Richard Luthmann Richard Luthmann.

A Brooklyn federal judge has sentenced Richard Luthmann, a Staten Island attorney who once challenged opposing counsel to a "trial by combat," to four years on fraud and extortion conspiracy charges for his role in an illegal scrap metal scheme.

U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York handed down his sentence Monday afternoon, after hearing arguments from prosecutors and defense counsel last week. In addition to prison time, Luthmann was ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution and $130,000 in forfeiture.

"With today's sentence, Luthmann has been held accountable for using his law practice as a launching pad for his schemes to defraud businesses in the United States and abroad, and to extort a former client, all for the purpose of lining his pockets," Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said in a statement announcing the sentence.

An attorney for Luthmann was not immediately available to comment.

Luthmann, 39, pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud and extortionate collection of credit conspiracy in connection with a violent scrap metal fraud ring, for which prosecutors alleged he had acted as something of an in-house counsel.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that by using Luthmann's "'status' as an attorney for any contractual issue, the conspirators sought to varnish their scheme and use the defendant's law license as both a sword and shield."

According to a November 2017 indictment, Luthmann and his co-conspirators formed multiple shell companies in 2015 to sell scrap metal and other recycled products to U.S. and foreign customers. However, prosecutors said, Luthmann and his associates never delivered the promised materials after receiving more than $500,000 in fraudulent sales.

In order to cover his tracks, prosecutors said Luthmann recruited a client, who was blind and living on public assistance, to be the nominal president of one firm and directed payments for the illegal sales through his law firm's accounts. In one instance, Luthmann was also accused of luring a co-conspirator to his law office, where his co-defendants, Michael Beck and George Padula III, allegedly threatened the co-conspirator with a firearm and told him to hand over $10,000.

In an odd twist, Luthmann had his $1.5 million bond revoked last year, when he allegedly sent a threatening letter to a potential witness in his case, saying that she was "coldly cooperating" with the government.

Luthmann's lawyers said the comments were inspired by their client's love of the hit HBO series "Game of Thrones," and were not intended to intimidate. Weinstein, however, found the letter to be "threatening on its face" and ordered that Luthmann be sent to a medical facility for a mental health evaluation.

"I'm not privy to this TV program," the judge said at the time. "Anyone sending a letter like that has serious mental problems or is threatening someone."

Prosecutors in the case had asked Weinstein for a sentence of 67 to 71 months, according to an Aug. 30 sentencing memorandum. Weinstein held a hearing Sept. 5 but did not immediately issue a ruling, saying he would review the transcript and think more about it over the weekend, a court spokesman said.

In a statement Monday, William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Luthmann's actions had undermined the trust the public places in attorneys and praised the federal investigation that led to the indictment.

"Our legal system works because everyone believes attorneys are going to be honest brokers of justice. Mr. Luthmann's actions, defrauding and extorting his victims, chip away at the foundations of that system and cannot be tolerated," Sweeney said. "The FBI New York Joint Organized Crime Task Force did an outstanding job in this investigation stopping a criminal who thought he could use his knowledge of the law to skirt it."

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