Attorney Who Blew Jay Cohen Case Ben Brafman Defending IMF Alleged Rapist
The high-profile New York attorney who bungled the Jay Cohen case is defending the French official who was arrested and charged with sexual assault on a hotel maid, Gamblng911.can reveal in another exclusive report!
Attorney Ben Brafman defended Internet bookie Cohen of World Sports Exchange (www.wsex.com) 13 years ago when the Feds arrested him and charged him with illegal gambling and other charges.
Brafman badly bungled the case, basing Cohen's defense on the absurd premise that a bettor in New York betting by computer with Antigua-based WSEX was making a bet in Antigua, where online betting was legal, not New York, where it wasn't.
The jury didn't buy the cockamamie explanation and convicted Cohen, who served 18 months in a Federal prison.
Now Brafman is defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who was busted and charged Saturday with sexual assaulting an immigrant maid at the pricey French-owned Sofitel hotel in Manhattan.
Strauss-Kahn, called one of the most powerful people in the world, was also seen as a leading contender to be elected France's next president.
But there he was in court in, being arraigned, with "Benny the Bungler" Brafman at his side.
Because he's seen as a flight risk, Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK in France, was denied bail and now sits in a New York jail cell, awaiting trial on charges that could net him 25 years in prison if convicted.
Brafman, an Orthodox Jew who wears no head cover, often handles high-profile celebrity cases but continually bungles them, allowing his clients to go to prison.
He defended mob rat Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano when the Mafia turncoat ratted out John Gotti, but still coudn't keep Gravano out of the slammer.
Ditto for Cohen and numerous others.
Now it's the man known as DSK who's putting his life in the hands of the bungling Brafman.
He'll likely soon wish he hadn't.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
