An accused sleazy loose-lipped developer boasted that he controlled a Brooklyn courthouse — just a day before the feds carted him off to the jailhouse, according to shocking court revelations.
Alleged fraudster Sam Sprei thought he had his case so in the pocket even when a judge with no ties to him was assigned it, after he succeeded in getting two other jurists booted from it.
“LOL,’’ Sprei texted his lawyer over the assignment of third Judge Francois Rivera, evidence showed last week.
Rivera shot back at the defendant in court Tuesday, “I thought it meant ‘lots of luck’ — because you’re gonna need it.”
The FBI ended up busting Sprei and disgraced former Brooklyn Judge Edward H. King a day later.
In shocking voice memos from Sprei revealed in court Tuesday, he described his alleged illicit plans to fix his legal woes involving a $2 million lawsuit, bragged about his courtroom influence and boasted about the stunning plot to boot two unfavorable judges.
“He will have to recuse himself later on, and we will accomplish what we wanted,” Sprei said in one voice memo about the scheme, which involved getting judges to recuse themselves from the bench by hiring lawyers who had prior relationships with them.
The plan worked, twice, with Sprei texting “ha ha” in a message after the first.
Sprei also claimed his court connections included a relationship with Charles Siegel, the principal law clerk of Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Steven Mostofsky.
When trying to delay a court order involving money he had to pony up as part of the process, Sprei said in a voice memo to a crony, “That part, leave up to me.
“I know Siegel very well,’’ he claimed.
Siegel later told The Post by email, “I HAVE NEVER SPOKEN TO THE MAN IN MY LIFE!”
Sprei and King are involved in a slew of civil lawsuits, along with pal and former top Brooklyn Democratic Party leader Frank Seddio, alleging tens of millions of dollars in escrow and investment fraud, in addition to their announced wire fraud conspiracy charges Wednesday.
The developer told The Post in an email the night before his arrest that he has “a legitimate claim to usage [sic] of the two million dollars” and claimed the messages revealed in court were “taking [sic] out of context with apparently doubles [sic] meaning which are in fact inaccurate.”
Other Sprei pals have faced some rotten luck lately, too.
Lawyer Adam Kalish was recently barred from practicing law for three years for “misappropriating” more than $400,000 when acting as an escrow agent for Sprei, with Seddio also vouching for his character, according to an appeal court ruling.
Another lawyer, Jonathan Pasternak, was suspended from Manhattan Federal Court for three years after admitting he took $260,000 from Sprei during a bankruptcy case.
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