Another attorney and a private investigator were acquitted in the case
Ravenell was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering but acquitted of racketeering-conspiracy and narcotics-conspiracy charges by the jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland. In addition, the office said, Ravenell, along with lawyer Joshua R. Treem, 73, of Columbia, Md., and private investigator Sean F. Gordon, 45, of Crownsville, Md., were found not guilty of falsifying documents, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to commit crimes against the federal government.
The charges were part of a long-running investigation tied to a multistate marijuana operation. Ravenell was first indicted in September 2019 and accused of coaching drug kingpin Richard Byrd, who was his client, and others about how to evade law enforcement. Prosecutors alleged that Ravenell used his law firm’s bank accounts to funnel and hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds and to make payments to lawyers retained by other members of the conspiracy.
Ravenell and Treem are experienced criminal defense attorneys. Treem, a former federal prosecutor, was an attorney for Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the shooters in the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks. Treem and Ravenell practiced law at the same firm in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2016, Treem began representing Ravenell in connection with a federal grand jury investigation into Ravenell’s work.
As part of the investigation, federal agents searched the law offices of Ravenell and Treem’s firm, Brown, Goldstein & Levy.
“The jury’s unanimous verdict confirms that Joshua Treem did nothing wrong but rather acted as the superb defense attorney that he is,” lawyer Andrew E. Levy said in a statement Tuesday.
An indictment issued last December alleged that Ravenell, Treem and Gordon worked together to impede the federal grand jury investigation into Ravenell and one of his clients.
For instance, the indictment said, Treem and Gordon traveled to an Arizona jail in 2017 to meet with a former client of Ravenell’s who was a potential witness against him. The two allegedly presented the man with a document, prepared by Ravenell, containing false statements helpful to Ravenell. At the jailhouse meeting, in Phoenix, Treem and Gordon urged the inmate to sign the document, according to the indictment.
“Treem had in front of him a document that contained 53 statements which were, in effect, false denials about Ravenell’s involvement in criminal conduct,” the indictment alleged.
Prosecutors said Ravenell, Treem and Gordon then prepared documents, including an affidavit from Gordon that referred to the inmate’s false statements and a letter Treem wrote to a federal judge in February 2018 related to the inmate.
“It’s
outrageous that the government used its tremendous resources to
prosecute Josh for doing his job — investigating leads and advocating
for his client,” Levy said. “The United States attorney’s office owes
our partner an apology.”
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