An Allen & Overy (A&O) New York partner has resigned from the firm after being arrested and charged with distributing child pornography.
Edward De Sear, a partner in A&O’s international capital markets group, was arrested yesterday (14 July), appearing before a magistrate in federal court in Newark and was released on a $250,000 bail bond, according to Thomson Reuters. De Sear has now been electronically tagged by the court.
De Sear allegedly downloaded and distributed child pornography using peer-to-peer networks on the internet. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to reports, because De Sear was charged by complaint he has not yet entered a plea, but will do so when he is indicted.
In a statement, a spokesperson for A&O, said: “Everyone’s been shocked and appalled by the news that a lawyer in our New York office, Edward de Sear, has been criminally charged by federal prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey, after being arrested at his home. He has resigned from the firm. This is now subject to a federal investigation and so we cannot make any further comment.”
De Sear joined A&O from Bingham McCutchen in August 2010 (3 August 2010).
Readers' comments (3)
Doogie Hauser MD | 15-Jul-2011 12:33 pm
Hard to decide who had a worse PR week, A&O or Harbottle?
Harbottle being told they're rubbish by Murdoch in the WSJ, or A&O getting the tripple whammy of an alleged evil pedo-partner, casually giving away information to blaggers and yes - being a key adviser to Murdoch on its BSkyB bid - which the world now sees for the truly awful thing it would have been?
PR team at A&O now deserve at least a 5% pay rise -and a large box of Prozac to get through this.
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Monika Bialas | 15-Jul-2011 5:13 pm
After reading the De Sear story, I concluded that it must be the New York climate for turning out people like FORMER Congressman Weiner and FORMER ESQUIRE De Sear. How many more FORMER ONES will there be? I heard New York also has a lot of rats.
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The Bishop of Medway | 16-Jul-2011 11:48 am
I'd always thought A & O (like S & M and hog love) was something one got up to in the bedroom (or dungeon, or farmyard), until I discovered The Lawyer.
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