A trio of Democratic state lawmakers say they'll file legislation to prevent lawyers who leave the attorney general's office or certain other agencies from going to work for a company that had been under investigation while they were there.
The move is in response to one former lawyer in the attorney general's office having done that, but there are at least two other lawyers who worked for the office who also worked for some of the foreclosure-related law firms and services companies that have been under investigation by the state.
Last year, then-Attorney General Bill McCollum's office launched a probe into several law firms that were accused of foreclosure fraud, and the mortgage services company Lender Processing Services.
Besides Lender Processing Services, also known as LPS, other firms that were targeted included the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Marshall Watson, which has since settled with the state; Tampa-based Shapiro & Fishman; and Florida Default Law Group.
In May, Joe Jacquot, who had worked on McCollum's leadership team, left the AG's office, now headed by new Attorney General Pam Bondi, and went to work for Lender Processing Services as a vice president of government affairs.
The bill was written primarily because of press reports about Jacquot, but he isn't the only lawyer who has made such a move.
In June, Mary Leontakianakos, who had headed up the economic crimes division under McCollum that oversaw the mortgage probe and left in January with the change in administrations, took a job with Marshall Watson.
Leontakianakos, who had worked in the AG's office since 1992, had even been quoted in news reports when McCollum's office announced it was going after Marshall Watson.
And back in April, Bondi fired an assistant attorney general named Erin Cullaro, who also worked in the economic crimes unit and had previously worked for another of the firms the office investigated, Florida Default Law Group.
Cullaro had struck an arrangement with McCollum's office under which she was allowed to continue to do some outside work notarizing law firm documents for the mortgage law firm at the same time she was working for the state. That came under scrutiny in 2010 after one foreclosure lawsuit alleged Cullaro had a conflict of interest in working for a foreclosure firm around the same time her government office started investigating her private employer.
McCollum asked last year for an inspector general to look into that arrangement, and eventually Cullaro was fired by Bondi, though a lawyer for Cullaro has said she did nothing wrong.
"People should not be going to work for these firms," when they leave the employ of the state, Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, said Wednesday.
The legislation, which will be co-sponsored by House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders, D-Key West, and has been sent to bill drafting, would prevent employees at state agencies with investigatory or regulatory functions from working for any individual or organization that is the subject of a civil or criminal investigation as long as it is ongoing and for two years after that.
"It is bad policy for the integrity of the investigation, and the perception," Soto said Wednesday in an interview.
Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, has said she will sponsor the legislation in the Senate.
Soto said the legislation wasn't meant to embarrass Bondi, who has come under fire for the firing of two other lawyers who had worked on foreclosure cases amid allegations the AG's office isn't being tough enough on "foreclosure mills," allegations her office vehemently denies.
Bondi had no say over where lawyers in her office went after they left, Soto acknowledged.
"None of us has alleged she had any power to stop it, which is exactly why we need the law," said Soto, adding he hoped Bondi would support the bill.
A spokeswoman for Bondi said that while the attorney general "already demands the highest ethical standards in our employees, we look forward to reviewing any suggestions for strengthening our state's ethics laws."
The spokeswoman, Jennifer Meale, also said that Jacquot had no role in any foreclosure-related work in Bondi's office. He was kept on from the McCollum administration to handle the ongoing lawsuit against the federal health-care law, and did only that.
Officials in Bondi's office "had no knowledge of where he was applying," to work after he left, Meale said.
McCollum, now a lobbyist in Washington, said in an e-mail that "legislators should be careful not to overreact and pass laws that might discourage good attorneys from working in a state attorney general office," noting that there are already some ethical restrictions in place -- for example, preventing him from lobbying his old office for a period of time.
"Many reputable companies are investigated by the consumer protection arm of an attorney general office for possible violations of the deceptive and unfair trade practices law," McCollum said.
"Usually these are resolved amicably with the company agreeing to abide by certain changes in practices and payment of costs, etc," McCollum said. "Of course, a few are truly bad actors and may be forced to shut operations or pay steep penalties. (But) a blanket restriction on post-AG employment respecting companies that have been investigated certainly would not be appropriate."
Jacquot didn't respond to a request for comment, nor did LPS. The mortgage news site HousingWire reported recently that Jacquot had recused himself last year from the LPS investigation, though it's not clear why.
Leontakianakos and a spokeswoman for Marshall Watson also declined to comment.
Leontakianakos' new job was mentioned this week on several websites maintained by groups tracking foreclosure fraud after an attorney who is still in the AG's economic crimes office, Andrew Spark, made public a long list of complaints about the office's shortcomings, and mentioned her move to Marshall Watson.
Spark e-mailed his observations to a long list of recipients, mostly media outlets, including The News Service of Florida, and noted that Leontakianakos now works for Marshall Watson.
Marshall Watson referred a call Wednesday to a lawyer for another firm, who didn't return a call. But Marshall Watson released a statement to the Palm Beach Post, which also reported on Spark's memo, by saying that it had consulted with the state Ethics Commission before hiring Leontakianakos and was "pleased to have her on board," as chief counsel for litigation and compliance.
Marshall Watson settled with the state in March for $2 million, admitting no wrongdoing.
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