Fallen money-manager-to-the-stars Kenneth Starr got a public defender this morning after his lawyer begged off the case over an unspecified “conflict of interest.”
Former federal prosecutor Josh Klein said he learned his firm had the conflict on Friday, a day after he failed to win bail for Starr, who’s been deemed a “flight risk” because federal agents found him hiding in a closet when they went to arrest him.
Klein said Starr — whose assets have been frozen by the SEC and whose business is being overseen by a court-appointed monitor — is “in the process of selecting retained counsel, slash, determining his ability to do so.”
After Manhattan federal Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz gave Starr until Friday to decide what to do, the jailed financial guru started to say something but was silenced by Klein.
“I guess there’s a substantial question as to whether Mr. Starr has the resources to retain counsel,” Katz said.
After letting Klein off the case, Katz appointed Peggy Cross of the Federal Defenders of New York to represent Starr until at least the end of the week.
Outside court, Klein refused to detail his conflict in representing Starr, who’s accused of scamming actress Uma Thurman and other wealthy clients in a $30 million Ponzi scheme.
When asked if she would make an another attempt to get Starr freed on bail, Cross said only: “We’ll see.”
Yesterday, high-profile criminal-defense lawyer Eddie Hayes and his brother, celebrity lawyer Steven Hayes, indicated they had been in talks to represent Starr, but neither appeared in court this morning.