A former Edmonds Municipal Court judge was sent to prison for a year and a half Friday for laundering dirty money from an accused drug kingpin while his friend, a criminal defense attorney, got three months in prison for quietly accepting $20,000.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez called the actions of the judge, James White, "extremely troubling" and the behavior of the lawyer, A. Mark Vanderveen, "offensive to all who work honestly in the criminal justice system."
He also gave Vanderveen three months in home detention, 250 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine.
Martinez said he was holding both White and Vanderveen, who also sometimes served as a municipal court judge, to a higher standard than other people who face punishment in his courtroom for breaking the law.
The downfall of the two men, who have both agreed to give up their licenses to practice law, caused a stir in the Seattle-area legal community and might be only the beginning.
A federal grand jury is investigating at least four other Seattle-area criminal defense attorneys over possible money laundering or involvement in the crimes of their clients, according to legal sources and grand-jury witnesses who spoke to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on the condition of anonymity.On Friday, White and Vanderveen both wiped away tears in separate hearings crowded with their friends and families as they apologized before being sentenced.
White, 49, said everyone who came to court or wrote letters to support him were victims of his crime because he "betrayed their belief in my character." He told the judge, "I don't have an explanation to offer."
Vanderveen, 46 -- whose attorney, Robert Chadwell, asked for probation instead of jail time -- said he believed in the justice system and did not want to go to jail. "Your honor, I am terribly sorry for my conduct in this case," he said.
White, a former Edmonds city councilman and state Supreme Court candidate, admitted that he accepted a backpack stuffed with $100,000 in cash from a client despite knowing it was money from an international drug trafficking ring. Instead of reporting the money to the government, as he was legally bound to do, he stashed it in his house and gradually spent it by paying off debts and taking trips to India and Fiji, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Friedman wrote in court documents.
White gave $20,000 to Vanderveen, giving him half of it in a parking lot and the other half at the Edmonds courthouse, as a retainer to represent a drug runner. Vanderveen also didn't report the cash, a felony he pleaded guilty to in July. White pleaded guilty to money laundering.
According to prosecutors, both men were involved in other illicit behavior that involved tailing Vanderveen's client, the drug courier, and trying to get him to take a lie-detector test to find out what happened to $1 million worth of marijuana that belonged to White's client.
On Friday, Martinez said the men's actions could have gotten Vanderveen's client killed.
Details here from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.