Alan Furterfas. Photo courtesy of JTA.
Summary: Donald Trump Jr. has lawyered up after being caught meeting with a Russian lawyer in 2016, and he’s hired one of the best in the business.
In less than a week, Donald Trump Jr. has been feeling the heat of a thousand Russian saunas. On Saturday, his father’s nemesis, The New York Times, published an article stating that Junior had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 Presidential Election; and since then, his explanations of what had happened seemed to only further incriminate him of colluding to help his father win.
On Saturday, The New York Times wrote that Trump Jr. had met with Natalia Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016 in Trump Towers. After the story broke, Trump Jr. said that they had discussed Russia-U.S. adoption policy only, and Veselnitskaya confirmed this, adding that she was not an agent of the Russian government.
However, Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, later said that he had agreed to meet with the lawyer because she had promised damning information about his father’s political rival, Hillary Clinton. He said that Veselnitskaya’s information was useless though and did not help Trump’s campaign. This admission caused his opponents to scream “Treason!” and in a pre-emptive strike, Trump Jr. released his emails that led up to the meeting and hired one of the best criminal defense attorneys in New York City–Alan Futerfas.
Futerfas has already been working hard to protect Trump Jr.’s reputation, and he has released a statement that Trump Jr. committed no wrongdoing and this scandal is “much ado about nothing.”
So who is Alan Futerfas? What do we know about him so far?
Alan S. Futerfas runs his own New York law firm, The Law Offices of Alan S. Futerfas. According to the company website, “Alan S. Futerfas has twenty-five years of litigation experience representing individuals and companies in traditional and white collar cases, trials and appeals, SEC investigations and regulatory matters. The firm has represented corporate officers, directors, hedge funds, an NRSRO and private equity principals in significant and highly publicized cases in the New York region. The firm represents individuals and businesses in civil litigation.”
Miami-born Futerfas is best known for representing members of the mafia–including members of the Colombo, Gambino, and Genovese families. He has also worked on a John Gotti case where Gotti was acquitted.
Before attending law school at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School, Futerfas was a skilled trombonist and had a Bachelor of Music from the prestigious performing arts school, Julliard. He still performs with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony to this day.
According to U.S. News and World Report, Futerfas met Donald Trump’s divorce lawyer Jay Goldberg in law school, but Futerfas did not get hired by Trump Jr. through Goldberg.