Broadcast Attorney Disputes Conflicts in Guel Hearing Proceeding
It isn’t a conflict of interest for Dan Alpert to represent multiple people in an FCC hearing proceeding because all the parties have given him permission and their testimony doesn’t conflict, the broadcast attorney said in a filing posted Monday…
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in docket 23-267. Alpert was responding to a request from Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin, who temporarily suspended discovery in the proceeding over conflict concerns (see 2407230051). The facts conceded by Alpert’s client Antonio Guel don’t conflict with those of Guel’s daughter, Maria Guel, or his niece, Jennifer Juarez, Alpert said. The Enforcement Bureau claims Guel arranged a false sale of broadcast stations to Juarez while maintaining control of them, and that Maria Guel runs companies involved in the transaction. Alpert, who practices in Virginia, also told Halprin that he checked on the ethics of his position with the Commonwealth of Virginia Bar counsel. “As long as all three persons were aware of the simultaneous representation, that representation of all three persons was permissible,” Alpert said. “If at any point in time, circumstances change, and an actual conflict arises, that undersigned counsel will discontinue such simultaneous representation.”