The 69-year-old Georgia attorney now serving on President Donald Trump’s legal team has an impressive resume that spans four decades. But during recent work as a prosecutor, Andrew Ekonomou found himself in the middle of controversy because of his earnings.

Ekonomou and his attorney brother-in-law, Michael Lambros, received big payouts from money seized in gambling investigations.

Both Ekonomou and Lambros were contracted to work for several district attorneys and targeted businesses accused of allowing illegal gambling on coin-operated machines. The two seized assets while prosecuting the cases and were paid so-called “contingency fees” from those assets.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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