Former U.S. Attorney General (as well as former Missouri Governor and Senator) John Ashcroft has agreed to appear at a federal hearing looking into millions of dollars of no-bid contracts he and others received to monitor out-of-court corporate settlements.
A House Judiciary Committee subcommittee announced the agreement with Ashcroft in Washington, D.C. today, the day before the committee was to consider authorizing its chairman to issue him a subpoena.
From the AP:
The former attorney general is considered a key witness in the inquiry into lucrative federal monitoring contracts awarded by federal prosecutors to hand-picked monitors to oversee deferred prosecutions…
[Christopher Christie, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey] appointed Ashcroft in September as monitor for Zimmer Holdings Inc., of Warsaw, Ind., one of five makers of replacement hips and knees that agreed to pay $310 million and accept federal monitors to settle concerns over doctor kickbacks.
Ashcroft’s Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, The Ashcroft Group LLC, stands to make from $27 million to $52 million over 18 months, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
