Ex-prosecutor accused of dabbling in prostitution

(Newark - WABC, January 10, 2007) (WABC) -- A former federal prosecutor and attorney who represented a big bucks Manhattan brothel in a sleezy tabloid scandal was indicted on charges he used his law office to stay in the prostitution business.

Officials say 51-year-old Paul Bergrin and James Cortopassi, a 27-year-old law clerk at Bergrin's Newark firm, were charged with promoting prostitution, conspiracy and money laundering Wednesday.

They say a third man, Hiram Ortiz, who owns a Bloomfield tavern and is a former New Jersey State Trooper, was also indicted.

The indictment charges Bergrin with laundering more than $800,000 in credit card proceeds from the escort service NY Confidential.

Bergrin represented NY Confidential's proprietor when the escort service was busted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in 2005.

His client, New Jersey native Jason Itzler, was charged with catering the city's elite with girls from his multimillion-dollar brothel in a bust that made tabloid headlines.

The agency's top call girl later posed for a front-page story in New York Magazine under the headline "New York's #1 Escort," in which she boasted about her $2,000-an-hour rates.

Prosecutors allege that Bergrin "assumed direct control" of the prostitution business after Itzler's demise.

They say he conspired with Ortiz and a former escort to keep the business going. Those two handled most of the day-to-day business, prosecutors say.

A former federal prosecutor and military veteran, Bergrin once described himself as "a former prosecutor, U.S. attorney, military officer, military attorney and defense lawyer."

He most recently represented 22-year-old Corey Clagett, a private with the 101st Airborne, who faced murder charges for his alleged role in the death of four detainees in Iraq.

Authorities say NY Confidential reigned as New York's top escort agency from August 2004 to January 2005, attracting National Football League quarterbacks, Wall Street stockbrokers and billionaire playboys as regular clients.

Itzler, a 39-year-old ex-convict who was known to pass out titanium business cards at posh Manhattan restaurants like Cipriani and once proclaimed himself to be the "king of all pimps," pleaded guilty to money laundering and attempting to promote prostitution.

After Itzler pleaded guilty last June to money laundering and attempting to promote prostitution, he started peddling his autobiography, and Hollywood trade papers have also reported that a movie is in the works.

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