California Schemin'

The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department has found an attorney automatically disbarred for a felony conviction

On May 8, 2023, respondent was convicted, after a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, of murder for hire (18 USC § 1958), a federal felony, based on his attempt to hire a hitman to murder the mother of his young children in exchange for the payment of $50,000. On April 24, 2024, he was sentenced to a term of 120 months, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Similar New York crime

In comparison, under New York law, a person is guilty of murder in the first degree, a class A felony, when “[w]ith intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person . . . and . . . procured commission of the killing pursuant to an agreement with a person . . . to commit the same for the receipt, or in expectation of the receipt, of anything of pecuniary value from a party to the agreement . . .” (Penal Law § 125.27 [1][a][vi]). New York law also provides that “[a] person is guilty of conspiracy in the second degree when, with intent that conduct constituting a class A felony be performed, he agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of such conduct” (Penal Law § 105.15).

Press release from the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California

Allen Gessen was sentenced to 120 months in prison for arranging to pay an undercover FBI agent for the murder of the mother of his young children, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Jacqueline Scott Corley, U.S. District Judge.

Gessen was convicted of the crime by a jury after a one-week trial before Judge Corley. The evidence at trial established that Gessen, 49, of Massachusetts, was an attorney licensed in New York when he was introduced to an undercover FBI agent by a target of a separate FBI investigation into violations of international money laundering. In the summer of 2022, Gessen met with the undercover FBI agent on two occasions, first in Boca Raton, Florida, and then again in New York City, New York. During the meetings, Gessen volunteered details of a years-long dispute with his former partner which had resulted in contentious child custody proceedings. At these meetings and through a series of encrypted electronic messages, Gessen initiated plans to commit two different crimes utilizing the undercover FBI agent’s connections. The evidence at trial established that over the course of the investigation, Gessen’s objectives quickly transformed from bribing an immigration official to deport his former partner to hiring someone to murder her. Gessen resolved to murder his former partner because it was a “cheaper way to get rid of her” and was a more permanent solution.

The trial evidence established that Gessen wired a total of $23,000 to an FBI undercover bank account in San Francisco to carry out the murder. Around the same time, Gessen also sent to the undercover FBI agent a written agreement containing a promise to pay for phony “consulting services” as a method to disguise the true nature of the funds. Gessen also provided to the undercover FBI agent a target package containing details about his former partner’s whereabouts, schedule, and lifestyle habits.

(Mike Frisch)