First Michael Morales, brother of former Attorney General Dan Morales, pleads guilty to a charge of attempting to extort money from the Tony Sanchez gubernatorial campaign. Now Dan Morales is in his own legal trouble, as a federal grand jury has indicted him for fraud involving the $17.3 billion tobacco lawsuit settlement from 1998.
Morales was charged with 12 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy, filing a false tax return and making a false statement on a loan application. The charges carry maximum penalties totaling 83 years in prison and $3.6 million in fines, if he is convicted.
Houston lawyer Marc Murr was charged with mail fraud and conspiracy and faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if found guilty.
The charges stem from Morales’ unsuccessful attempt to obtain as much as $520 million in legal fees for Murr in the tobacco case, litigation in which other lawyers said Murr did little, if any, work.
There’d been controversy over the legal fees that were awarded after the tobacco case was settled, but it always had the smell of politics to me. Morales better hope he can make the argument that that’s still the case here, because these chargees are not only serious, they’re also just plain tawdry. If he is guilty, he really ought to be ashamed of himself.
Whatever happens from here on out, I think we can all agree that it’s just as well Dan Morales was not the Democratic candidate for Governor last year. I’m pretty sure he won’t be good buddies with Rick Perry for much longer, too.
I believe what goes around comes around and
Dan Morales is now paying for his greed and for
being a big fraud. I don’t care for him ever since he was against affirmative action.
I believe some people need help to go to the
Higher Institutions if that is their goal but
don’t have the funds to do so. This includes
any race or color. I guess Harvard University
didn’t help him very much, what an idiot.
He is one selfish,greety individual who has
nobody to lean on now. I pray for him that this
will teach him a lesson and be more compasionate
towards hard working people who for a while paid
his salary. The main thing that he needs to understand is to stop being a BIG JERK.
He needs Jesus Christ in his life and repent
for his sins.