controversy sues Ashcroft
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the
rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with
the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross
mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal
court in Washington.
Justice officials said Tuesday they had not seen the suit and had no comment.
The suit is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism
prosecution, which is now in danger of unraveling over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
Convertino came under internal investigation last fall after providing information to a Senate
committee about his concerns about the war on terror. His testimony came just months after he
helped convict some members of an alleged terrorism cell in Detroit.
The government now admits it failed to turn over evidence during the trial that might have assisted
the defense, including an allegation from an imprisoned drug gang leader who claimed the
government's key witness made up his story.
Convertino is seeking damages under the First Amendment and Privacy Act, alleging he has been
subjected to an internal investigation as retaliation for his cooperation with the Senate and that
information from the internal probe was wrongly leaked to news media.
The lawsuit states Convertino first complained to his superiors more than a year ago about
Justice's interference in the Detroit terrorism trial, saying Washington supervisors "had
continuously placed perception over reality to the serious detriment of the war on terror."
The lawsuit includes excerpts of an e-mail from another prosecutor in the case that Convertino
says "identified some of the gross mismanagement which was negatively impacting the ability of
the United States to obtain convictions in a major terrorist case."
The e-mail from the other prosecutor shows he complained at the time that efforts by Justice's
terrorism unit in Washington to "insinuate themselves into this trial are, nothing more than a self-
serving effort to justify the existence" of the unit.
"They have rendered no assistance and, are in my judgment, adversely impacting on both trial
prep and trial strategy," the e-mail cited in the lawsuit states.
Convertino also accused Justice officials of intentionally divulging the name of one of his
confidential terrorism informants (CI) to retaliate against him.
The leak put the informant at grave risk, forced him to flee the United States and "interfered with
the ability of the United States to obtain information from the CI about current and future terrorist
activities," the suit alleges.
The prosecutor is being represented by the National Whistleblower Center, which has represented
FBI agents and other whistleblowers in recent cases involving terrorism. Its chief lawyer
successfully helped Linda Tripp win damages under the Privacy Act for the leak of information
from her Pentagon personnel file after the Monica Lewinsky affair.
