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Forest Hills Attorney Who Made False Statements to Federal Agency Sentenced to 60 Days of Confinement

Scott Brettschneider Source: Youtube

July 29, 2019 By Shane O’Brien

A Forest Hills attorney has been sentenced to 60 days confinement for making false statements to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the US Attorney’s office announced on Friday.

Scott Brettschneider, 62, also known as “Mighty Whitey,” was convicted in April for his role in writing a false letter to the BOP in order to assist an inmate to gain entry to a substance abuse program and obtain an early release from prison.

Brettschneider has now been sentenced to 60 days confinement in a community center, along with 80 hours of community service and four years of probation. He was also fined $2,000, in a sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon.

Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that Brettschneider had now been held accountable for the law he had sworn to uphold.

“This office is committed to prosecuting those who defraud federal programs,” Donoghue said in a statement.

Brettschneider conspired with two co-defendants, Reginald Shabazz-Muhammed and Charles Gallman, to make false statements on behalf of inmate Richard Marshall in order to move Marshall to a Drug Abuse Program in prison.

Had their fraud been successful, Marshall’s entry into the program would have seen his early release from custody. Both co-defendants pleaded guilty to making false statements to the BOP.

Marshall, who was in prison at the time for distributing cocaine, was a client of Brettschneider’s who provided the Forest Hills attorney with many client referrals.

Shabazz-Muhammed, Brettschneider’s part-time paralegal, was sentenced to two years’ probation and a fine of $2,000 in January, while Gallman, who acted as a middleman between Marshall and Brettschneider, was also found guilty of violating the Travel Act and bribing a witness and therefore sentenced to three years in prison.

Marshall was found guilty of making false statements and was sentenced to three years’ probation and a fine of $1,500.