Ex-NY Judge Indicted, Accused of Seeking $10K from Lawyer

A former New York judge has been indicted on charges of attempted extortion and attempted bribery.

The indictment accuses former Judge Thomas Spargo of pressuring an Ulster County lawyer to give him $10,000 in 2003, the New York Law Journal reports. The charges stem from a misconduct investigation that forced the Albany County judge from the bench in 2006, the Albany Times Union reports.

The New York Commission on Judicial Conduct had found that in 2003, Spargo sought lawyer contributions to a fund being used to pay for his defense of earlier misconduct allegations, the Law Journal story says. At the time, Spargo denied that he ever asked for money.