Federal prosecutors have indicted a prominent Miami defense attorney for organizing a bribery conspiracy involving two former U.S. Drug Enforcement Bureau supervisors who leaked confidential information about drug investigations.
Prosecutors say cash, including tickets for Yankees Red Sox baseball, in exchange for sensitive information about the timing of the federal complaint and other leads that authorities said put the case and investigators at risk. He says he has lost the agent as a gift.
The charges remained sealed on Thursday, defense attorney David Patton told The Associated Press, and Macy is expected to appear in federal court on Friday. The exact claim against Macy was not immediately known.
“David is a dedicated father and husband and a highly respected lawyer with a perfect record as a bar member for nearly 30 years. He fed no one,” Patton wrote in an email. Ta. “The government’s allegations are false and I am confident that the evidence will prove his innocence at trial.”
Prosecutors threw a surprising light on Miami’s “white powder bar.” This has become a fierce circle of competition for high-priced defense attorneys to sign up suspicious Narco Trafficers, negotiate surrender agreements and convert them to government co-operators.
The U.S. Lawyer’s Office in Manhattan did not respond to a request for comment. Federal prosecutors have previously called Macy a “brushed lawyer” who “paid brilliantly for DEA’s secrets.”
The indictment comes a year after prosecutors filed court documents that Macy and another well-known Miami lawyer, Lewis Guerra, bankrolled the bribery scheme. In a rare move, the judge allowed prosecutors to review 1,000 emails, text messages and phone recordings between the lawyer and Manny Racio.
Lawyer communications are usually confidential and are almost always protected from law enforcement, with limited exceptions. Prosecutors can circumvent that privilege if they can convince the judge that the services of lawyers are being used to promote crime, a principle known as the exception to crime.
“We’re planning here about money, money, how to make money,” Guerra said in an intercepted conversation.
Guerra has not been charged and his lawyers have not commented on the case.
Prosecutors are serving federal prison terms after a ju apprentice was found guilty of bribery and honest services following the 2023 conviction of Recio and former DEA agent John Costanzo Jr. Following the 2023 conviction of veteran lawyer John Costanzo Jr., he called lawyer communications “essential to a bribery scheme.” scam. The Manhattan trial followed a surge in fraudulent cases involving other DEA agents accused of corruption and other federal crimes.
Former state prosecutor Macy defended his client in a case that grabbed several headlines in South Florida. In recent years he has become a key player in drug and money laundering cases. This is a lucrative job that includes some of the best criminal defense fees.
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Many of the DEA corruption cases have been texted and wiretapped calls. Recio asked Costanzo to refer to the confidential database for names in order to keep up with the investigation of interest in new employers.
The pair were scheduled to request the famous timing of their arrest and Alex Saab, a businessman suspected of Nicolas Maduro’s top criminal target and the country’s president, the Alex Saab. We discussed the exact dates for 2019.
Recio and Costanzo also discussed the secret DEA plan to arrest high-level human traffickers in the Dominican Republic, which Macey was trying to hire as a client. César Peralta escaped capture for more than four months despite a massive search involving 700 law enforcement officials.
In exchange for the leak, Racio said he secretly poured $73,000 in his purchases to Costanzo, including plane tickets and down payments at a Coral Gables condominium in suburban Florida. In 2019, Macy allegedly spent nearly $2,000 on a Yankee Thread Sox baseball game and a dinner ticket at Costanzo’s Western Manhattan village.
Prosecutors said Ratio was motivated by greed, pointing to his spending habits and the purchase of the Porsche Macan in 2021. DEA agents have removed hundreds of messages and calls to burner phones while disguising fake invoices and their addresses as UPS stores.
The plot relied on intermediaries, including Costanzo’s now-deceased father. Another intermediary was Edwin Pagan of the DEA Task Force, who was charged last year after prosecutors said they lied under oath at the agent’s 2023 trial.
Pagan, a Coral Gables police officer, pleaded not guilty to charges that include bribery and perjury. His trial is scheduled for August.
Joshua Goodman and Jim Mustian, Associated Press
