DoJ to bring charges for violation of FCPA.
Rupert Murdoch has assigned his most senior lawyer to the internal affairs committee as the media group faces a hurdle of legal challenges after its reporters provided information to the police that resulted in the arrests of nine journalists at The Sun, the Financial Times reports.
Gerson Zweifach, who was hired last month by the media magnate to manage all legal work at the billion-dollar conglomerate, will add to the ranks of the management and standards committee (MSC), which was launched to tame allegations about NewsCorp’s role in the phone hacking scandal. Zweifach will replace Jeff Palker, who will continue to serve as NewsCorp’s legal chief for Europe and Asia.
The arrests of journalists at The Sun last weekend was part of Scotland Yard’s on-going investigation into bribery allegations that resulted in the Department of Justice slapping FCPA charges against the company – something Murdoch was trying to avoid. Reports suggest that NewsCorp is preparing to get involved in a high-profile legal brawl in the wake of the leading lawyer’s appointment to the MSC committee.
Zweifach, a former Washington DC litigator, spent 29 years at US law firm Williams & Connolly and has tried antitrust, securities, libel and complex commercial cases. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a series of cases.
He succeeds Lawrence ‘Lon’ Jacobs, who made an unexpected exit last June – a month before the company’s phone hacking scandal reached severe levels. News of the World’s lawyer, Tom Crone, left after the paper collapsed.
