RMINew Jersey Invests Nearly $9 Million For Bridge-Scandal Legal Defense
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration invested around $9 million in legal costs in 2013 to safeguard itself from the scandal over closures of lanes on the George Washington Bridge, according to invoices launched by the state on Friday.
The bridge-related invoices made up more than a quarter of all legal costs the state paid last year, totaling about $31 million, the costs reveal. The total as compares to $29 million in legal costs in 2013 and $25 million in 2012, according to New Jersey attorneychief law officer’s workplace records.
The legal expenditures have slowed in current months, the expenses show, though federal investigators haven’t concluded their probe.
Federal prosecutors are checking out whether Mr. Christie’s former aides and allies broke federal laws when they closed lanes to the bridge in 2013, triggering huge traffic jams in Fort Lee, NJ No person has been accused of misdeed up until now.
The bulk of the legal charges were paid to Gibson, Dunn amp; Crutcher LLP, the law firm that Mr. Christie worked with to represent the administration and write a report about how the lane closures happened. Gibson, Dunn was paid $7.5 million in 2013 through November, with costs for December not yet available.
In addition to the moneythe cash paid to Gibson Dunn, the administration also assigned $1.2 million to 16 law firms representing individual personnel members caught up in the bridge scandal and whom the state has actually pickeddecided to indemnify.
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