Former A&O partner arrested again on child porn charges
Former Allen & Overy (A&O) capital markets partner Edward De Sear has been arrested on additional child pornography charges, a year after he was charged by federal prosecutors in New Jersey with distributing child porn, reports The Am Law Daily. De Sear, who joined A&O's New York office in August 2010 from Bingham McCutchen, appeared in US district court in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday (23 August), where he was charged with three counts of advertising child pornography, four counts of distribution, and one count of possession, according to a press release from the US Attorney's office in Newark.
August 24, 2012 at 05:11 AM
3 minute read
Former Allen & Overy (A&O) capital markets partner Edward De Sear has been arrested on additional child pornography charges, a year after he was charged by federal prosecutors in New Jersey with distributing child porn, reports The Am Law Daily.
De Sear, who joined A&O's New York office in August 2010 from Bingham McCutchen, appeared in US district court in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday (23 August), where he was charged with three counts of advertising child pornography, four counts of distribution, and one count of possession, according to a press release from the US Attorney's office in Newark.
He was arrested last year on one count of distribution of child pornography before being released on $250,000 (£160,000) bond and being ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.
De Sear consented to detention at the hearing and a detention hearing scheduled for 28 August in Newark. His arraignment has been scheduled for 5 September in Newark, according to a spokeswoman at the US Attorney's office in Newark. If convicted, he faces up to 180 years in prison and up to $2m (£1.3m) in fines.
De Sear is being represented by John Vazquez of New Jersey law firm Critchely Kinum & Vazquez.
The 21-page indictment against De Sear alleges that he used an online peer-to-peer file-sharing program to download and distribute hundreds of illegal images. The program allowed De Sear to invite "friends" to join his network in order to share images and videos of children being sexually exploited. According to the indictment, at various points in 2010 and 2011 undercover law enforcement agents logged onto the program and downloaded files De Sear had made available online.
At the time of his 2011 arrest, De Sear was still employed by A&O, but his biography disappeared from the firm's website shortly after the firm became aware of the charges against him.
In a statement released to Legal Week last year, a firm spokesman said everyone at A&O was "shocked and appalled" by the news of De Sear's initial arrest. The spokesman noted that De Sear had resigned from his post at A&O and that the firm would make no further comment on the federal investigation.
The former chairman of the structured finance team at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, De Sear left that firm in 2003 for McKee Nelson, which later merged with Bingham in 2009.
The Am Law Daily is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.
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