Polanski adds star lawyer Reid Weingarten to defense team

Film director Roman Polanski has added Reid Weingarten, a well-known Washington defense lawyer and close friend of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., to its legal team. Weingarten is a partner in the Washington office of the 500-attorney firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP and is part of the firm's White-Collar Criminal Defense group. Prior to joining Steptoe & Johnson, Weingarten served as a trial attorney for the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice and as a deputy district attorney in Pennsylvania. Weingarten's recent representations include former WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebbers, former General Counsel of Tyco, Mark Belnick, and former CEO of Duane Reade, Anthony Cuti. Polanski, 76 was arrested last weekend at Zurich’s airport on a 31-year-old fugitive warrant issued after he skipped sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Polanski adds star lawyer Reid Weingarten to defense team www10.nytimes.com Sun, Oct 4, 2009