As many young lawyers settled in for a summer or their first year at a large law firm, global legal giant Dentons recently cut ties with one of its Los Angeles-based associates under unusual circumstances.
The former associate, Michael Potere, 32, was arrested on June 22 and accused of trying to extort $210,000 and a piece of artwork from Dentons, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles and a criminal complaint filed in federal court. Potere allegedly downloaded sensitive documents, then threatened to leak the information to the legal blog Above The Law unless his demands for the money and artwork were met, according to the government’s complaint.
