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Heavy hitters went to bat for Austin

By JEFF LEEDS and SHARON WAXMAN
The New York Times

Published on: 07/08/06

LOS ANGELES — Collaborations happen all the time in pop music. They don't generally involve R&B hitmakers and Sen. Orrin Hatch.

But the release of music producer Dallas Austin from a Dubai jail this week, quick on the heels of his conviction for drug possession, turns out to be a story of high-level string-pulling on the part of Hatch, the conservative Utah Republican and songwriter; along with Lionel Richie, the singer; Quincy Jones, the music entrepreneur; and an array of well-connected lawyers, businessmen and others, spanning cities and continents.


AP Photo/Dennis Cook
(ENLARGE)
Sen. Orrin Hatch made numerous phone calls on Austin's behalf to the ambassador and consul of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington.


AP Photo/Dave Caulkin
(ENLARGE)
Lionel Richie said he received a phone call from the United Arab Emirate's consul in Washington, Abdulla Ali Alsaboosi, asking for a character reference. 'It was, 'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin,'' Richie said. 'I said, 'Listen, this is a great guy. He's done a great job for the community. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.''

Austin, who has produced hits for Madonna, Janet Jackson and others, flew home to Atlanta on Wednesday, after being released after midnight on Tuesday from a holding cell in a Dubai jail. Hours earlier, Austin, 35, had been sentenced to four years in prison for carrying just over a gram of cocaine when he entered the country on May 19 to attend a birthday celebration for supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Hatch made numerous phone calls on Austin's behalf to the ambassador and consul of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington — Dubai is one of the seven emirates — and served as an intermediary to Austin's representatives, the producer's lawyers said.

"The senator was one of a number of people who was very actively involved," said Joe Reeder, the Washington lawyer who, with an Atlanta colleague, Joel Katz, spent 10 days in Dubai working to secure Austin's reprieve.

Katz, an entertainment lawyer, represents both Austin and the musically somewhat less successful Hatch, a singer and songwriter who has recorded religious-oriented albums. After hiring Katz's firm, the senator last year took in $39,092 in income from music publishing, according to financial documents filed in May under the Ethics in Government Act.

The senator declined to be interviewed or to confirm details of his efforts on Austin's behalf, but he issued a statement acknowledging his involvement and said he was asked by Austin's attorneys to help.

A spokesman for Hatch said the senator is a proponent of rehabilitation for drug offenders and has worked to revise federal sentencing guidelines regarding cocaine, advocating treatment for nonviolent offenders and easing restrictions on medication to treat heroin addiction.

In the statement, Hatch said he was "confident that this talented young man will learn from this experience." He did not say if he requested that Austin seek treatment.

'Out on a limb' for Austin

Until word of the pardon came through in a call to the One and Only Royal Mirage hotel along the Dubai beach, where Austin's lawyers waited nervously for news of their client's fate, the release of Austin was not a certainty.

"This involved multiple ambassadors, a prime minister, a prince, Lionel Richie, the senator and religious leaders in Atlanta," Reeder said.

Randy Phillips, a manager of Richie's, said, "He happened to know the right people, and better than that, the right people were ready to step out on a limb for him, which doesn't happen that often."

Although Phillips called the efforts on Austin's behalf "the difference between going home and being in 'Midnight Express'" — the harrowing 1978 film about a novice American hashish smuggler forsaken in the Turkish prison system — such pardons are not a rarity in Dubai.

Austin's troubles began May 19, when he landed at Dubai International Airport for the three-day birthday party of Campbell at the opulent Burj Al Arab hotel. While far from a household name, Austin is a leading figure in the pop music world.

According to published accounts, police at the airport pulled Austin aside at customs and searched him, finding a small amount of cocaine. He was taken into custody and held at a detention center, the al-Rashidiya jail..

Almost immediately, several parallel initiatives were undertaken to try to influence the UAE government to show clemency, his lawyers said.

Katz, of the firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, hired three local attorneys, two from Dubai, and one from neighboring Bahrain, who succeeded in reducing an initial charge of drug trafficking to mere possession, the lawyers said. Drug trafficking can carry a life sentence in the UAE. Discussions began over securing a pardon, focusing on the argument that Austin had carried a small amount of drugs for personal use.

Katz also contacted colleagues, including Reeder in Greenberg Traurig's Washington office. A senior lawyer in the same office, Nancy Taylor, worked for many years on Hatch's staff in the Senate. Taylor enlisted Hatch, who is influential in Dubai because of his support for the UAE-based company, DP World, in a controversy earlier this year over its contract to manage important U.S. ports.

Meanwhile, Jones, the legendary producer, and his friend Joe Robert, a Virginia real estate investor with interests in the Persian Gulf, became involved. Jones has played mentor to an array of current young pop and R&B stars, including Austin. Robert is also a friend of Austin's.

Jones and Robert began making calls to their contacts in the Middle East, including senior officials in the UAE. Reached this week on a yacht off the coast of Spain, where he was with Jones, Robert said: "I know Dallas Austin; I consider him a very fine, upstanding individual, notwithstanding the mistake he made." He added: "This is not someone that belongs in a prison anywhere for such a relatively small mistake."

Richie steps in

Meanwhile, other efforts continued, including a call from Katz to Prince Abdullah of neighboring Bahrain, who has worked with Michael Jackson who has relocated to the Gulf, and from Reeder to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was consulted for a legal reference. Some of the principals believe that Austin's pardon had been secured from early on. Still, uncertainty weighed heavily on others, particularly Austin's lawyers. Enter Richie, who enjoys a cult status throughout much of the Arab world, and had performed twice this year in Dubai, where he has met various senior government officials.

In an interview, Richie said he received a phone call from the UAE's consul in Washington, Abdulla Ali Alsaboosi, asking for a character reference. "It was, 'Tell me what kind of guy is Dallas Austin,'" Richie said. "I said, 'Listen, this is a great guy. He's done a great job for the community. A gangster, a hoodlum, a thug, he's not.'"

Last Sunday, Austin pleaded guilty to possessing 1.26 grams of cocaine and capsules of Ecstasy, telling the court he did not mean to break the law. The stage was set for a pardon by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktum. It came four hours after the plea. What remained was to execute the edict.

But that didn't happen until after sentencing on Tuesday morning. Shortly after midnight, Katz and Reeder got the call at their beachside hotel.

The lawyers quickly gathered their things and rushed to the airport, where they met Austin, tired and shaken after six and a half weeks in detention, and boarded the next flight to Kennedy International Airport in New York.

On Friday, Austin released a statement that said in part: "This unfortunate experience has had a profound effect on me, and I regret any grief caused to my family, friends and business associates."

The Dubai government gave no reason for the pardon.

"It is not unusual," said Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, head of Dubai police. "It is preferable to me that a foreigner who is caught in something like this be returned home rather than be kept here in prison for four years, costing us lots of resources." He noted, however, that Austin had technically been deported and probably would not be allowed to return to Dubai.

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mundohispánico
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I told you guys very early on that money and fame would get him off....if it had been you or me, we would rot in jail.

My hope is he truly was naive and innocent to what was going on - otherwise the US/the World continues the trend of celebrites skating no matter what their wrong-doing.

Thanks for the udate, Graycap.

cubic61052 said:

I agree wholeheartedly. No consequences for people with money bad actions.

Graycap23 said:

They called Lionel Richie! Who posted that story a few weeks back about how popular he is in that region?

Like anyone is going to give a name of someone for a character reference that will say not they are innocent and angelic....pulllleeeeeze.

RipHer2Shreds said:

You know what??? Something just totally struck me like lightening out of the sky here: there is one of the nephews of the ruler of Dubai who's been dipping his toes in the music scene for a while, enlisting American producers to help him with demos, etc. I met the family 5 or 6 years ago as they had a house in my neighborhood in my old stomping grounds in Miami Beach, and my ex was doing some songwriting for the kid at that time. Let me tell, you, one thing that I have learned about middle eastern culture, is that it's VERRRRY familial, almost similar to native Italians. When you have someone that they know who can vouch for you being a nice person, or they like or admire you, the extent of their genrosity is MIND-BOGGLING. They will absolutely go out of the way to help you or accomadate you in some fashion or another for whatever you want...and what I'm curious to know is, did Dallas maybe have a previous acquaintance with one of the artistically inclined family members? It's speculation on my part of course, but I could TOTALLY see how if he had a previous connection with, or could call in another producer buddy who had pull that's something that would have completely worked in his favor. I mean, these are the kinds of people who,once you get a stamp of social approval in their eyes take the concept of hospitality to the HILT...they try to fly you to vacations or fashion collections at a moments' notice...they treat you like royalty when you are in their midst...

far fetched (in a way)...but it's certainly a possibility from what I've seen in the past....