Biglaw, White-Collar Crime

Biglaw Associate Indicted On Felony Charges Over Plot To Extort Partners Pleads Not Guilty

The Northwestern Law graduate is being represented by a public defender.

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Michael Potere

In late June, the Biglaw world was rocked by scandalous allegations against a former associate at Dentons. Michael Potere had been fired by Dentons, and allegedly decided to exact his revenge against the firm by threatening to leak sensitive information taken from the email account of the managing director of the firm’s Los Angeles office (although no partner names have been released, this is most likely Joel Siegel) — information that ranged from emails between partners to the firm’s quarterly financial reports to associate reviews — to Above the Law, unless he was paid $210,000 and given an expensive piece of artwork.

When we last checked in with Potere, he’d been charged with extortion, but had not yet entered a plea. One month has passed, and not only has Potere been indicted, but additional information about the case has been released.

Potere was indicted on extortion and attempted extortion affecting interstate commerce as well as transmitting threatening communications with intent to extort, and he faces up to 22 years in prison for these two felony charges. He pleaded not guilty to those felony charges yesterday, with the assistance of his public defender, Asal Akhondzadeh. (Yes, you read that correctly. A former Biglaw associate who once made a six-figure salary and allegedly threatened to extort his firm to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars is being represented in this matter by a public defender.)

Here’s some additional information from the affidavit against Potere:

According to the affidavit, Potere had notified Dentons of his intention to return to graduate school in the fall to pursue a degree in political science and asked the firm to keep him on through the end of the summer, but the firm refused. Soon afterward, in April, Potere accessed the emails and searched for and downloaded confidential firm documents and items having to do with compensation, the criminal complaint says.

He told Dentons partners on May 17 that he might have compromising documents and stated his demands for $210,000 and a piece of artwork near the office of the managing partner whose emails he had accessed, among other items, according to the complaint. The FBI was notified two days later.

Potere, who’d worked at the firm since 2015 after working a brief stint at the Criminal Appeals Divison of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, told the firm’s general counsel during a May 25 meeting that was recorded by the FBI that he’d chosen those course of action because he had “nothing to lose, it’s already been taken. It’s already gone.” Per the complaint, during that meeting, Potere suggested that he had information concerning a potential class action suit and a potential defamation action against the firm, and that such information could result in the dissolution of the firm.

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On June 8, the firm’s GC spoke to Potere and told him that Dentons would agree to his demands in exchange for the documents he’d taken. At that meeting, on June 22, instead of receiving what he wanted, Potere was arrested.

Here’s a statement that has since been released by Dentons:

Dentons understands that Michael Potere, formerly an associate in our Los Angeles office, is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. We are cooperating with law enforcement and, as we do at all times, we have taken appropriate and necessary steps to protect the safety of our employees, the confidentiality of our clients, and the property of our firm.

Michael Potere was released on $25,000 bond, and contrary to his desire to prove to the firm that young people who were getting screwed can “screw back,” it looks like he’s still getting screwed. Better luck next time?

(Potere’s LinkedIn page is still online. Flip to the next page to check it out.)

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Dentons Ex-Associate Pleads Not Guilty To Extortion Plot [Law360 (sub. req.) via Morning Docket]

Earlier: Biglaw Associate Arrested Over Plot To Extort Partners

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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