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Roger Khan to secure new legal counsel
…lawyer arraigned, trial date uncertain
Robert Simels
Robert Simels, the former lead attorney for embattled Guyanese businessman, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan, along with his associates, has been terminated from defending Khan as a result of their arraignment for witness tampering.
According to a Capitol News report by Enrico Woolford, John Bergenthal, a former lead attorney for Khan, now faces a conflict of interest regarding defending Khan given that he was also involved in a case that was related to Khan’s.
He is currently operating with a court appointed attorney.
There is now a discussion on whether Khan would retain him as a defence counsel.
According to Woolford’s report, Khan’s matter is further compounded by the fact that the US Government has seized all documents related to his defence as a result of the witness tampering charge.
He noted that the new attorneys would have to wait on copies of the documents to peruse and prepare a defence, and this will undoubtedly delay the start of the trial which was scheduled to commence next month.
Simels, along with an associate of his, Arienne Irving, and Khan, were all indicted on September 19 for attempting to “eliminate” the main witness against Khan.
Recent revelations based on an undercover operation saw charges being laid against Irving, Simels and Khan. The attorney and his associate had managed to secure bail to the tune of US$3.5M and US$500,000 respectively.
Simels also had recently indicated to Judge Irizarry in a motion that he would sever all contact with Khan purposely to focus on his own defence.
There are now rife speculations that Khan’s remaining attorneys may abandon him, given that they were all recruited by Simels.
If convicted, Simels faces as many as ten years in jail. The developments already threaten to push back the start date for Khan’s trial.
Simels was arrested just over two weeks ago and accused in an 18-page federal complaint of paying an alleged ‘Phantom Squad’ member US$1,000 for the hit, which also included strict orders not to kill the witness’s mother.
Shaheed 'Roger' Khan
Khan allegedly told Simels that the case against him hinged on one man — identified in court papers as “John Doe No 1.” Simels wanted to “eliminate” and “neutralize” the witness, authorities said.
He allegedly told a government informant at one point that “Obviously, any witness you can eliminate is a good thing.”
The feds said that on June 19, 2008, Simels met with the government informant in his Manhattan office and handed over a US$1,000 down payment for the hit.
The two were reportedly caught on tape, according to the federal complaint, with Simels saying, “Here’s $1,000 to get started.”
When the undercover informant said, “No problem,” Simels replied, “All [Khan] says is be careful. He says don’t kill the [witness’s] mother.”
During the brief conversation, Simels also said, “Well, [Khan] would like as much pressure being put on [John Doe No. 1] as possible.”
The authorities revealed that a five-month investigation, which involved a confidential source who was cooperating with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) against Khan, Simels and Irving, eventually led to the indictment.
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