Ohio defense attorney turned informant, now practicing criminal defense in Denver
According to the Akron, Ohio Beacon-Journal, Frank Pignatelli, a federal criminal defense lawyer, apparently became an informant for the feds against his own clients, helping to put them into jail. The article says that Pignatelli went to work for the feds after being indicted himself as a co-conspirator.
A high-stakes Akron drug dealer has become the latest suspect stung by an attorney who became an informant for federal agents.Chevaliee ''Chevy'' Robinson, 30, pleaded guilty last fall to charges of drug conspiracy and money laundering in U.S. District Court in Akron. He was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.
His arrest and 29 others were made possible, federal authorities said, because of the undercover work of Robinson's former attorney, Frank Pignatelli.
According to court records, Pignatelli was facing his own indictment as a co-conspirator when he agreed to work undercover for federal drug investigators more than three years ago.
With Pignatelli's help, federal agents have arrested 30 people from Akron and Cleveland, and seized hundreds of pounds of marijuana and cocaine, along with cash and property totaling more than $3 million.
Many of the charges have led to convictions, which could not have happened without the former Akron lawyer's help, attorneys said.
He began working as an informant over three years ago, and most of the cases that he helped to make are now winding down:
An Akron defense lawyer facing his own criminal indictment turned federal informant three years ago, helping bring down two of Northeast Ohio's biggest drug kings. With tips from attorney Frank Pignatelli and secretly taped meetings he orchestrated with drug dealers, federal agents were able to arrest 30 people, seize hundreds of pounds of marijuana and cocaine and about $3 million in cash.
The drug cases, including one heard on Monday, are winding down in U.S. District (Akron Beacon Journal (OH), 699 words.)
According to the article, he is now practicing . . . federal criminal defense?
Pignatelli's law license in Ohio is inactive. He works as an attorney in Denver, a private practice that includes defending alleged drug dealers in federal court.
