By Jessica Dye
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A complex case involving a
convicted swindler, an attorney and a sealed criminal docket
became more convoluted on Thursday when a law firm was dragged
into the legal morass.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan added Wilson Elser Moskowitz
Edelman & Dicker as a respondent in a contempt proceeding
brought by convicted fraudster Felix Sater, who was a
cooperating witness in a 1998 criminal case. Sater was supposed
to remain a John Doe after pleading guilty to participating in a
$40 million stock fraud.
In 2010, lawyer Frederick Oberlander identified Sater in a
civil action he brought against Sater in Manhattan federal
court. That action, which also referenced sealed documents from
Sater's criminal case, was filed in Manhattan federal court on
behalf of individuals allegedly defrauded by Sater.
In February, Sater initiated a civil contempt proceeding
against Oberlander and his lawyer, Richard Lerner, for allegedly
violating a court order sealing Sater's criminal case. At the
time, Lerner was a partner at Wilson Elser.
In September Sater asked that Wilson Elser be added as a
party to the civil contempt proceeding. Lerner left the firm
last week, following a disagreement over whether he could
continue to represent Oberlander in a related proceeding to
unseal the Sater criminal docket. Lerner declined to comment on
the addition of his former firm to the civil contempt
proceeding.
Prosecutors have also launched a criminal contempt
investigation into whether Oberlander or Lerner violated the
court's sealing order in the criminal case by disseminating
documents to the media, according to court filings.
Documents in the civil contempt proceeding have been sealed
by the court, although Cogan on Thursday ordered the docket
sheet and docket entries to be unsealed.
A lawyer for Sater, Michael Beys, declined to comment.
Wilson Elser did not immediately return a request for comment.
The case is John Doe v. Richard Roe, U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of New York, No. 12-557.
For Doe: Michael Beys and Nader Morbargha of Beys, Stein &
Morbagha.
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