Paralegal Honored for Convicting Ex-Leader

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder honored six federal prosecutors and a paralegal for their work convicting Pavel Lazarenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister who moved to Marin County.

The seven received the Attorney General's Award for distinguished service during a ceremony Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The award, in its 57th year, was given to 286 honorees this year.

The recipients for the Lazarenko case, which was prosecuted in San Francisco, were prosecutors Peter Axelrod, Patricia Kenney, Stephanie Hinds, Hartley West, Jonathan Howden and Martha Boersch, and paralegal Christine Ying Tian.

Lazarenko, who moved to a $6.75 million Novato mansion after leaving the Ukraine, was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined $10 million in 2006 for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion. Authorities said it was the first prosecution of a foreign political leader for laundering the proceeds of foreign crimes through American financial institutions.

Source: Contra Costa Times