Trevian Kutti (Fulton County Jail), Ruby Freeman, the Georgia election worker defamed by Rudy Giuliani (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
The onetime publicist for Kanye West facing a RICO indictment in Georgia alongside former President Donald Trump now needs to look into hiring new defense lawyers after three attorneys suddenly moved to withdraw from the case.
In the brief motion to withdraw filed in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s court, Trevian Kutti’s lawyers Darryl Cohen, Steve Greenberg, and Joshua Herman together moved to “respectfully request an order from the court allowing them withdrawal as counsel of record in this case.”
“The undersigned have given Client due written notice of their intention to withdraw pursuant to submitting this request to the Court,” the lawyers said, noting that Kutti has been informed of the obligation to “prepare for trial or hire new counsel to prepare for trial” — though a trial date has not yet been set — and the obligation to “conduct and respond to discovery or motions in the case.”
Should Kutti failed to “meet these burdens,” including keeping the judge apprised of “where notices, pleadings and other papers may be served,” the defendant has been informed she “may suffer adverse consequences, including, bond forfeiture and arrest,” the lawyers said.
If Kutti objects to their withdrawal motion, she has 10 days to file said objection, the lawyers further noted.
Trevian Kutti beamed in her mug shot back in August following her state indictment on three charges: RICO, conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings, and influencing witnesses.
The grand jury indictment secured by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) alleged that Kutti and her co-defendants “on and between the 4th day of November 2020 and the 15th day of September 2022, while associated with an enterprise, unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in, directly and indirectly, such enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity” to “unlawfully change the outcome of the election” and keep Trump in power.
Counts 30 and 31 specifically accused Kutti, Black Voices for Trump activist Harrison Floyd, and pastor Stephen Cliffgard Lee of engaging in criminal conduct towards Ruby Freeman, the Georgia election worker Rudy Giuliani defamed by falsely accusing her and her daughter Shaye Moss of “stealing votes” at State Farm Arena in November 2020. A federal jury decided just last week that Giuliani should pay $148 million for his damaging falsehoods.
During testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee more than one year ago, Shaye Moss said that nonexistent “USB drives” full of votes, which Giuliani accused her and her mother of passing around “as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine,” was simply “a ginger mint.”
The Georgia RICO indictment alleged that Kutti, Floyd, and Lee “on or about the 4th day of January 2021, unlawfully conspired to solicit, request, and importune Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County, Georgia, election worker, to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of False Statements and Writings, O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20, by knowingly and willfully making a false statement and representation concerning events at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia [.]” The indictment further alleged that the three “unlawfully engaged in misleading conduct toward Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County, Georgia, election worker, by stating that she needed protection and by purporting to offer her help, with intent to influence her testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County, Georgia, concerning events at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia, contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof[.]”
Among the more than 100 overt acts outlined in the indictment were allegations that Kutti traveled from Chicago to Ruby Freeman’s home in Georgia and told her she was a crisis manager who could “help”:
Act 117.
On or about the 4th day of January 2021, TREVIAN C. KUTTI traveled to Ruby Freeman’s home in Cobb County, Georgia, and attempted to contact her but was unsuccessful. TREVIAN C. KUTTI spoke with Freeman’s neighbor and falsely stated that she was a crisis manager attempting to “help” Freeman before leaving Freeman’s home. This was an overt act in furtherance ofthe conspiracy.
Act 118.
On or about the 4th day of January 2021, TREVIAN C. KUTTI, while in Fulton County, Georgia, placed a telephone call to Ruby Freeman and stated that Freeman was in danger. TREVIAN C. KUTTI stated that she could “help” Freeman and requested that Freeman meet with and speak to her that night at a Cobb County Police Department precinct in Cobb County, Georgia. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
The court docket indicates that Judge McAfee, as of Tuesday afternoon, has yet to rule on the motion to withdraw.
Law&Crime reached out to the defense lawyers by email to inquire about what led to their exits from the case.
“I do not comment upon matters that are best kept private, including my discussions with my clients,” Steve Greenberg replied. “I continue to believe that as far as Ms. Kutti is concerned this is a wrongful prosecution that seeks to extinguish her First Amendment rights.”
Greenberg, Law&Crime readers may recall, once represented R. Kelly, the famed R&B singer who in 2022 went on to be convicted of RICO and sex trafficking in a New York federal case.
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