New Jersey criminal defense attorney Paul Bergrin, of Marlboro, was sentenced this week in Manhattan for running a prostitution ring. The former federal and Essex County prosecutor still awaits trial in New Jersey on charges including bribery and murder.
Earlier this year, the top New Jersey criminal defense attorney was arrested after a grand jury returned a fourteen-count racketeering indictment against him. The most serious charge in the indictment involves Bergrin's alleged arrangement of the murder of a witness who was scheduled to testify against his client.
Prosecutors in New Jersey allege that the lawyer passed the identity of the secret witness, who was later murdered in Newark, along to hit men, working for his client. It is further alleged that Bergrin, a Monmouth County resident, bribed and threatened other witnesses from testifying against his former clients. It is unclear whether the defense attorney plans to appeal his conviction.
