“ I have covered hundreds of court cases over the years and have witnessed far too often the kind of duplicity and governmental heavy-handedness Ms. Powell describes in her book, Licensed to Lie. Well written.”

—Hugh Aynesworth,  journalist, historian, four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and author of November 22, 1963: Witness to History

The last Enron Task Force prosecutor who headed the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice was Matthew Friedrich.  Friedrich and his deputy Rita Glavin carefully orchestrated the wrongful prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens-a prosecution so corrupted by the prosecutors themselves that it had to be thrown out by Judge Emmet Sullivan who also ordered an independent investigation of the Department of Justice and its “Public Integrity Section” prosecutors.

Now-and more terrifying-Friedrich’s colleague, former boss, and mentor, Leslie Caldwell, stands poised to take the job of leading the Department’s 700+ criminal attorneys. Will the Senate put this touted “terror of a prosecutor” in a position to destroy even more than she already has?

Caldwell, the original Director of the Enron Task Force, with Friedrich and now former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann, annihilated Arthur Andersen and its 85,000 jobs world wide-only to be reversed 9-0 by the United States Supreme Court because they both made up a crime and persuaded federal district judge Melinda Harmon to take all criminal intent out of the jury instructions.  Yet, with no regard for her record of prosecutorial atrocities, she has “sailed through” her Senate confirmation hearing.

If the Senate does not act to stop this confirmation, Caldwell will complete Obama’s installation of the Enron cabal of corrupt prosecutors in key law enforcement positions across his administration. The Enron Task Force Prosecutors left a legacy of injustice, Supreme Court reversals, appellate reversals, and even withdrawn guilty pleas because of their roughshod tactics, suppression of evidence favorable to the defense, concocted crimes, wrongful convictions, tortured jury instructions, and assorted dirty and unethical tactics designed to win at any cost.

Caldwell’s fellow prosecutor of Arthur Andersen, Matthew Friedrich, soared to Acting Attorney General of the Criminal Division (under Mukasey) after he and now White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler obtained the wrongful convictions of four Merrill Lynch executives Read More »

Director/ Screenwriter Steven Bernstein writes about Licensed to Lie:

The story of Enron, Ted Stevens, and the legal and personal aftermath, at least as it was popularly presented, became part of the collective zeitgeist and was set in stone. None of us has the time or inclination to understand the minutiae of every event, no matter how significant.  Certainly what went down in Texas, Washington, Alaska, and New Orleans was significant, but few of us have knowledge of what really occurred.

I was certain Ted Stevens was crooked.  I was also certain everyone at Arthur Andersen and Enron was crooked. As it turned out, some were, but remarkably a lot weren’t. People who were convicted were innocent and went to prison. This should concern everyone.

What is even more shocking is that the federal prosecutors whom I had always presumed to be full of virtue and zeal had much more zeal than virtue and that the crimes here went beyond the excesses of some Enron executives. This is worse. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  

What Eron did was terrible, but the moral advantage of government over the private sector interest is accountability.  If the private sector fails us, we cannot vote them out, unless we have a whole bunch of shares which we mostly don’t.  But the beauty of government is accountability, and it is essential  that those individuals who,  like the police and prosecutors,  are granted extraordinary powers must also be subject to extraordinary limits and controls over those powers. Tyranny is not giving government power. Tyranny is giving government power that is not regulated and controlled.

Sidney Powell weaves an extraordinary tale of federal prosecutors run amok seemingly with little control.   In my own mind, I am certain they thought they were doing good, but their substantive misconduct that Ms. Powell uncovers is so egregious and far reaching that it goes to the very foundation of our democracy and how it may be at risk.

This is a brave book. The taking on of the forces that Ms. Powell attacks can do her no long term good, but clearly she is serving a higher calling: the rule of law.

I know Sidney Powell.  She is a force. Almost six feet of southern woman who has a limitless hospitality and generosity of spirit but who simply cannot countenance the slightest corruption. In her friends, she can barely forgive it; in those in power, she finds it unconscionable.  This is Sidney.  I live in Los Angeles in the grey of the marine layer but also the grey of moral uncertainty.  Sidney visited here, and it was not just her height that made her stand out. She was genuinely shocked by all she surmised. This is not how she conducts business.  Sidney is a woman and a lawyer who believes in important things, and I am certain what drove her to write this book was no particular axe that needed grinding, though she has a well sharpened one in her literary hand.  Rather, Sidney witnessed something that was simply wrong, and she is one of people burdened with the sense that wrongs should be righted and truths should be told.

Boldly, bravely, dangerously, and elegantly she does that in this book. I couldn’t put it down. Like a great novel, it revealed much of the human condition and of human frailty. It was a frightening book for those who fear for our way of government, but ultimately it is a triumph.  It is significant that this book can be published and these things can be said.  No tyrant would allow this to be printed because it indicts some of the most powerful jurists in the land. So it should be a point of pride for all of us that Sidney can speak up without fear of recourse because this courageous discourse, this calling to task of the corrupt, is the foundation of our democracy. Bravo Sidney Powell.

Steven Bernstein, Writer/Director of Dominion

The book is now available for pre-order from BooksAMillion, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and Amazon!

Please note, however, that only books ordered through PayPal on the website www.LicensedToLie.com will be autographed by the author.  Watch for book signing events on our Facebook page and on the Licensed To Lie website!

The book includes a special Foreword by Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, in his personal capacity.

A tragic suicide, a likely murder, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story giving them a frightening perspective on justice corrupted and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld. Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice is the true story of the strong-arm, illegal, and unethical tactics used by headline-grabbing federal prosecutors in their narcissistic pursuit of power. Its scope reaches from the US Department of Justice to the US Senate, the FBI, and the White House. This true story is a scathing attack on corrupt prosecutors, the judges who turned a blind eye to these injustices, and the president who has promoted them to powerful political positions

A gruesome suicide, a likely murder, a tragic and needless plane crash, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story, giving them a frightening perspective on justice corrupted and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld.

Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice is the true story of the strong-arm, illegal, and unethical tactics used by headline-grabbing federal prosecutors in their narcissistic pursuit of power. Its scope reaches from the US Department of Justice to the US Senate, the FBI, and the White House. This true story is a scathing attack on corrupt prosecutors, the judges who turned a blind eye to these injustices, and the president who has promoted them to powerful political positions.

In a compelling Foreword written by Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski in his personal capacity, he notes the importance of this issue, and as did the Washington Post recently, urges a national discussion of the issue.

The book will be out soon.  You may pre-order at www.LicensedToLie.com. Pre-orders will be autographed by the author and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Constitution Project, NACDL, The Texas Equal Access to Justice Campaign, and Pisgah Legal Services.