Lawyer Who Sought to Defend Trump Dies Suddenly at 48 Frank Bergman
November 27, 2022 - 12:20 pm
A high-profile New York lawyer who sought to represent President Donald Trump has died suddenly at just 48 years old, according to reports.
Attorney John Meringolo, a professor at Pace University, died “unexpectedly” on November 16, his family revealed.
Meringolo’s sudden death came just two months after requesting that he be allowed to represent the 45th president’s Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corp. at the last minute.
In another case for the retrial of alleged “We Build the Wall” scammer Timothy Shea, Meringolo told the judge that he had been retained by the Trump family to defend its companies.
He said he secured the retainer after CFO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty in a deal that required him to testify in the case.
According to the New York Daily News, Meringolo wrote to Judge Analisa Torres on September 14, asking her to delay the Shea case three weeks.
“I have been retained to represent the Trump Payroll Corporation in its criminal trial scheduled to begin on the very same date as Mr. Shea’s retrial,” he wrote.
That request was denied.
On September 2, Meringolo had asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to delay the trial against Trump companies and was also refused.
“That motion I received last week, or the notice of appearance, frankly, was almost bizarre, and it was dealt with appropriately,” Merchan said. “I’m repeating, we are not delaying this trial.”
