Prominent NY Lawyer Accused of Seeking to ‘Neutralize’ Witnesses
A prominent New York criminal defense lawyer has been charged with obstruction of justice and witness tampering based on allegations he sought to bribe and “neutralize” witnesses in a case against an accused drug kingpin.
Lawyer Robert Simels is accused of telling a man who turned out to be a confidential informant how to eliminate witnesses in a case against his client, accused international druglord Shaheed Khan, according to the New York Times. The informant wore a wiretap.
The New York Daily News describes Simels as a “flamboyant lawyer” whose website brags that he was once dubbed “the Rolls-Royce of litigators.”
DEA agent Cassandra Jackson said in an affidavit that the lawyer discussed several ways to neutralize the witnesses, the Daily News story says. “In substance and in part, Simels discussed a range of options, from offering them money to murdering their family members,” she said.
In a June 11 recording, Simels allegedly told the informant, “Obviously, any witness you can eliminate is a good thing,” reports Bloomberg News.
Simels’ lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said he intended to mount a vigorous defense. “It’s easy for prosecutors to make an accusation, but it’s quite another thing for them to prove it,” he told the Times. “Everyone who knows Bob knows that he’s a highly skilled and highly competent and very aggressive defense attorney. He’s not a criminal.”
Simels claims to have represented several famous clients, including former New York Jets player Mark Gastineau, pop artist Peter Max and Henry Hill, the mobster portrayed in the movie Goodfellas. In the 1970s, he was a special assistant attorney general for a unit investigating public corruption.
He was arrested yesterday and released on $3.5 million bond. His associate, Arienne Irving, was also arrested and released on a $500,000 bond.
