Lawyer Takes Plea in Witness-Bribery Case, Will Give Up Law License and US Residency
A New York lawyer has taken a plea in a case in which he was accused of participating in a corrupt enterprise.
Ezequiel Neuman, 52, pleaded guilty in Onondaga County Court on Wednesday to a felony charge of bribing a witness to keep him from testifying in a murder trial, the Post-Standard reports.
He is expected to get a three-year conditional discharge when he is sentenced in January.
As a condition of his plea, the Syracuse practitioner agreed to give up his New York law license as well as his permanent U.S. resident status and leave the country within a month after completing his sentence. He must also cooperate with the state’s efforts to prosecute others or face a potential seven-year prison term.
Neuman, who declined to discuss his guilty plea with a reporter for the newspaper, admitted, in a statement read by a prosecutor in court, that he had conveyed to a jailed client a monetary offer from a third party in exchange for the client’s not testifying in a murder case.
Two conversations between Neuman and his client were allegedly recorded in May; the article doesn’t make clear how the recording occurred. According to previous news reports, Neuman was arrested in June after he tried to frisk a client who was wearing a wire.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Judge Orders DA to Give Lawyer Copies of Documents Seized in Police Raid of His Law Office”
ABAJournal.com: “New York Lawyer Accused of Participating in Criminal Enterprise to Bribe and Intimidate Witnesses”
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