New York litigator Steven Altman was unaware that the lawyer on the other end of the line was recording their calls.
It was early 2004, and Altman said he was trying to negotiate a $60,000 employee severance payment for a client. The other lawyer, Irving Einhorn, saw a far darker scenario. The man who had employed Altman’s client was locked in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation-and Altman’s phone calls sounded to Einhorn like an attempt to extort hush money: If Einhorn’s client paid up, then the employee wouldn’t cooperate with regulators. According to a transcript of the recordings included in court filings, Altman said on one call: “Help me, help me not do this,” referring to his client approaching the SEC. “I don’t want to do this.”
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