Yesterday, the DC court posted a redacted notice in the sealed case that has been rocketing around the DC courthouse. (the one where they closed off the entire floor to keep the privacy of the litigants)
The parlor game of identifying the litigant seems to have coalesced on it being the Qatari Investment Authority, based on the length of the redactions, and other clues, like 100% owned by the foreign sovereign.
The thing that was disclosed yesterday were the names of the lawyers who are representing the foreign entity and that they are the ones on notice for future filings.
They are three lawyers from Alston and Bird, which is a typical white shoe law firm.
They are named Brian Boone, Ted Kang and Emily Costin.
What was REALLY interesting is the specialty of one of the lawyers.
Boone is an experienced appellate lawyer, no surprise there.
Kang as would be expected, specializes in few areas of international law and does white collar defense/
Costin is a leader in the practice area of ERISA, the employee retirement security act of 1974.
What is an ERISA expert doing on a case like this?????
To put this in context, this is like seeing a podiatrist being included on a brain surgery team. And this isn’t by accident, or a way to have her broaden her area of expertise, because on a case like this, only the best of the best will be on it.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how the business records of Jared Kushner at the Qatari Investment Fund would involve ERISA, but there it is.
I guess we will see soon enough.
you can see the filing here:
www.dcd.uscourts.gov/...