Two well-regarded lawyers are done in by drug money

The Seattle Times reports:

On the surface, there was little to suggest that attorneys James L. White and A. Mark Vanderveen would ever subvert the legal system they represented.

Both men had successful careers. White was an Edmonds city councilman, municipal judge and one-time state Supreme Court candidate, Vanderveen a former police officer and board member of a community college foundation.

They lived in inconspicuous, if comfortable, houses — White on a cul-de-sac in Edmonds and Vanderveen near Lake Washington in Lake Forest Park. There was no obvious ostentation: no sports cars, gaudy jewelry or yachts.


But a federal investigation has shown they helped protect a drug organization that moved hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana among the U.S., Latin America and Canada. Federal agents have shown White took at least $250,000 he knew came from drug deals, and passed $20,000 on to Vanderveen.

The failed war on drugs.