Copped a Plea - Follow Up

I have received a number of e-mails today in response to my post regarding Ray Harding's guilty plea.  To a one they have focused on my contention that I am not the motive for whatever may have transpired as alleged by the Attorney General.  I think I need to be clearer about this because there is an important piece I have as yet not mentioned and might help you understand why I truly believe what has been alleged regarding payments to my lawyers is untrue.

Gerald Shargel was my attorney is this whole criminal matter with the exception of the first eight weeks in 2002.  Shargel and I arrived eventually at a fixed fee retainer agreement that provided he would represent me in this matter for a fixed fee.  That meant whether the case was plead or went to trial.  Whether it lasted two more months from when we signed it or two more years.  I ended up personally paying Shargel and his associates nearly $600,000 for this case.  Most of that came from the sale of my home which was  sold specifically in order to pay my lawyers. Furthermore, as I have said many times on here, the timeline of my case and Alan Hevesi's term in office don't jibe.  Ray is accused of accepting these payments long after I was already in prison.  The case was over.  Shargel stopped returning my phone calls and responding to my letters.

Now here's the point.  It is a very, very serious thing for an attorney to sign a fixed rate retainer agreement and then solicit funds without the knowledge and consent of his client.  It is an extremely serious breach of attorney ethics that can get you disbarred.  In fact, it's criminal.

What has been missing in all the coverage of this is that when the Attorney General alleges that Ray Harding did whatever he did motivated solely by the need to pay my lawyers he is alleging criminal activity by Gerald Shargel.  For the record, I do not believe Ray paid Shargel or that Jerry Shargel solicited or accepted funds behind my back.  I do not believe it.  But Andrew Cuomo keeps saying it and the New York Times prints it repeatedly; most recently above the fold, on the front page yesterday.

I used to have a boss who would frequently say, "The laziest people in the world are reporters."  Ironically, he was a former reporter himself.  It has not been my personal experience that his belief is true.  I have found reporters to be needy - especially during my tenure at EDC having to explain complex financing deals - but generally not lazy.   Lately though, the New York Times is making me reconsider.

The galling thing in all this is not the the NYT owes me the courtesy of a phone call to verify the AG's claim and never places said call.  No, because I am felonious scum different rules apply and the NYT doesn't check facts with felonious scum.  The galling thing is that when they keep printing the AG's assertion they are unknowingly accusing someone of a crime.  A crime that can get them disbarred.

What I do not get is why the New York Times is so lacking in inquisitiveness as to ask the AG to substantiate this claim.  Since Cuomo keeps saying this I am assuming he must have canceled checks or wire transfer confirmations into a Shargel account from Ray.  The money certainly never came to or through me.  Isn't the fact that the AG is alleging this serious charge at Gerald Shargel worthy of checking up on?  Is Danny Hakim so busy that he can't ask the AG's press office for the evidence?  Is Danny Hakim so clueless that he can't see that if this were true it might be another story or a good paragraph in the one he was writing?  I guess so.

Gerald Shargel is everywhere on TV these days promoting himself under the guise of advocating for his client, Robert Halderman (the alleged Letterman blackmailer).  Am I wrong or wouldn't the serious accusation made against very high profile Gerald Shargel by Andrew Cuomo be newsworthy? 

I have a pretty good idea I know where that $800,000 went and I do not believe it went to Gerald Shargel.  But on the off chance I am wrong I would sure like to know because I would immediately file charges with the NYS Bar Association and the Manhattan D.A. against Mr. Shargel.  All I can say is that if Ray Harding is using me falsely as an excuse for whatever he did, it's contemptable.  If he's not, then Gerald Shargel's conduct needs to be brought to light so his current and future clients can be made aware to beware.

Comments

[ClubPenguin]

The galling thing is that when they keep printing the AG's assertion they are unknowingly accusing someone of a crime.

[loma linda]

Shargel, if he did take money from your dad would not want to attract attention to that fact. $600,000 is alot of money to pay for a defense. I am just saying that because it blows me away, not that I am comparing it to something else, so now your dad or the paper would have us believe that was not enough, for what I see having read your J'accuse to be not much of a defense at all, up to 1.4 million?

I think you are right, your dad prefers the image of a good dad going broke for his son. The press clearly prefer that. Looking into a dis-barrable action by a lawyer taking more money than agreed to with his "felonious scum" son is not that interesting.

[beeker]

so-why hasn't Peggy Lipton been
charged?

[VJ Machiavelli]

As they say it is not over until Ray Harding sings his swain song, we all will just have to wait and see what is his final song.

VJ Machiavelli
No More Schumer
No More Pelosi
No More Rangel
No More Engel and his Million Dollar Home in Mryland,and
No More Arthur Finkelstein & Co