Richard Luthmann, a Staten Island lawyer who once grabbed headlines by challenging another attorney to “trial by combat” and who has been in jail since December as he awaits trial on kidnapping and other charges, could be released as early as next week on a $1.5 million bond.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon of the Eastern District of New York granted Luthmann's bail motion on Wednesday after a hearing that Luthmann's attorney, Arthur Aidala of Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, described as a battle against a “hyper-aggressive” pretrial stance by prosecutors in which Luthmann was painted as a public safety risk with ties to organized crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza appeared for the government in the case. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

Luthmann is also represented by Brooklyn attorney Mario Romano.

Prosecutors allege that Luthmann and two other defendants operated a violent scrap metal fraud ring for which Luthmann is accused of acting as something of an in-house counsel.

Luthmann is also accused of luring a co-conspirator for the operation who set up bank accounts for the operation to his law office, where Luthmann's co-defendants, Michael Beck and George Padula III, allegedly threatened the co-conspirator with a firearm and told him to hand over $10,000.

Luthmann is charged with fraud, extortion, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering.
Aidala said that Luthmann was at a fundraiser for children with disabilities at the time of the alleged shakedown at his office; he denies that Luthmann has mob ties and said his client does not have a criminal record.

At the hearing, according to Aidala and media reports, Scanlon separated the government's argument into two parts, the alleged kidnapping and the alleged fraud. The $400,000 fraud was “not a notable one,” the magistrate said.

As part of Luthmann's bail package, he will be on 24-hour home detention and will be required to wear a GPS monitor. He will be prohibited from practicing law and using social media and the internet. U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York has set a May 14 trial date in the case.