Lawyers for Russian lawmaker's son may face conflict; firm represented victims

The U.S. Justice Department says two attorneys representing the son of a prominent Russian lawmaker may face a conflict of interest because other attorneys in their firm have represented victims of a hacking scheme he's accused of running.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle on Wednesday asked a federal court to inquire into whether Robert W. Ray and Ely (ELL'-ee) Goldin have a conflict in representing Roman Seleznev, who was arrested in the Maldives last month and subsequently transported to Seattle.

Seleznev has pleaded not guilty to charges that he hacked into computers that run point-of-sale terminals, stealing hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers.

Ray and Goldin are attorneys with Fox Rothschild, a national firm with 600 attorneys. Ray succeeded Kenneth Starr in 1999 as the independent counsel on the Whitewater investigation. They say their representation of Seleznev is allowed by ethical rules.