6 events in Passaic County with a date

Fauci's lawyer, ejected from hearing, has NJ ties

By: Kristie Cattaif
and Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... The lawyer at the center of a dramatic clash during Dr, Anthony Fauci's Senate testimony has ties to one of New Jersey's most prominent political scandals. David Schertler, who was removed from the earring after interrupting proceeding, previously represented former Santor Bob Menendez and his wife in their federal corruption trial.
..... Schertler was ejected from the United States Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing during Fauci's testimony on July 29. [2026]
..... Schertler represented Menendez and his wife Nadine , during their federal corruption and bribery trial.
..... During a hearing about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci invoked the Fifth amendment more than 100 times. His attorney, Schertler, was ordered removed from the hearing by Chairman Rand Paul who represents Kentucky in Congress, for speaking out of turn and interrupting the proceedings.
..... When stopped by reporters in the hallway immediately after the ejection, Schertler said he was trying to tell Paul that "Dr. Fauuci has a valid Fifth Amendment privilege and has a right to asset it."
..... He later called it "outrageous" for Paul to "exclude his counsel for making a legitimate point," in a statement released to the media.
..... "It proves the baseless and vindictive nature of this proceedings and Rand Paul's personal vendetta against Dr. Fauci," Schertler said.
..... The Chicago native is a notable white-collar criminal defense attorney. In addition to Fauci and Menendez, Schertler has worked on cases related to the Volkswagen diesel emission investigation, Enron and the Teamsters' corruption investigation.
..... He has worked in Asia and South America as well as the United States in criminal and civil antitrust investigations and financial and securities investigations in the United States and Europe.
..... Schertler has represented other clients in hearings and depositions before Congress and federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Election Commission, the defense Department and the General Service Administration.
..... Before moving into private practice in 1996, he served in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and as a trail attorney in the antitrust division of the Justice Department.
..... He holds degrees from Amherst College and the University of Virginia Law School.

Te h Fauci hearing

..... During questioning Santor Bernie Moreno, a Republican representing Ohio, asked Fauci who Schertler is.
..... When Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment, Moreno responded by saying: "Let me tell you who David Schertler is for the audience, because he was ejected by the chairman."
..... "He's a high-profile criminal attorney. He's represented some really great people like Senator Bob Menendez," Moreno said. "Maybe that's someone who my Democrat collegialities remember, who took gold bars as bribes from the Egyptians."
..... The couple and the businessman - Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe - were charged and later found guilty of orchestrating a bribery scheme, Menendez and his wife were found guilty of receiving, among other things cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for the sue of his political influence.
..... The federal indictment against the group was first unsealed in September 2023 and updated with superseding indictments three times - in October of that year [2023] and in January and March 2024.
..... Specifically, the couple's guilty verdicts were issued for bribery, extradition obstruction of justice in a multilevel scheme that traded envelops of cash, god bars and a new Mercedes for official acts that benefited Qatar and Egypt.
..... Moreno ended his comments by calling Schertler a "dirt-bag."
..... "It's no secret why you have to hire the biggest dirt-bag attorney on the planet because of what you did," Moreno said to Fauci.
..... "I hope you are paying him well, and i hope that one way or another somewhere, sometime, you answer for your crimes."

Schertler and the Menendez trial

..... After she was found guilty on 15 counts of bribery and fraud, Arslanian Menendez requested a new trial due to the "blatant violation of her Sixth Amendment right to counsel of her choice."
..... Arslanian Menendez's new attorney argued that because of one of the superseding indictments during the ongoing case, prosecutors cerated a potential conflict between her and her attorney at the time, Schertler.
..... The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York requested a hearing to ensure Arslanian Menendez "understands and knowingly wavies the multiple issues arising from her continued retention of Mr. Schertler and his law firm," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams wrote in a letter to Judge Sidney Stern.
..... The hearing would involve a series of questions posed to Arslanian Menendez alerting her to all the possibilities of what could happen during trial.
..... A proposed list of questions was included in the court document and outlined whether there was a conflict of interest or other potential problems related to Schertler, as well as an Danny Onorato and Paola Pinto, who also repressed Nadine Menendez, due to their personal knowledge of certain facts that the government alleged were relevant.
..... "The government believes that Schertler participated in, among other things, relevant conversations with you and counsel for your co-defendants Robert Menendez and Wael Hana," court documents said.
..... The conversations included such topics as the nature and purpose of the payments co-defendant Uribe made for a Mercedes-Benz that arslanian Mendez received, the nature of paying Hana made toward her mortgage, and the purpose of repayment for both.
..... According to the filing, prosecutors said during hearings that they intended to call Schertler as a witness, and since no arrangement could be settled on "Schertler, an extremely welch-regated and experience lawyer, whose team had been working on the matter for nearly two years, was forced to withdraw from the case due to the conflict."
..... He was not called to testify during the trial and was not mentioned.
..... " IF Mrs Menendez had known that their was no longer any conflict, Ms. Menendez would have elected to bring Mr. Schertler and his firm back into the case at any point, up until the last day of trial," the filing said. "Whether the government's conduct was careless or intentional, the result is the same: Mrs. Menendez's fundamental constitutional rights were violated. This was a fundamental structural error that requires a new trial." In 2024, Menendez raised nearly $189,000 from real estate developers, property management companies and individuals across five states, and spent nearly all of it during the first three months of 2024 to help fund his legal expenses related to federal bribery charges he and his wife faced.
..... Menendez raised $188,925 from January through March 2024, bring the total his legal defense fund raise to $658,425 since it was formed. His previous account - formed when he was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for promoting the interest of a longtime friend, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen - raised more than $5.1 million between early 2014 and the end of 2018.
..... His campaign paid 4150,000 total consulting company DOAR Incorporated for legal expenses,a s well as $100,000 to Jone Day and $300,000 to Schertler & Onorato LLP.
..... A legal expense fund allows the creator to accept private donations to cover certain legal expenses, and it is separate from a campaign account.

HOME