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The Ohio attorney who tipped off former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel to the tattoos-for-memorabilia deal involving Buckeyes players faces the possibility of losing his law license for six months, The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday.
Columbus criminal-defense lawyer Christopher Cicero has been accused of violating attorney-client privilege for making Tressel aware of the players' deal with tattoo-parlor owner Edward Rife.
Rife, who was sentenced last month to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges, claimed he sought legal advice from Cicero while he was the target of a federal investigation.
According to Rife's complaint, Cicero emailed Tressel in April 2010 after he became aware of the deal he was running with a handful of Ohio State football players.
Rife claimed he received death threats after becoming embroiled in the memorabilia scandal that eventually led to five Buckeyes players getting suspended and Tressel's resignation in May 2011.
"It wouldn't have been that bad. Instead, now I have to be Edward Rife, the guy who took down the Ohio State football program," Rife testified Monday, according to The Dispatch. "None of this ever would have been if the emails hadn't been sent."
Cicero argued Rife had already hired an attorney by the time the two met.
"Eddie Rife was never going to be my client. He had already retained a lawyer," Cicero testified.
"I thought I had a moral obligation to notify Jim Tressel of what I learned. I owed Eddie Rife nothing."
But the disciplinary panel overseeing Monday's proceedings appeared to disagree with Cicero's assessment, choosing to recommend a six-month suspension of his law license.
Cicero chose "his loyalty to Ohio State football over his loyalty to a prospective client," senior assistant disciplinary counsel Joseph Caligiuri said, according to The Dispatch.
The three-member panel will take their recommendation to the full Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, with a final decision to come at an undetermined date.
