Susan
has practiced as a criminal defense attorney since 1980. She and her
former law partner Albert J. Krieger (now retired) gained a national reputation
representing individuals and corporations in complex federal conspiracy, money
laundering, and racketeering prosecutions, and other government enforcement
matters, such as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proceedings. She
has extensive jury trial experience and has litigated matters throughout the
United States and in multiple foreign jurisdictions.
Susan
is a long time Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, and a member
of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), and the
American Bar Association. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Lawyers’
Assistance Strike Force for the NACDL and a faculty member of the Trial Skills
Academy of the Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy, and has published and
lectured extensively throughout the country on issues of ethics and trial
advocacy.
As
early as 1991, she was selected for listing in the prestigious National
Directory of Criminal Lawyers. She has been AV-Rated in the Martindale-Hubbell
Law Directory since 1990, has received numerous commendation awards from NACDL,
and was nominated in 1998 for The National Law Journal’s “List and Profiles of
The Top 50 Women Civil and Criminal Lawyers in the United States.” Susan
was also one of 5 criminal defense attorneys (and the only woman) chosen, in
1997, by the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to receive its “Annual
Superstar” award. In 2003, Susan was selected to serve as Vice-Chair of
the American Bar Association Task Force on the Right To Counsel.
Susan’s experience extends
internationally where she is a Fellow of the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, a member of the Association of Defense
Counsel admitted to Practice before the Tribunal, and a member of the Bar of
the International Criminal Court, International Criminal Defense Attorneys
Association.
NATIONALLY PROMINENT CASES AND TRIALS:
- Representation
in the Middle District of Florida of a defendant charged in a stock fraud
indictment alleging $138 million loss to victim investors; pretrial preparation
involved 3+ years of document review preceding 3 month trial.
- Representation
in the Eastern District of Michigan of a defendant in high-profile public
corruption case, charged in 100+ page RICO indictment, where contractor-client
was charged with paying kickbacks to mayor in exchange for receiving $86+
million in contracts.
- Representation
of an attorney-defendant charged with racketeering and money laundering
violations required multiple appearances in the courts of the Bahamas, the
Channel Islands (Jersey), Anguilla, and the Netherlands Antilles to litigate
issues arising from foreign banking laws, subpoena powers, and foreign document
production in the United States.
- Representation
in the Northern District of New York of a defendant charged with money
laundering conspiracy and wire fraud by engaging in financial transactions with
funds derived from alcohol and cigarette sales designed to evade payment of
Canadian excise taxes. Issues relating to the criminalization of foreign
fiscal offenses were briefed and litigated over an 18 month pretrial period.
- Known
as the “Wedtech Case,” this case, prosecuted in the Southern District of New
York, required 2 years of pretrial litigation of complex issues arising from
the government’s unprecedented expansion of the federal racketeering statute
and claim of entitlement to the defendants’ Swiss banking records, in
conjunction with the organization and review of 4 million+ discovery documents,
in preparation for the ensuing 6 month trial.
- Representation
of the owner of the Aladdin Hotel, charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud
in the District of Nevada, required 2 years pretrial preparation involving 1
million+ documents and 100+ potential government witnesses; the 8 month trial,
in which 6000+ government & defense exhibits were admitted in evidence,
resulted in the acquittal of all 8 defendants.
- Representation
of the alleged head of the “Gambino Crime Family” entailed 1½ years of analysis
of 500+ hours of video and audio electronic surveillance and 1000+ pages of
discovery reports, as preparation for the 4 month trial in the Eastern District
of New York on the government’s charges of 14 homicides and violent crimes in
aid of racketeering activity.
- Representation
of defendant in the first prosecution in the United States of the leader of a
foreign country (Turks & Caicos); novel legal questions regarding
diplomatic immunity and jurisdictional issues were briefed and litigated prior
to the 3 month trial on Travel Act and conspiracy charges.
- Representation
of the owner of the Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, and 4 banks in
Minneapolis – St. Paul, in the District of Minnesota, on charges of bank fraud
and tax evasion arising from a 2 year multi-jurisdictional investigation
generating 1 million+ documents and 100+ potential government witnesses; trial
of the matter lasted 5 months.
- Representation
in the Eastern District of Michigan of the country’s leading bankruptcy
attorney, charged in 2 indictments with bankruptcy fraud and obstruction of
justice; pretrial preparation involved analysis of 1 million+ discovery
documents and 75+ witnesses prior to 2 trials, each lasting 3 months.
- Representation
of the alleged head of the “Bonanno Crime Family” in the Northern District of
California on obstruction of justices charges included litigation concerning
the government’s evidence-gathering methods through searches and
electronic surveillance, together with significant right of privacy issues.
- Representation
of a defendant in the “Synanon Cases” – – prosecutions which were 10 years in
the making and brought in both the District of Columbia and the Eastern
District of California, charging Synanon members with multiple acts of terror
and obstruction of justice, consistent with the government’s theory that the
group was a violent cult; constitutional issues regarding rights of freedom of
association and freedom from selective prosecution were litigated in both
districts during the 2+ years of trial preparation.
- Representation
in a 5 month racketeering trial, in the Eastern District of Missouri, of the
defendant alleged to be leader of “the St. Louis Crime Syndicate,” who was
responsible for 8 homicides; the prosecution was the result of a 3 year
government investigation and 300+ hours of electronic surveillance tapes.
- Representation
of an attorney-defendant in the Southern District of Florida corruption and
racketeering case, known as “Operation Court Broom,” in which the
attorney-defendants were charged with paying kickbacks to state court judges in
exchange for court appointments; pretrial preparation involved 1+ year of
analysis of court files prior to 2 month trial.