Federal Prosecutor Charged

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Career Center Home > Law Firm News

Ex-Prosecutor Charged in Federal Court With Murder, Other Crimes

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C harles Toutant New Jersey Law Journal May 21, 2009

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Just weeks after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges for operating a Manhattan-based call-girl ring, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Bergrin was indicted Wednesday for leading a racketeering conspiracy that arranged the murder of a witness in one drug case and attempted to kill an informant in another. At an arraignment in Newark, N.J., U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline C ox Arleo granted a request by the U.S. Attorney's Office to hold Bergrin until a bail hearing on Tuesday. The 14-count indictment charges that Bergrin, a former federal and Essex C ounty prosecutor, engaged in a host of illegal activities from his Newark law office, including witness tampering, wire fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking. They included orchestrating the murder of an informant who was expected to testify against his client in a federal drug case and attempting to hire a hitman from C hicago to kill an informant in a Monmouth C ounty, N.J., drug case -- a killing that was never carried out. Bergrin obtained exculpatory testimony from witnesses through bribes or threats of harm in nine other cases, and he assumed control of his client's drug trafficking operation after the client was convicted on federal drug charges, the indictment says. Also charged were four alleged co-conspirators, including Thomas Moran, an attorney who shared offices with Bergrin and allegedly helped arrange for one of the hitmen, who turned out to be a federal informant. The indictment further charges that Bergrin was part of a scheme to obtain more than $1.1 million in fraudulent mortgages on properties in Essex C ounty, N.J., by providing information that falsely inflated the values of properties to be mortgaged, and the

properties in Essex C ounty, N.J., by providing information that falsely inflated the values of properties to be mortgaged, and the mortgages all went into default. Bergrin's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said after Wednesday's court appearance that his client would plead not guilty, adding only that "these are very serious charges and we intend to mount a very serious defense." The hearing room was packed with current and former members of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark, who were there to observe the spectacle of a former colleague under prosecution. Bergrin, 53, of Nutley, N.J., was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1985 to 1990 and an assistant Essex C ounty prosecutor before that. "The conduct alleged is simply shocking," said acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra Jr. "A licensed lawyer, a former prosecutor, essentially became one of the criminals he represents, supporting, encouraging, indeed directing a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder and murder conspiracies, drug trafficking and financial fraud. Bergrin now can expect to feel the full weight of the very legal system he turned on his head with his conduct." The indictment alleges that in November 2003, Bergrin instructed associates of his client in a drug-trafficking case, William Baskerville, to kill a witness expected to testify for the prosecution. Bergrin told the associates they would have to pay Baskerville's legal bills if he were convicted and jailed, according to the indictment. The witness, identified as "Kemo," was shot in the head on a Newark street corner on March 2, 2004. The indictment also says Bergrin and co-defendants Moran and Vincente Esteves, the client in the Monmouth C ounty drug case, conspired to locate and kill witnesses who intended to testify for the prosecution in May 2008. Bergrin went to C hicago and asked a hitman to murder a man identified as "Junior the Panamanian," who was expected to testify against Estevez. He also arranged for Estevez to receive a cell phone in jail so he could communicate with the hitman, and Moran obtained a gun for the hitman, the indictment says. He instructed the hitman to "put on a ski mask and make it look like a robbery and take all the money in the house," but the hitman recorded his conversations with Bergrin and Moran, the indictment states. Bergrin is charged with racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to murder a witness, murder of a witness, conspiracy to travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise, three counts of travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise, wire fraud conspiracy, and five counts of wire fraud. Also charged were Yolanda Jauregui and Sundiata Koontz, who allegedly assisted Bergrin with the mortgage fraud scheme, and Esteves, the Bergrin client in the Monmouth C ounty drug case in which the witness's murder was sought. Bergrin's indictment comes only two weeks after he agreed to a plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts in New York State Supreme C ourt in Manhattan in connection with a call-girl ring. Authorities alleged that he began running a $1,000-per-hour escort service called NY C onfidential in January 2005. Bergrin faced a maximum sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years on money laundering charges but received three years' probation on the condition that he forfeit $50,000.

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