Proposals to Reform the Federal Money Laundering Statutes
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aspects of a client's personal lives and financial circumstances and thus may learn that part of the fee with which the attorney has been paid was derived from a designated offense. 25
The amendment was omitted from the final version of the Act during last-minute conference
deliberations, but only, according to both Reps. McCollum and William Hughes (D-NJ), “ because of
an agreement that it is unnecessary because the offense could not be applied in these circumstances. ” 26
He continued:
I think that last night most of us working on this issue recognized that the risk that the Department of Justice would prosecute an attorney in this circumstance was really so very remote that a special statutory exception was really not necessary.
Rep. Hughes, the Subcommittee Chairman, submitted similar remarks explaining the legislative
history into the Congressional Record . 27
It quickly became clear that the Department of Justice interpreted the new statute to permit
prosecution of attorneys for receipt and deposit of bona fide legal fees, and the issue of an exemption
for bona fide fees in criminal representation was revisited in the next session of Congress.
Once again, the 1986 provision which exempted "bona fide fees an attorney accepts for
25 See H.R. Rep. No. 99-855, at 14 (1986).
26 132 Cong. Rec. E3822 (daily ed. Nov. 6, 1986) (statement of Rep. McCollum).
27
Id. at E3828.
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