Judge Opts out Of Schmidt- Krikorian Suit

Finney said he intends to call as witnesses in the case Schmidt attorneys Bruce E. Fein and Donald C. Brey to question them about who is paying their legal bills.

It’s not Schmidt “but special interest groups … paying for these expensive lawyers to sit here and persecute a former political opponent of Mrs. Schmidt over protected political speech,” Finney told the judge. “She’s up to her ears in conflicts of interest and, in fact, illegal conduct with the Turkish lobby in this country.”

The suit claims that Krikorian, an Armenian-American who failed to unseat Schmidt in 2008, falsely accused her of taking money from Turkish government-sponsored political action committees to deny the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by Turks during World War I.

Filed in June, the suit seeks $6.8 million in compensatory and punitive damages from the Madeira businessman for what Schmidt claims were false allegations of complicity in campaign finance crimes, bribery and perjury.

“This court is being abused in a horrific way by a sitting member of the United States Congress,” Finney said. “We believe this case is frivolous and entirely political. … “These statements [made by Krikorian are] a normal part of the political discourse covered by the First Amendment,” Finney said.

Brey denied Finney’s allegations and said the suggestion Schmidt’s attorneys should be removed from the case was “sort of trial by ambush.”