The year long extradition dispute over Jamaican businessman Christopher "Dudus" Coke, accused by federal prosecutors of smuggling illegal firearms and narcotics, has caused more than a few problems for the lawyers at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
Coke is adding to his U.S. legal team while he sits in a federal detention center in Manhattan. On Wednesday, Coke filed court documents terminating court-appointed solo practitioner Russell Neufeld from representing him. Coke, who already has retained New York solos Elizabeth Macedonio and the uniquely named Steve Zissou, has had trouble retaining counsel as U.S. law forbids lawyers from being paid with illicit funds.
But joining Coke's legal team on Tuesday was another New York solo, Frank Doddato, who had previously been linked to the case in June when Neufeld told a U.S. district court judge in Manhattan that he was not permanently assigned to the matter because his client's family had hired Doddato and New York solo Steven Rosen.
Source: The Am Law Daily