Ailing celebrity lawyer to give up practice in exchange for deferred indictment in obstruction case
An ailing Los Angeles attorney known for representing celebrities including Al Pacino and Phil Spector has reportedly agreed to stop practicing law in exchange for a promise by prosecutors to defer his indictment in an obstruction case.
Roger Rosen, 68, who is suffering from cancer, said nothing as he left the federal courthouse with his lawyer, reports the New York Post.
He is accused of providing information he obtained while representing one criminal defendant to other members of the same cocaine trafficking crew.
Documents filed in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., say the feds agreed to defer Rosen’s indictment because he is seriously ill, the New York Daily News reported last week.
Late in 2010, while he represented Henry Butler, the celebrity attorney provided copies of notes he made during Butler’s talks with prosecutors to James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond and two others, the newspaper says.
“Members of the enterprise embarked on a campaign of threats, harassment and intimidation targeting the client, the client’s family and [the client’s] New York counsel,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Una Dean in a letter to U.S. District Judge John Gleeson.
Both Butler and Rosemond were convicted; Butler got eight years for narcotics conspiracy and Rosemond faces a potential life prison sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.
