The Landmine has learned that two assistant United States attorneys (AUSA), Karen Vandergaw and James Klugman, are on administrative leave due to repeated lies they told superiors. The two lovers were caught engaging in an inappropriate workplace relationship while Vandergaw was married and Klugman was engaged. 

You may recall that Karen Vandergaw was the AUSA who was sexting and sending nude photographs to then-Judge Josh Kindred, something she initially lied about. This came to light when he was under investigation for an inappropriate relationship with another AUSA who was previously his law clerk. 

The revelation that they are both on administrative leave is in a motion filed by the acting U.S. attorney opposing vacating a sentence of Michael Keays. Keyas was found guilty in 2024 for embezzling money from ConocoPhillips. Keyas’ motion to vacate his sentence is not important, but what is contained in his motion and the opposing motion from the government is. 

Klugman was one of the AUSAs that tried the case against Keays. Vandergaw was also on the case. It’s almost hard to believe what is included in Keays’ motion.

In 2023, Klugman was the Criminal Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. During that time, Vandergaw was promoted to Senior Litigation Counsel. Klugman claimed he had nothing to do with her promotion, but two of his superiors said he insisted on it.  

When AUSA Kate Vogel was asked if Klugman would lie or mislead, she said, “I worry about his honesty…I don’t feel like I’ve experienced honesty from him. So yes, I…guess I would not put it past him to be dishonest.” 

Lane Tucker, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, said a lot more: 

I’d say he’s not truthful or—and does not have candor. I felt like many conversations we had about [case]-related things, I felt like he was hiding the ball. Because his explanations made no sense….it just seemed like he was trying to avoid giving me certain information….So certainly candor was a problem. And you know, I question his honesty. If he’s not being honest and fully forthright in questions that I’m asking him and transparent, I feel like that implicates honesty…I think he clearly had his own agenda. He seemed to have real—in certain cases, he seemed to have real—I don’t know if I’d say animus. I don’t know if I’d go that far. But he was bound and determined to retry and convict this particular defendant whose sentence was vacated. He had a real bone to pick with him. And whether that was because of something that occurred during the trial, whether it was because his ego was offended because the judge vacated the sentence, I have no idea. At the same time, there was another defendant—should have been a defendant who was never charged for some inexplicable reason…And the few cases that came to my attention, I’m like, this seems like you have some sort of personal…vendetta’s too strong a word. But you’re not looking at this in a really objective sort of overarching way. You’ve got a real bone to pick with this guy. You’re giving this guy a free pass. You know, there was no rhyme or reason from what I viewed as like, a prosecutorial perspective, he’d sort of treat people, different defendants, differently.

Why Tucker did not fire Klugman is anyone’s guess.

The Keays motion says Klugman claimed Vandergaw moved in with him in December 2023 and that their romantic relationship did not begin until January 2024. But the opposing motion paints an entirely different picture. 

Klugman and Vandergaw were having a lot of fun traveling well before January 2024. According to the opposing motion:

While Klugman was Criminal Chief, Vandergaw lived with her then-husband and their young son. Until around late September 2023, Klugman cohabitated with his then-fiancé. Beginning in the summer of 2022, and continuing throughout Klugman’s tenure as Criminal Chief, Vandergaw and Klugman planned and/or took five multi-day, out-of-town trips together, four of which were related to their federal employment, raising concerns in the USAO because of Klugman’s status as one of Vandergaw’s supervisors.

These trips included South Carolina, Alabama, and Seattle. “Shortly after this Seattle trip, in late September 2023, Klugman terminated his engagement and temporarily moved out of the residence he shared with his fiancé until she could relocate. Soon thereafter, Vandergaw told her husband that she wanted to end their marriage. Vandergaw and Klugman had discussed with each other their respective plans to
terminate their relationships.” 

Klugman repeatedly denied to his superiors that he was in a romantic relationship with Vandergaw. 

Here is where it gets really loose.

In September 2023, they both traveled to Seattle. According to the motion, “They shared a hotel suite and later claimed they slept in separate beds.” Neither told colleagues that Vandergaw went with him for the overnight lovers trip. 

In October 2023, Klugman and Vandergaw planned a little trip to Hawaii in late December and early January. Klugman described where they stayed as a one-bedroom, but it was actually a studio. He unbelievably described it as a “honeymoon” when booking it, according to one of the footnotes in the motion! 

During all of this, Vandergaw lied to investigators about her relationship with Kindred. She told the Office of Professional Responsibility, “I do not now, nor have I ever had, a romantic, intimate, or close personal relationship with Judge Kindred. I have not sought such a relationship with Judge Kindred. My relationship with Judge Kindred has always been courteous, but professional.” Even after it was revealed she was sexting and sending him nudes, she could not seem to grasp the gravity of what she had done. 

If you have the time, it’s definitely worth reading through both motions.

It’s not clear if Klugman and Vandergaw are on paid or unpaid leave or if they will face any bar complaints. The role of a federal prosecutor is one of the most powerful and prestigious jobs in the legal profession. Honesty may be the most important and fundamental requirement of all to serve in that role.