A former U.S. Attorney and University of South Carolina graduate will join his alma mater to help with alumni relations, fundraising and development, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-sponsored LegalNewsLine.com reported Tuesday.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

Henry McMaster, who was the Columbia-based U.S. Attorney from 1981 to 1985, will be a senior adviser at the college. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina in 1969 and a degree from its law school in 1973.

“Henry McMaster is an established and recognized leader who brings a wealth of experience and contacts with USC alumni, donors and friends,” Michelle Dodenhoff, University of South Carolina vice president for development and alumni relations, said in a statement. “His assistance will be invaluable.”

McMaster previously served as South Carolina attorney general from 2003 to 2011. He had an unsuccessful bid for the state’s Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010.

A French national who became ensnared in a sensational cocaine investigation in South Carolina said in an interview with Main Justice that federal authorities wrongly suspected him of spying.

Pascal Etcheber, 47, spent six months in jail while facing charges for lying to the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement about his knowledge of drug use in Charleston involving former South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, whose June 2007 indictment on federal cocaine charges dominated newspaper headlines in the state.

A globetrotting management consultant and author, Etcheber’s Wikipedia page says he believes “human beings can never find fulfillment because Freedom is lost by the obedience to laws.” In May, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to one count of marijuana possession and was sentenced to three years’ probation and a $1,000 fine.

Etcheber returned to France, but told Main Justice by telephone that he was recently barred from re-entering the United States to visit his young daughter who lives there. He said it was mistake, which he expects U.S. authorities to correct.

FBI Special Agent David Espie, who worked on the Ravenel case, became convinced along the way that he was a spy, Etcheber said.

“He spent three years chasing me, inventing coincidences,” said Etcheber, who denied he is a French secret agent.

Espie retired from the FBI last year. Main Justice was unable to reach him at telephone number listed as his residence. Thomas O’Neill, chief division counsel for the FBI in Columbia, S.C., declined to comment.

Pascal Etcheber (Provided)

Etcheber’s case underlined several issues about defendants’ rights.

The French national testified in a federal court hearing that agents tricked him in 2007 into speaking with them, violating Miranda rights he said he didn’t know he possessed. Moreover, the interview wasn’t recorded, with agents relying on handwritten notes that a federal judge described as “skimpy” to charge Etcheber with lying. And Etcheber has never been allowed to review a sealed court file in which the national security concerns about him were described.

Etcheber lived in Charleston off and on from 2004 to 2010, moving in elite circles when he wasn’t crisscrossing globe as a management consultant. One of his acquaintances was Ravenel, the onetime state official and son of former South Carolina U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel (R).

It was big news in Charleston when Ravenel was arrested in 2007 and quickly resigned as treasurer. In March 2008, Ravenel was sentenced to 10 months in prison on federal cocaine charges. By that time, federal agents already had Etcheber in their sights.

An ICE agent named Brian Sherota had asked Etcheber in the fall of 2007 to come to his office to discuss an immigration issue, according to testimony last year from Etcheber and government agents before U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson in Charleston. Etcheber said he was surprised to be greeted by Espie and another FBI agent along with Sherota. The French national said in court the agents ambushed him with questions about cocaine use in Charleston and whether he secretly worked for French intelligence.

“I was very surprised by this spying accusation, and I really felt they were ridiculous, to be honest,” Etcheber said, according to a transcript. “But I was concerned because I have a daughter in the U.S., and I was concerned that these people have the power over me, that they could ask me to leave the country and never come back and I [would] lose my daughter. I’m already in a custody fight for my daughter.”

Etcheber said in court that he thought throughout the 2007 interview that Espie was with the National Security Agency, not the FBI. Espie testified that he’d only mentioned to Etcheber that he’d once worked at the NSA.

Then, instead of recording the interview, the agents took hand-written notes that formed the basis of a 302 report summary of Etcheber’s statements. A federal judge described the notes as “very cryptic … very skimpy, not full sentences by any means” and, in part because of their vagueness, found the notes did not contradict the 302 statements summaries that had been used to charge Etcheber. The Justice Department has been reviewing whether to change the FBI policy of not recording interviews.

Espie said at the court hearing last year that while he did not read Etcheber his Miranda rights, the Frenchman was advised that his cooperation was voluntary. But Etcheber testified he didn’t have that impression.

“I could not believe that I could just say, ‘Wait a minute, Mr. NSA, Mr. FBI, Mr. ICE, I’m not happy here, let’s cancel all this,” Etcheber said in court. He added that the agents made copies of his passport and asked why he traveled to places like Taiwan and Jerusalem.

The French national was initially charged with lying to federal agents during the 2007 interview. Later he faced additional charges, including lying to a federal judge, intimidating a witness, drug distribution and marijuana possession.

He pleaded guilty to marijuana possession in May in exchange for the dismissal of the other charges. Etcheber has since told Main Justice that he did not smoke marijuana but rather a cook at a party he held at his house several years ago used the drug without his consent or prior knowledge.

But Etcheber never faced a charge relating to national security matters. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore, who led the prosecution, said in court in February that national security issues involving Etcheber were not related to the charges in the case.

“There’s other information about Mr. Etcheber and national security that has been developed … but I’m not at liberty to talk about it in open court,” Moore said in court in February, according to a transcript.

Moore told Main Justice he could neither confirm nor deny any past or present investigation into espionage allegations against the French national.

Transcripts from the court hearings are embedded below.

Pascal Etcheber October 2009 Hearing

Pascal Etcheber February 2010 Hearing

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

Former U.S. Attorney Henry McMaster, and now the state’s attorney general, is one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor in the June primary this year. The deadline for major party candidates to file with the South Carolina State Election Commission was Tuesday.

Three Democrats also will vie for their party’s nomination in a separate primary on the same day.

McMaster, who served as the state’s U.S. Attorney from 1981 to 1985, announced his candidacy last August, but did not formally file his candidacy until Tuesday. In the primary, McMaster will face Rep. Gresham Barrett, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and state Rep. Nikki Haley.

Hopefuls on the other side of the aisle are state Superintendent of Education Jim Rex and two state senators — Robert Ford and Vincent Sheheen.

The candidates are hoping to fill the open seat currently occupied by Gov. Mark Sanford (R), who is term-limited.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two U.S. Attorney nominees by voice vote Thursday morning.

They are:

Wifredo Ferrer (gov)

– Wifredo Ferrer (Southern District of Florida): The assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney and deputy chief of staff to then-Attorney General Janet Reno would succeed R. Alexander Acosta, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney last summer. Ferrer was nominated on Feb. 24. Read more about the nominee here.

Bill Nettles (Sanders & Nettles)

– William Nettles (South Carolina): The attorney at the Columbia, S.C., law firm of Sanders & Nettles LLC would succeed W. Walter Wilkins III, who resigned as U.S. Attorney earlier this month. Nettles was tapped on Dec. 22. Read more about him here.

The panel has now approved 38 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have already won Senate confirmation. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 18 would-be U.S. Attorneys.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote on two U.S. Attorney nominees at its meeting next Thursday.

They are:

Wifredo Ferrer (gov)

-Wifredo Ferrer (Southern District of Florida): The assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney and deputy chief of staff to then-Attorney General Janet Reno would succeed R. Alexander Acosta, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney last summer. Ferrer was nominated on Feb. 24. Read more about the nominee here.

Bill Nettles (Sanders & Nettles)

-William Nettles (South Carolina): The attorney at Columbia, S.C., law firm Sanders & Nettles LLC would succeed W. Walter Wilkins III, who resigned as U.S. Attorney earlier this month. Nettles was tapped on Dec. 22. Read more about him here.

The panel has approved 36 U.S. Attorney nominees, all of whom have already won Senate confirmation. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 18 would-be U.S. Attorneys.

W. Walter Wilkins III,  who served as South Carolina U.S. Attorney under President George W. Bush,  has announced  he will run for a state prosecutor post, The Greenville News reported today.

W. Walter Wilkins (DOJ)

Wilkins, a Republican who stepped down as U.S. Attorney earlier this month, is looking to succeed South Carolina 13th circuit court solicitor Bob Ariail, who isn’t running for reelection, according to The News. This will be Wilkins’s first bid for elected office, the newspaper said.

“I will be a tough, no-nonsense prosecutor and my experience and record should assure the people of Greenville and Pickens counties that I will be prepared to serve them on day one,” Wilkins told The News.

Ariail was criticized for his prosecution of a local businessman who crashed his Maserati into a house, killing a man who was watching TV  in his living room,  according to the newspaper. The businessman wasn’t immediately charged, which drew protesters to the Greenville county courthouse, the newspaper said. He eventually received probation on a reckless homicide charge, according to The News.

Wilkins served as U.S. Attorney from 2008 until earlier this month. President Barack Obama nominated defense lawyer William Nettles for the post last month.  Kevin F. McDonald is currently serving as the acting U.S. Attorney for South Carolina.

Bill Nettles (Sanders & Nettles)

William N. Nettles (The Military College of South Carolina, Widener University School of Law) is nominated to replace William Walter Wilkins III as the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina.

His vitals:

• Born in Sumter, S.C., in 1961.
• Has been a member of Sanders & Nettles, LLC in Columbia, S.C., since 2005.
• Owner of a private law practice in Columbia from November 1997 to 0ctober 2005.
• Was a member of Banks & Nettles, LLC in Camden, S.C., from September 1995 to May 1997.
• Worked as an attorney in the Richland County public defender office in Columbia from August 1992 to September 1995.
• Was a law clerk at Mellon, Webster & Shelley in Doylestown, Pa., from May 1991 to May 1992.
• Worked as a law clerk at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Harrisburg, Pa., from August 1990 to May 1991.
• Was the head sailing instructor at the Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May in Cape May, N.J., from May 1990 to August 1990.
• Worked in sales at Napco Pipe in Worcester, Mass., from June 1989 to June 1990.
• Was the owner of RGHGroup, a manufacturing company, in Forest Grove, Pa., from  1984 to 1990.
• Worked as a laborer and in the sales department of AC Elfman Construction in Doylestown, Pa., from October 1983 to 1984.
• Has resigned from the Sons of the High Hills of Santee, an organization of descendants from an area of Sumter County, S.C. In his questionnaire, Nettle writes, “On the few occasions I attended the lunch, I do not recall seeing any African Americans in attendance. I feel sure the organization has no formal discriminatory requirements, and I am uncertain of any policies that have the practical effect of discriminating. Out of an abundance of caution, however, I have written a letter resigning.”
• Has been counsel for the South Carolina Democratic Party since 2002.
• Was a member of the Obama for President voter protection effort from 2007 to 2008.
• Has tried more than 50 cases, serving as lead counsel on the majority of them.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure, Nettles reports assets valued at $1.8 million mostly in securities and real estate. He owns three properties — his personal residence, a vacation home and his office — valued at a combined $670,000.  He reports $358,600 in liabilites from his mortgages. His net worth is $1.5 million.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released questionnaires for an additional five U.S. Attorney nominees. Information from their Office of Government Ethics disclosures will be added as it becomes available.

• Sally Quillian Yates, Northern District of Georgia
• Anne M. Tompkins, Western District of North Carolina
• William J. Hochul, Jr., Western District of New York
• Andre Birotte Jr., Central District of California
• William N. Nettles, District of South Carolina

W. Walter Wilkins (DOJ)

The U.S. Attorney for South Carolina has resigned, WIS News 10 reported today.

W. Walter Wilkins III stepped down as U.S. Attorney yesterday. He had served as the top federal prosecutor in South Carolina since 2008. Kevin F. McDonald will be the acting U.S. Attorney, according to WIS.

President Barack Obama nominated defense lawyer William Nettles for the post last month.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who served as the state’s U.S. Attorney from 1981 to 1985, on Monday announced he  is running for governor, The Columbia State reported today. While the announcement wasn’t official until now, McMaster, a Republican, for months has been raising money and making public appearances in preparation for his 2010 run.

In his video announcement, McMaster said that South Carolinians do not trust their government. He said, “There’s been too much dishonesty and too many scandals.” While he did not specifically direct these comments at Gov. Mark Sanford, they appeared to be in reference to him, The State reported. Earlier this summer, Sanford’s whereabouts were unknown to his staff and family, while he visited his Argentinean mistress. Subsequently, there have been inquirers into whether Sanford improperly used taxpayer money including to pay for personal trips.

Although McMaster is considered a front runner by some, as he already has been elected to a statewide office, he recently has been the subject of partisan criticism for not being more aggressive in investigating Stanford’s possible misuse of public funds. In addition,  McMaster has lost elections before, including a 1990 run for lieutenant governor and a 1986 race for U.S. Senate against then-Sen. Fritz Hollings (D).

The State reports that McMaster’s main Republican challengers includes U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and state Rep. Nikki Haley.

McMaster’s candidacy announcement: