Supervisor Paul Biane

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 02/05/2010 07:28:45 PM PST

San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane has hired a law firm specializing in white collar crime to represent him in an ongoing Grand Jury investigation and corruption probe by the District Attorney’s and state Attorney General’s offices.

Campaign finance records released Monday show that in the last half of 2009, Biane paid out nearly $50,000 from his campaign coffers to the Los Angeles law firm Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP. Two payments were made between July 1 and Dec. 31 for $35,000 and $14,782.53.

Biane declined a request to be interviewed for this story but said in a one-paragraph statement that he hired the firm to prepare him for his testimony before the Grand Jury last summer.

“As has been widely reported, I was asked to provide testimony to the Grand Jury. I don’t believe anyone should testify in any legal proceeding without seeking the advice of counsel,” Biane said in the statement. “So that’s what I did. It’s as simple as that.”

Investigators from the District Attorney’s Office issued subpoenas in August to the Board of Supervisors and other county officials as part of an inquiry into a landmark $102 million legal settlement between the county and Rancho Cucamonga-based developer Colonies Partners in November 2006.

The inquiry centered on a joint effort between the county and the city of Rancho Cucamonga to develop a 1,200-acre parcel of land in Rancho Cucamonga owned by the county flood control district.

About three weeks before issuing the subpoenas, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos announced his office was continuing its investigation into the Colonies settlement and the pending 1,200-acre land deal, after closing an investigation into alleged shenanigans at the Assessor’s Office under the reign of former Assessor Bill Postmus. That investigation resulted in five arrests, including Postmus, for allegations ranging from drug possession to grand theft.

Developer Jeff Burum, a co-managing partner in Colonies Partners, is also a managing member of Diversified Pacific, a development company that was part of the Rancho Alliance consortium of developers vying for the right to develop the 1,200 acres in Rancho Cucamonga.

Biane, a former Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2002, was one of three supervisors who voted in favor of the Colonies settlement and also championed the push to get the 1,200 acres, which is in his supervisorial district, developed.

In the wake of the Grand Jury inquiries and criminal investigation, Biane announced in May that the county was suspending its joint plan with Rancho Cucamonga to develop the 1,200 acres.

At the time subpoenas were served in August, Biane said he would “fully cooperate with the county Grand Jury’s inquiry” and “provide any information they need to wrap up their inquiry.”

On its Web site, the law firm of Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey LLP touts itself as “a premier boutique litigation firm in Los Angeles, emphasizing white collar criminal defense and business litigation.”

The law firm’s partners all have impressive resumes, said attorney Jessica Levinson, director of political reform for the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.

According to the law firm’s Web site, Michael Fitzgerald is a former assistant U.S. attorney, Robert Corbin is a former deputy federal public defender in California’s Central District, and Joel Athey is a former senior associate of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher – a highly regarded multi-national law firm in Los Angeles.

Levinson said the nearly $50,000 in fees paid to the law firm by Biane suggests Biane could be faced with a Herculean legal issue.

“Fifty-thousand dollars is not an insignificant sum. It certainly raises the spectre that there was a good deal to talk about,” Levinson said. “There were certainly substantive areas they wanted to discuss.”

It would be prudent for anyone under such circumstances to retain a lawyer and seek advice on how to proceed, Levinson said.

Stan Goldman, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School, said $50,000 would be “an extraordinarily handsome fee” just for preparing somebody for testimony before a grand jury.

“The only way that’s probably going to happen is if there’s a tremendous amount of paperwork to go through in order to determine what’s going on,” said Goldman. “Or (the law firm) is being paid a retainer for other possible legal services.”

District Attorney spokeswoman Susan Mickey said she could not comment as to Biane’s possible involvement in her office’s ongoing corruption probe, nor could she comment on the status of the Colonies investigation.

Goldman said testimony before grand juries could get tricky for those subpoenaed to testify, especially if they are the targets of criminal probes. In such cases, it would not be uncommon for attorneys to recommend their clients take the Fifth Amendment.

“It’s a discovery-fest for the D.A.,” Goldman said.

To read entire story, click here.