Lawyer Indicted for Accepting Cash in Exchange for Promise of Tampering with Grand Jury Witness Testimony

An attorney arrested earlier this month after accepting $50,000 in cash as part of a payment made in exchange for the lawyer's promise to tamper with a federal grand jury investigation was indicted this afternoon by another federal grand jury.

Alfred Nash Villalobos, 44, a South Lake Tahoe resident who recently relocated from West Hills, was indicted on charges of endeavoring to obstruct a grand jury investigation and interfering with interstate commerce by extortion.

The indictment alleges that Villalobos solicited cash payments totaling $100,000, as well as other compensation in the form of payments and a fraudulent charitable donation receipt, from the target of a pending federal grand jury investigation. The indictment alleges that, in exchange for the payments, Villalobos agreed to cause his client, a witness in the grand jury investigation, to make specific false statements to the Assistant United States Attorney and grand jury conducting that investigation.

According to court documents previously filed in this case, Villalobos agreed to an August 4 meeting at a Century City law firm to accept $50,000 in cash, which was the first installment of a $107,000 bribe from an attorney who was cooperating with the FBI.

Villalobos will be arraigned on the indictment on August 31.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

The charge of obstruction of a grand jury proceeding carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. The charge of extortion by blackmail carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.