More signs that Norm Coleman is taking the allegations in the Nasser Kazeminy lawsuit very, very seriously.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that all four of the principals in the alleged scheme to pass money to Coleman — Kazeminy, Coleman, his wife Laurie Coleman, and Jim Hays of Hays Insurance — have hired high-powered Minnesota lawyers.
The Strib runs down the details:
Norm Coleman has hired Doug Kelley, Laurie Coleman is represented by Earl Gray, Hays is aligned with Doug Peterson and Kazeminy has secured the services of Joe Friedberg.Kelley, Gray and Peterson are former federal prosecutors now engaged in criminal defense and white-collar litigation. For years they have been mainstays in the federal judicial system in Minnesota, working cases ranging from fraud to drugs to homicide.
In the past, Friedberg has been the attorney representing Winthrop & Weinstine law firm in Minneapolis, which once employed Coleman and currently claims Kazeminy as a client.
The paper adds:
[T]he attorneys have retained a Twin Cities-based private investigations company composed of former FBI agents to gather information about the case, according to two people with knowledge of the developments.
Last week it was reported that the FBI had launched an investigation into the allegations in the lawsuit, which revolve around charges that Kazeminy, a longtime friend and supporter of Coleman, tried to pass money to the senator by having a Kazeminy-owned company, Deep Marine Technologies, make payments to Hays Insurance, which employed Laurie Coleman. The lawsuit was filed by Paul McKim, the former CEO of Deep Marine.