by Neil McCabe

When you are rich and in big trouble in America, the kind of trouble that could mean jail, millions in legal settlements and the kind of publicity that puts you 24-hours-a-day on talk radio, cable news  and late night monologues–you call Louis L. Freeh.

Freeh, the former federal judge and the man whose rocky leadership of the FBI was part of the sound track of the presidency of William J. Clinton, has developed a very fine business in privatized justice.

Once hired, the former FBI director investigates you and produces a public relations-focused report with a generous narrative of your actions and packed with recommendations for you to follow in the future.

At the press conference, you express your contrition and the story is over.

…

Penn State

There is no better example of how Freeh monetized justice and gavels open and closed the court of public opinion than his dealing with Penn State’s and sexual molestation.

The Trustees of the Pennsylvania State University in an Oct. 28 meeting at the school’s University Park campus turned back an attempt to reopen Freeh’s investigation of the former Penn State coach Gerald A. “Jerry” Sandusky’s sexual abuse of minors scandal that rocked the school three years ago.

Many people would be surprised to learn that despite the public relations campaign in support of the report and the trustees handling of the scandal waged by Kekst & Company, the New York-based powerhouse, the trustees have not officially accepted Freeh’s report.

Given the opportunity Oct. 28, they only agreed to continue to look into the situation and to leave it be.

Trustee Albert T. Lord had proposed at the last meeting that a four-person panel, including himself, meet with Freeh and his team review its findings and methods.

Lord said he was especially incensed that the NCAA based its punishment of the college: “on a foundation of scant evidence, the report adds layers of conjecture and supposition to create a portrait of fault, complicity and malfeasance that could well be at odds with the truth…”

Read the rest of the story