Chris Christie (USDOJ)
Last year, then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s office quietly cleared a central figure in a billing fraud case that led to one of the controversial deferred prosecution agreements that Democrats have called corrupt. The kicker: the woman who was under investigation is represented by Paul Fishman, the nominee to be the new U.S. Attorney in New Jersey.
According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Christie’s office sent Vivian Sanks King a letter saying she was not a target of an investigation into billing practices at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. King had been the school’s general counsel, but she was forced out of her job almost three years earlier, reports the Star-Ledger.
Christie had required the ouster of King and three other employees as a condition for a deferred prosecution agreement entered by UMDNJ and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Christie had informed the UMDNJ Board that if they didn’t take the agreement, the university would be indicted and potentially barred from receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. You can read the agreement here.
But there’s more. The firm chosen by Christie to monitor the agreement was that of former U.S. Attorney Herbert J. Stern, who’d been a mentor to Christie. Stern’s law firm received three million dollars in fees for their work as a federal monitor of UMDNJ. You can read more about Stern’s career here. Stern, his law partners, and their spouses, have donated $23,800 to Christie’s gubernatorial campaign; Christie received an additional $47,600 in matching funds through the contributions. Christie also hired Stern’s son as a federal prosecutor before leaving his position as U.S. Attorney.
You can read our report on Christie’s testimony before the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law regarding deferred prosecution agreements here. Christie is now running for New Jersey governor against incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine (D).
