Our friends at Above The Law and RollonFriday reported on Friday that a distinguished partner from A&O was arrested last week and charged with dowloading and distributing child pornography. Edward De Sear, partner in the A&O New York office, appeared in wrist and ankle shackles in a Newark court yesterday following the execution of an arrest warrant at his home. De Sear has been released on $250,000 bail and will have to wear an electronic tag.
As reported by RoF:
The highly-regarded securitization lawyer – a top-ranked partner hired by the Magic Circle firm from Bingham McCutchen only last year – has resigned from the firm (although you can check out a cached version of his A&O profile here).
According to reports, De Sear admitted to FBI agent Joshua Wilson that he had used a laptop – which he handed over to officers – to download and share child pornography over peer-to-peer networks. If found guilty, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, and a potential maximum sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
A spokesman for A&O said:
Everyone has been shocked and appalled by the news that a lawyer in our New York office, Edward de Sear, has been criminally charged by federal prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey, after being arrested at his home. He has resigned from the firm. This is now subject to a federal investigation and so we cannot make any further comment.
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This is plain sad.
Gross. You never know who it might be. I feel sorry for everyone associated with the guy – imagine bringing your kids in to work to meet your colleagues and one of them is a rock spider.
ewwwww…
Would not pee on this guy if his brain was on fire.