(New York, NY) – Free Speech For People, a national non-profit legal advocacy organization, filed formal requests with the Attorneys General of New York and Pennsylvania, and the District Attorneys of Manhattan and Philadelphia to launch criminal investigations into President Donald Trump’s extortion and coercion of nearly $1 billion in legal services from at least nine law firms. 

Since taking office, Trump has issued a series of executive orders that unlawfully impose a broad range of harms onto certain law firms against whom Trump has developed a personal vendetta because of the firms’ viewpoints, advocacy for clients, and hiring practices. These punishing measures include ending the firm’s government contracts, revoking attorneys’ security clearances, and demanding that government contractors disclose business with these firms and face their own investigations. The EEOC also has opened investigations into twenty additional law firms because they maintained lawful diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The threatened investigations would subject them to onerous proceedings, force them to turn over sensitive employee information to a hostile administration, and leave the firms vulnerable to targeted executive orders in the future. 

To obtain recission of the unconstitutional orders or to avoid baseless investigations, firms began to give in to Trump’s demands. He extracted nearly $1 billion in free legal services for himself, his allies, and his pet projects. Trump’s demands infringe on these firms’ independence and will significantly impact and drain their financial resources.

The letters explain that “[t]he extortion of free legal assistance from large law firms is a brazen abuse of power that attacks attorney independence and undermines the adversarial system that is at the heart of our country’s rule of law.”

New York and Pennsylvania both have laws that prohibit extortion and coercion. And each state broadly prohibits the wrongful taking of someone’s private property or services by instilling fear that the extortionist will cause them harm or damage.

While Trump’s scheme may also violate federal criminal statutes, the Department of Justice has also been implicated in these schemes. Because of this, it is unlikely that federal prosecutors will carry out their obligation to investigate. 

The DOJ’s abdication of responsibility does not release local and state officials from carrying out their own investigation. “If local and state authorities also abdicate their civil and criminal enforcement responsibilities, their citizens will be left at the mercy of the criminal whims of federal officials,” the letter states.

“State and local officials of New York and Pennsylvania must fulfill their investigatory obligations to protect their residents, and to launch criminal investigations into those responsible for the extortion or coercion of law firms operating in their states,” says Courtney Hostetler, Free Speech For People’s Legal Director. 

To read Free Speech For People’s Letter to the Attorney General of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney, click here. 

To read Free Speech For People’s Letter to the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia District Attorney, click here.