Use of seized cash for legal fees spurs NYC debate
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NEW YORK (AP) -- As Louis Posner faced charges of fostering prostitution at his upscale strip club, he paid his bills largely with money authorities seized from him as profits of his crime.
With a judge's approval, Posner, who was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty, used thousands of the confiscated dollars to pay legal and living expenses. Authorities claimed his lifestyle included frequent visits to exotic dance clubs, although his lawyers deny he splurged on strip joints.
Posner's use of the seized money spurred complaints from police and prompted prosecutors to stop agreeing to the payment of defense lawyers' fees from seized funds, a practice the U.S. Supreme Court has criticized.
The legal wrangle has played out largely over the last month, with police attorneys, prosecutors and defense lawyers debating what's proper in paying for -- lawyering.
Posner, a tax lawyer himself, admitted last month he helped turn his Hot Lap Dance Club into a hive of prostitution to boost its profits and dallied with the dancers in exchange for giving them permission to work or other benefits. The 53-year-old also admitted making a phony report that police had tried to extort thousands of dollars from him.
As part of the plea negotiations, prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Posner's wife, Betty, who was accused of helping hide the club's proceeds.
Posner's plea deal included a sentence of 60 days of community service and other conditions. They include letting authorities take legal steps to try to keep up to $260,400 that had been seized and held.
Authorities initially seized about $550,000 from the Posners, under laws allowing the taking of money deemed evidence of crime. But hundreds of thousands of dollars of that cash has gone to their attorneys' fees and personal bills.
Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus approved the payment requests, though last month he called it troubling that despite "protestations of dire financial need, Louis Posner has appeared to have regularly and recently frequented lap and strip clubs."
The judge cited information from prosecutors that wasn't detailed.
Defense lawyer Joseph A. Bondy said Posner had simply been taken out for a cheeseburger at an exotic dance club. Posner's plea agreement calls for him to stay away from adult-entertainment venues for five years, but the requirement didn't take effect until his sentencing.
His attorneys say the payment arrangement is fair.
"It would really set an awful precedent if defendants who had money seized were then not provided with the counsel of their choice" because they couldn't afford it, Bondy said Wednesday.
But New York Police Department lawyers said in court filings that the cash seized in the Posner case amounts to "proceeds of criminality" that should be forfeited, not spent for the Posners' benefit.
The Manhattan district attorney's office initially consented to letting the Posners draw on seized funds to pay their attorneys, though not other expenses. But after police lawyers complained, prosecutors said last month they were changing their position and opposing all the payments.
"It would be an extraordinary decision for this court to hold that illegally possessed funds ... are property of the defendant for these purposes," Assistant District Attorney Tara Christie Miner wrote in a letter to the judge last month.
She urged the judge to reject Posner's latest bid for money to pay his bills.
The judge approved it, citing factors including criminal defendants' right to the lawyers of their choice, derived from the constitution's Sixth Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rebuffed efforts to access seized or frozen funds to pay legal fees, saying the right to choose an attorney doesn't mean defendants are entitled to use allegedly illicit profits to pay for one.
But a New York judge noted in a 1991 decision that the state's courts have traditionally taken a broader view than their federal counterparts of defendants' right to an attorney.
http://www.thehour.com/story/485383
With a judge's approval, Posner, who was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty, used thousands of the confiscated dollars to pay legal and living expenses. Authorities claimed his lifestyle included frequent visits to exotic dance clubs, although his lawyers deny he splurged on strip joints.
Posner's use of the seized money spurred complaints from police and prompted prosecutors to stop agreeing to the payment of defense lawyers' fees from seized funds, a practice the U.S. Supreme Court has criticized.
The legal wrangle has played out largely over the last month, with police attorneys, prosecutors and defense lawyers debating what's proper in paying for -- lawyering.
Posner, a tax lawyer himself, admitted last month he helped turn his Hot Lap Dance Club into a hive of prostitution to boost its profits and dallied with the dancers in exchange for giving them permission to work or other benefits. The 53-year-old also admitted making a phony report that police had tried to extort thousands of dollars from him.
As part of the plea negotiations, prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Posner's wife, Betty, who was accused of helping hide the club's proceeds.
Posner's plea deal included a sentence of 60 days of community service and other conditions. They include letting authorities take legal steps to try to keep up to $260,400 that had been seized and held.
Authorities initially seized about $550,000 from the Posners, under laws allowing the taking of money deemed evidence of crime. But hundreds of thousands of dollars of that cash has gone to their attorneys' fees and personal bills.
Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus approved the payment requests, though last month he called it troubling that despite "protestations of dire financial need, Louis Posner has appeared to have regularly and recently frequented lap and strip clubs."
The judge cited information from prosecutors that wasn't detailed.
Defense lawyer Joseph A. Bondy said Posner had simply been taken out for a cheeseburger at an exotic dance club. Posner's plea agreement calls for him to stay away from adult-entertainment venues for five years, but the requirement didn't take effect until his sentencing.
His attorneys say the payment arrangement is fair.
"It would really set an awful precedent if defendants who had money seized were then not provided with the counsel of their choice" because they couldn't afford it, Bondy said Wednesday.
But New York Police Department lawyers said in court filings that the cash seized in the Posner case amounts to "proceeds of criminality" that should be forfeited, not spent for the Posners' benefit.
The Manhattan district attorney's office initially consented to letting the Posners draw on seized funds to pay their attorneys, though not other expenses. But after police lawyers complained, prosecutors said last month they were changing their position and opposing all the payments.
"It would be an extraordinary decision for this court to hold that illegally possessed funds ... are property of the defendant for these purposes," Assistant District Attorney Tara Christie Miner wrote in a letter to the judge last month.
She urged the judge to reject Posner's latest bid for money to pay his bills.
The judge approved it, citing factors including criminal defendants' right to the lawyers of their choice, derived from the constitution's Sixth Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly rebuffed efforts to access seized or frozen funds to pay legal fees, saying the right to choose an attorney doesn't mean defendants are entitled to use allegedly illicit profits to pay for one.
But a New York judge noted in a 1991 decision that the state's courts have traditionally taken a broader view than their federal counterparts of defendants' right to an attorney.
http://www.thehour.com/story/485383
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5 comments
1) The defendant has a court appointed lawyer, who gets paid, in part, from the suspect,
or
2) The defendant pays the lawyer of his choice with money already seized from him.
Duhhhh
Bullshit? Yeah, but entirely legal.