Yesterday, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a complaint was unsealed charging Joshua Nass, an attorney licensed to practice in New York, with attempted Hobbs Act extortion for enlisting an individual to threaten and force a former client and his son into paying Nass $500,000. Nass was arrested yesterday and will make his initial appearance today before United States Magistrate Judge Clay H. Kaminsky.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the arrest and charge.
“As alleged, Nass plotted the violent extortion of one of his own clients and hired an individual to ‘do anything and everything” to force the client’s son to pay for services,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “It will always be a priority of our Office to hold accountable those abusing a position of trust by violating the laws and oaths they have been sworn to support.”…