Prosecutors May Go After Grimm’s Lawyers For Conflict Of Interest

Prosecutors filed a request for a “Curcio hearing” in Congressman Michael Grimm’s tax fraud case Friday, likely targeting his recently hired legal counsel, reports the Staten Island Advance.

It was not revealed who was named in the request, but the motion comes after attorneys Stuart N. Kaplan – who once worked with Grimm at the FBI – and his partner Joseph Sconzo joined Grimm’s legal defense team in November. Named for a landmark case in which a lawyer represented two brothers in separate criminal cases, a “Curcio Hearing” is typically requested when there is a conflict of interest for the defendant’s legal counsel.

The pair also represented Grimm’s ex-girlfriend, Diana Durand, when she was charged with illegally contributing $10,000 to the Grimm’s congressional campaign. In that case, a similar “Curcio hearing” was requested, and prosecutors argued that Kaplan’s friendship with the congressman would compel him to advise Durand to withhold information from federal authorities that could incriminate Grimm in the tax fraud case but help Durand during sentencing. Durand eventually accepted a plea deal that did not require her to cooperate in the case against her former beau.

Kaplan and Sconzo deny that there was a conflict of interest in their representing Durand, according to the Staten Island Advance:

Shortly after joining Grimm’s defense team, Kaplan told the Advance, “My loyalties were strictly and solely in her best interest.”

He said that if Ms. Durand could have helped the government’s investigation, “I would have urged her and I would have supported her and I would have counseled her to come forward … This woman had zero, nothing to offer.”

The Law Offices of Kaplan & Sconzo did not get back to us in time to comment on this story.

Grimm was indicted for 20 counts of tax fraud in April for under-reporting payroll expenses and income from his Upper East Side restaurant, which he owned before running for congress.