Ashcroft law firm to collect $52 million for monitoring knee replacement firms

TRENTON, N.J. — The law firm of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is set to collect more than $52 million to help the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey monitor leading manufacturers of knee and hip replacements, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Tuesday.

Ashcroft is among five private attorneys whom U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie hand-picked to monitor the implant makers, the newspaper reported.

Christie worked under Ashcroft from 2002 to 2005. He was nominated by President Bush to be New Jersey's U.S. Attorney in December 2001 and took office in January 2002.

Ashcroft's Washington, D.C.-based firm is poised to collect more than $52 million in 18 months, the newspaper reported.

The monitoring is tied to a $311 million settlement by the manufacturers to settle allegations they illegally paid surgeons millions to use and promote their knee and hip replacements. The companies agreed to hire monitors to ensure they comply with the law.

The arrangement, disclosed in SEC filings, calls for Zimmer Holdings of Indiana to pay Ashcroft Group Consulting Services an average monthly fee between $1.5 million and $2.9 million. That includes a flat payment of $750,000 to the firm's "senior leadership group," individual legal and consulting services at up to $895 an hour, and as much as $250,000 in monthly expenses.

Ashcroft spokesman Mark Corallo said Ashcroft was "uniquely qualified" for the monitoring and more than 30 professionals at his firm were working on the matter. Corallo deemed the fees "consistent with any other large-scale monitoring circumstances."

Christie said he wasn't involved in setting Ashcroft's fee and noted the fees imposed on implant makers are in lieu of fines.

"Given what these companies were costing the American taxpayers, the fees that these monitors charge for changing the industry's practices will be a real bargain at the end of the day," Christie said.

Christie said Ashcroft was the best choice to monitor Zimmer because he has experience running a 120,000-employee department and understands organizational structure.

"I certainly don't think it's a problem to hire somebody who used to be your boss but no longer is," Christie said. "What am I getting out of this exactly? I can tell you, I'm getting nothing, except the comfort in hiring people I know I can trust to do the job."

Ashcroft, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, became attorney general in 2001.

Christie — often cited as a potential 2009 Republican gubernatorial candidate, though he hasn't said whether he will run — was among 17 U.S. attorneys who served on an advisory panel that consulted regularly with Ashcroft, who resigned as attorney general in 2005.

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Information from: The Star-Ledger, http://www.nj.com/starledger