesday that he had been sent a copy of the order.

Late on Tuesday after Pro and the lawyers said in court that the suspension could wreak havoc on the slow-moving trial, the Supreme Court modified its order, allowing Posin to continue trying the Bank of China case while remaining otherwise suspended.

On Wednesday, after Pro read the order outside the presence of the jury, he thanked the Supreme Court for keeping Posin in the case, saying “it would have been very, very damaging to the trial process,” had the high court not swiftly altered its order.

Posin also weighed in. “I apologize to everybody that my personal concerns have intruded upon this process,” he said.

Despite the suspension, Posin’s client, former Bank of China branch manager Xu Chaofan, told Pro through an interpreter that he was “extremely satisfied” with Posin’s services.

Pro reminded the lawyers that the trial has cost the government “several million dollars” to prosecute and the defense more than $1 million to respond.

Justice Department lawyers from Washington, D.C., are prosecuting the case with unprecedented help from the Chinese government. Videotaped depositions taken in China have been played in court, and witnesses have been brought to testify from the mainland, as well as from Hong Kong. On many days, three interpreters, fluent in several Chinese dialects, have been in court to assist both sides.

Although there has been some interesting testimony, mostly references to the gambling habits of the defendants, many of the witnesses have been asked to crunch numbers or explain tedious bank policies.

The jury has had a difficult time getting through the depositions.

A couple of weeks ago, while prosecutors were playing a videotape of a former co-defendant who turned government witness, a juror sent Pro a note complaining that a nearby panel member was snoring and causing a distraction.

On Tuesday, as prosecutors played another videotape, Pro received a note from a juror about another panel member who was falling asleep.

“Please watch him,” the juror said in the note. “He’s been sleeping all afternoon.”

Pro asked the lawyers to keep an eye on the juror, saying, “These depositions are absolutely deadly.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Pro on Wednesday informed lawyers that one of the jurors had called in sick, forcing the judge to cancel the day’s proceedings.