Judge holds former medical consultant Awand in contempt again
For the second time in less than eight months, U.S. District Judge James Mahan held Howard Awand in contempt Wednesday for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating fraud within the legal and medical professions.
Prosecutors consider Awand, 66, the central figure in a network of lawyers and physicians that might have defrauded clients out of millions of dollars.
Awand is in federal custody after his conviction in the investigation.
The contempt order adds more time behind bars for the former medical consultant, who is set to be released from federal prison in February 2014.
Mahan ordered Awand to serve up to 16 months — for the duration of the grand jury — before he can resume serving his other prison sentence. If Awand decides to cooperate with prosecutors, the civil contempt order will be lifted.
Mahan last held Awand in contempt for refusing to testify in December, but the grand jury’s term expired Feb. 18, giving Awand a reprieve.
Federal prosecutors wanted Awand to provide testimony Wednesday before a new panel about lawyers targeted in the investigation.
But Awand again ignored an order from Mahan and refused to answer questions under a grant of immunity.
Immediately after Awand’s 15-minute grand jury appearance, deputy U.S. marshals took him in chains to Mahan’s courtroom for a hearing that took place behind closed doors.
After Awand was held in contempt, Los Angeles lawyer Harland Braun said outside the courtroom that his client told Mahan he would never testify in the investigation.
As a result, Braun said, it’s a waste of government resources to punish Awand further.
"This investigation on the lawyers is old," Braun said. "It goes back more than five years. Why do they keep pushing it?"
Braun said Awand thinks pressuring him to testify has become "a personal thing" on the part of prosecutors. In December, Braun said Awand contends that prosecutors have mistreated him while pursuing an investigative theory that is a "fantasy."
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre, the lead prosecutor in the lawyer-doctor investigation, declined to comment after Wednesday’s hearing.
Awand was sentenced in June 2010 to four months behind bars after a conviction stemming from irregularities prosecutors uncovered in a medical malpractice case. He also is serving a four-year term from a separate conviction for failing to pay $2.5 million in income taxes.
Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
