State attorney in Florida made defense lawyer buy his bull in bribery scheme, feds say
A state prosecutor in Florida accused of extorting a defense lawyer to keep up his expensive bull-raising hobby has pleaded guilty in federal court.
Jeffrey Siegmeister, 53, entered a plea deal on Feb. 22 in which he copped to charges of bribery, extortion, wire fraud and filing false tax returns in the Middle District of Florida, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Siegmeister was indicted last year alongside Marion Michael O’Steen, a defense attorney in Dixie County accused of helping facilitate the bribes on his clients’ behalf.
Siegmeister faces up to 20 years in prison on the extortion and wire fraud charges, five years for the bribery and extortion charges and three years for filing a false tax return, prosecutors said.
Public defenders representing him did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Feb. 24.
According to documents filed with his plea agreement, Siegmeister was elected as the State Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida in 2012 and served from 2013 until he resigned in 2019.
His northern Florida district included Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwannee and Taylor counties.
The alleged bribery scheme started in 2017, when O’Steen was representing a client accused of firebombing her estranged husband’s bedroom. Prosecutors said he asked Siegmeister for a lenient sentence, saying the estranged husband didn’t want his wife to get any prison time.
Siegmeister replied by asking when O’Steen was going to buy one of his bulls, court documents state.
An assistant state attorney working under Siegmeister subsequently offered O’Steen and his client a plea deal with a five-year prison sentence, prosecutors said. O’Steen then reached out to Siegmeister for help, who in turn told his assistant state attorney to ask for a continuance on the case.
Several months later in 2018, Siegmeister and O’Steen came forward with a deal in which the client only served one year and one month in prison, the government said.
“Approximately two hours following the hearing, Siegmeister sent O’Steen four photographs via text message using his cellular phone, depicting his bulls for sale, indicating he expected O’Steen to purchase a bull from him in exchange for the favorable treatment Siegmeister had provided O’Steen’s client,” prosecutors said in court filings.
That same year, O’Steen was hired to defend three brothers accused of operating an illegal gambling enterprise, court filings show. Siegmeister is accused of telling O’Steen that if he wanted a favorable agreement for the clients, he would have to buy one of his bulls.
Prosecutors said O’Steen in turn told his clients they needed $60,000 to make the charges go way, which he repeatedly said was “not a payoff.”
“(Siegmeister) is helping me.... if you want to walk out of court and get these charges dismissed, that’s what it’s going to take. Period. For all three,” O’Steen reportedly said during a recorded phone call in August 2018.
The client paid O’Steen in two installments of $30,000 between Aug. 23, 2018, and Sept. 4, 2018, according to court documents. Two weeks later, prosecutors said, O’Steen bought a bull from Siegmeister’s cattle ranch for $4,000 that he later resold for $3,500.
When federal investigators later interviewed Siegmeister about the agreement, he reportedly said his bull business was an “expensive hobby” and that he’d never sold a bull for $4,000 before. Most of his bulls reportedly sold for around $2,500.
In addition to the bulls, prosecutors said Siegmeister also solicited fundraising help for his re-election campaign from O’Steen. He offered another one of O’Steen’s clients a pretrial intervention agreement despite objections from the victim’s family in exchange for the campaign contributions.
O’Steen’s client in that case was caught on video beating an an older man, according to the government.
The bribery investigation also brought to light an alleged scheme in which Siegmeister defrauded an elderly man while serving as his voluntary guardian. Prosecutors said he diverted more than $500,000 from the man’s estate for his own personal use between 2015 and 2016 and then failed to report the income on his taxes.
As part of his plea agreement, Siegmeister agreed to give up $518,803 and more than 7,300 shares of Coca-Cola stock that he is accused of taking from the elderly man’s estate. His sentencing hearing has not been set.
The case against O’Steen is ongoing, court filings show. His next court appearance will be May 2.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 1:45 PM with the headline "State attorney in Florida made defense lawyer buy his bull in bribery scheme, feds say."
