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A Maryland Democratic state senator, her brother and a Baltimore police officer have been charged with extortion after prosecutors say the lawmaker masterminded a blackmail scheme in which a former political consultant-turned-critic was recorded in bed with a married man.
State Sen. Dalya Attar allegedly threatened to expose the affair to prevent the unnamed consultant from publicly speaking out against her 2022 re-election bid for the Maryland House of Delegates, investigators allege in an eight-count indictment unsealed Thursday.
The alleged victim had worked on Attar’s 2018 House of Delegates campaign, but the two later fell out for unclear reasons, according to the indictment.
Maryland Democratic State Senator Dalya Attar, her brother and a Baltimore police officer have been charged with extortion for a blackmail scheme in which a former political consultant-turned-critic was recorded in bed with a married man.According to the indictment, Attar told an unidentified co-conspirator in January 2020 that her former ally “is still looking to screw me badly … I just want her to be a non-issue in my mind and in reality that won’t happen as long as she is relevant or doesn’t have anything to worry about.”
Later that month, Attar’s brother Joseph, Baltimore cop Kalman Finklestein and others involved in the plot allegedly placed a tracker on the consultant’s car and installed hidden cameras in a smoke detector in an apartment the victim used to rendezvous with her married paramour.
“Damn, I wish I had [the man’s] stamina,” Finklestein stated in a WhatsApp voice message after installing the cameras, according to the indictment.
English (US)