PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) -- The FBI is investigating Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery, sources told The Philadelphia Inquirer this week.
According to the Inquirer, the bureau is looking into fees his wife, Lise Rapaport, received for referring clients to personal injury law firms. Rapaport has served as McCaffery's chief aide in recent years.
The newspaper reported in March Rapaport received a referral fee of more than $800,000 after a Philadelphia-area law firm successfully settled a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice case.
Sources told the Inquirer Tuesday that the FBI is investigating 19 different referral fees paid Rapaport.
An attorney for Rapaport and McCaffery told the newspaper that the justice has done nothing improper and said reports of the federal investigation are "nonsense."
Such fees are legal in Pennsylvania.
However, Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille has said the court should consider whether McCaffery has violated the state Ethics Act in allowing his wife to make referrals and accept the fees.
According to the Inquirer, McCaffery has reported the fees his wife earns every year.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.