Former top federal prosecutor takes plea after alleged $613K theft from convicted ex-client
A former top federal prosecutor in Connecticut pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Thursday, after being accused of stealing over $600,000 from an ex-client convicted in a racketeering case the government said was linked to organized crime.
As the ex-client served time for conspiring to fix prices in the trash-hauling industry, his then-defense lawyer, H. James Pickerstein, now nearly 70 years old, misappropriated about $613,000 between 2011 and 2013, federal prosecutors say.
Pickerstein claimed in a letter to his client that the money went to pay his client’s legal fees, thus establishing the basis for the mail fraud case, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune (sub. req.), the Connecticut Post and the Hartford Courant.
He will be sentenced at a later date. Under the plea deal, he could get as much as 40 months and a $250,000 fine, but his lawyers can argue for a lower sentence.
Pickerstein was first assistant U.S. attorney for many years and served briefly as the state’s top federal prosecutor in 1974, when his boss left office for health reasons. Since 1986, he has been in private practice.
The former client was not named by the government but is identified in news reports as James Galante, a onetime trash-hauling executive. As part of a settlement with the feds, the government took over Galante’s companies and agreed to return to him more than $10 million from the proceeds.
An insurer for McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, where Pickerstein worked, covered Galante’s loss, the Courant reports, relying on unidentified sources. Nonetheless, Pickerstein may also be ordered to pay restitution when he is sentenced.
The Connecticut case against Pickerstein was handled by federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Former federal prosecutor gives up law license after client-theft claim”
See also:
Hartford Courant: “Trash Executive Expected To Plead Guilty”
Journal News: “Convicted trash hauler to get $3.1M from feds”
