Watchdog Asks DC Bar to Investigate Former AG Bill Barr’s Conduct around Murdoch Trust
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2024
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a nonprofit watchdog group, filed a complaint with the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) requesting an investigation into whether one of its members, former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, has violated D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. Reports indicate a Nevada Probate Court found Mr. Barr “demonstrated a dishonesty of purpose and motive” in assisting Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s effort to alter the terms of the elder Murdoch’s irrevocable trust. CfA is asking the ODC to examine whether Mr. Barr’s conduct has run afoul of multiple D.C. rules prohibiting lawyers from engaging in dishonest conduct.
According to a report in the New York Times, on December 7, 2024, Nevada Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman, Jr. issued a sealed decision ruling against Rupert Murdoch’s effort to change his trust to award eventual control of his company to his most ideologically-aligned son, Lachlan, rather than splitting control of the company between all four of his eldest children as the trust originally designated.
To execute this plan, Rupert and Lachlan appointed new representatives with voting power to the trust, including Mr. Barr. Then, Rupert and Lachlan introduced their plan at a special meeting of the trust, with Lachlan sending a text message to his sister Elisabeth stating, in part, “it shouldn’t be difficult or controversial.” To be legally permissible, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch needed to prove the changes were being made in good faith with the sole purpose to benefit all heirs. Commissioner Gorman ruled that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in bad faith and had been plotting secretly for months, keeping the other Murdoch children about their activities.
Although it appears Mr. Barr has been serving as a representative to the trust, rather than also its counsel, D.C. bar rules prohibit lawyers from making false statements to a tribunal, failing to correct false statements, and engaging in dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation regardless of whether they are acting as counsel. If, as the reporting indicates the commissioner found, Mr. Barr was aware of or participated in Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s effort mislead either the other Murdoch children or the Nevada Probate Court as to the true reasons they were attempting to amend the trust, Mr. Barr may have violated D.C. bar rules.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Available information indicates a legal tribunal found Mr. Barr acted dishonestly in a manner that may violate the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. We urge the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to contact the Nevada Probate Court and request access to Commissioner Gorman’s ruling and all relevant documents and testimony to allow for a full investigation and hold Mr. Barr accountable for any violations of the rules.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.