New York lawyers charged with bribing court employee for clients

By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York defense attorneys and a paralegal were indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on Monday on charges of bribing a court employee to steer clients to them. According to the indictment, lawyers Jae Lee, Dwane Smith and Benjamin Yu and paralegal Jose Nunez paid an employee of the New York Criminal Justice Agency to persuade people awaiting arraignment to hire them in return for faster processing of their cases. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. told a news conference that the CJA employee even gave the people two quarters to call the lawyers. The employee, who was not identified and who Vance said was a cooperating witness, has not been charged. All four defendants were arrested on Monday and pleaded not guilty in a court appearance, said a spokeswoman for Vance's office. The CJA assists courts by screening defendants awaiting arraignment and making recommendations to judges about the likelihood that they will return to court if released on bail. "Not only did these attorneys allegedly subvert that process by providing substantial fees to the CJA employee, they compromised the principal of equal justice and administration," Vance said. He said that during the course of the alleged scheme from August 2013 through September 2014, the lawyers paid the Criminal Justice Agency employee about $40,000 for steering about 100 clients to them. Most of the clients were low-level drug offenders or people arrested for driving-related crimes, Vance said. The defendants were charged with bribery, conspiracy and rewarding official misconduct, and face up to 15 years in prison. The lawyers and the paralegal did not immediately return calls seeking comment or could not be reached for comment. (Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Peter Cooney)