3 Lawyers Accused of Using Bribes and Faked Evidence
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LEAD: Three members of a personal-injury law firm in Manhattan have been indicted on Federal charges that they falsified evidence and bribed witnesses to lie in 19 accident cases dating to 1979, United States Attorney Andrew J. Maloney announced yesterday. Four private investigators and an office manager for the firm were also charged. Three members of a personal-injury law firm in Manhattan have been indicted on Federal charges that they falsified evidence and bribed witnesses to lie in 19 accident cases dating to 1979, United States Attorney Andrew J. Maloney announced yesterday. Four private investigators and an office manager for the firm were also charged. The indictment includes two cases in which the same man was falsely used as a witness, even though the man was in prison at the time of one of the accidents he testified about, Mr. Maloney said. In another case, he said, a private investigator used a pick-ax to widen a pothole at a racetrack. The pothole was falsely identified as the cause of the accident, the prosecutor said. The indictments fall under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The lawyers are from the firm of Morris J. Eisen at 233 Broadway in lower Manhattan. Mr. Eisen was among those charged. ”In a five-year period of time, the allegations against this firm mushroomed from about five to 19,” Mr. Maloney said at a news conference yesterday at the Federal courthouse in Brooklyn. He called the allegations ”rather gross for members of the bar to be engaged in.” ‘Not Above the Law’ Mr. Maloney was joined at the news conference by the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, and the Bronx District Attorney, Robert T. Johnson, whose offices cooperated in the investigation. ”Lawyers are not above the law, and if they commit crimes they are going to be prosecuted vigorously,” Mr. Morgenthau said. More : query.nytimes.com |