By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 26, 2017
Jared Beck is not a lawyer likely to file a frivolous motion in Federal court. He’s an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and a Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude graduate of Harvard College. Prior to setting up his own practice with his equally impressive wife, Elizabeth Lee Beck, he worked for two prominent corporate law firms where he represented clients like Cadbury, General Motors and Snapple.
Jared Beck is one of the lead lawyers representing supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders in a Federal lawsuit that charges that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and its former Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, engaged in overt acts to undermine the Sanders’ presidential primary campaign while boosting the prospects of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential nominee. The lawsuit makes charges of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, deceptive conduct, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. Under the DNC’s bylaws, it must act in a fair and impartial manner to all Democratic candidates during the primaries.
The lawsuit on behalf of Sanders’ supporters was filed on June 28, 2016. In less than two months, two young men who were potential witnesses in the case were dead. Seth Rich was a 27-year old DNC employee who was shot to death in Washington D.C. on July 10, 2016. Police continue to work on the theory that the murder was a botched robbery, despite the fact that nothing was taken from Rich’s body.
Less than a month after Rich was found dead in the street, Shawn Lucas, the 38-year old who was the process server of the DNC lawsuit, was found dead on his bathroom floor on August 2, 2016. Lucas would have been called as a witness because the attorneys for the defendants claimed his service of the lawsuit had been “insufficient service of process.” Three months after his death, the Chief Medical Examiner’s office determined the cause of death to be: “Combined adverse effects of fentanyl, cyclobenzaprine, and mitragynine.” The manner of death was listed as an “Accident.” See our report on the findings here.
Now Beck and his legal team have told the court they have concerns for the safety of their plaintiffs and themselves. On June 13, the lawyers filed a request with the Federal court for court-ordered protection for the plaintiffs and their families, themselves and their employees, and potential witnesses in the case. The lawyers outlined a series of threatening events that have occurred since June 1 and provided detailed exhibits and sealed documents. The court turned down the request two days later, noting that there were “one hundred fifty plaintiffs in this case, who reside in forty-six jurisdictions, represented by five counsel of record,” thus potentially requiring “the entire United States Marshals Service to direct all of its efforts and attention to this specific case…”
What the request for the protection order did do, however, was send a warning message to those engaging in the harassment that Federal agents might be covertly monitoring the key players in the case.
Related Articles:
Death of Shawn Lucas Brings Attention to DNC Role of Prestigious Law Firm
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