No Thanks For Sharing

An attorney convicted of  sex trafficking and pornography offenses was disbarred by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department.

This press release from the New Jersey Office of the United States Attorney describes the charges

De Sear used an Internet-based peer-to-peer file-sharing program to advertise, distribute and download hundreds of images of child pornography.  In seeking out “friends” on the peer-to-peer file-sharing network, De Sear used a picture of a young boy to represent him as his avatar, and invited individuals with usernames that contained terms such as “boy,” “child,” and “little” to join his peer-to-peer network.

De Sear named one of his file-sharing folders “BoysCute,” and made files with graphic, descriptive names available for sharing in his folders.  He also allowed his “friends” to preview the content of his shared files in thumbnail view to select which files to download, and used the peer-to-peer program’s chat function to make specific offers to distribute and display child pornography with descriptive titles.

The chat messages sent by De Sear to an individual with the username “boycuddle2″ included De Sear’s observation: “best are guys who have kids of their own to share . . . there is a network of those guys,” but it is “hard to get into that club without a kid[.]”

De Sear regularly viewed and shared child pornography from the kitchen of his home, sometimes leaving his computer running overnight so that the child pornography files he had selected using the file-sharing program could download while he slept.

In 2010, De Sear regularly logged onto the file-sharing program using his then-employer’s wireless “guest” network.  During one of these sessions, De Sear distributed multiple child pornography files to an undercover law enforcement agent by having placed the files in his file-sharing folders on the peer-to-peer network.

The court

 Here, respondent was convicted of distribution of child pornography and during his plea allocution he admitted that he was in possession of computer files that he knew to contain images of child pornography, which he distributed via the internet. Therefore, respondent’s sworn plea admissions, read in conjunction with the superceding information to which he pled guilty, makes his conviction under 18 USC § 2252A(a)(2)(A) “essentially similar” to a New York felony conviction under Penal Law § 263.16. Thus, we find that automatic disbarment pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(b) is warranted in this instance.

The attorney was described in the press release as a partner in an international law firm. The Village Voice reported that he resigned from the firm. (Mike Frisch)