After a months-long review of the use of corporate monitors in deferred prosecution agreements, the Justice Department today announced guidelines to standardize the process.
A memo dated March 7 — and written by Craig Morford, then acting deputy attorney general — requires prosecutors to consult with U.S. attorneys, the Criminal Division, and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General before any private monitors are selected. "United States attorneys and assistant attorneys general may not make, accept or veto the selection of monitor candidates unilaterally," the guidelines state.
Furthermore, "the monitor must be selected based on the merits.” Specifically, the monitor selection process should result in "a highly qualified and respected person or entity" and should "avoid potential and actual conflicts of interests and otherwise instill public confidence."
The use of so-called "no-bid" monitoring contracts has come under increasing scrutiny after news surfaced last fall that former Attorney General John Ashcroft may profit handsomely as a monitor of an Indiana medical supply company. Last year, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie of New Jersey steered a contract worth up to $52 million to Ashcroft's consulting firm — the District-based Ashcroft Group — and critics questioned whether Christie should do business with a former boss.
Ashcroft is expected to testify tomorrow at a 10:30 a.m. hearing on the topic before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law in Room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Joining him as witnesses will be U.S. Attorney David Nahmias for the Northern District of Georgia; Timothy Dickinson, a partner at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker; Brandon Garrett of the University of Virginia School of Law; and George Terwilliger III, a White & Chase partner.
As it turns out, the March 7 memo was one of Morford's last acts as the No. 2 person at Main Justice. The new deputy attorney general, Mark Filip, was sworn in this morning by Judge Stephen Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Morford’s plans for his immediate future had not been finalized last week, department officials said.
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