Drama in Brooklyn federal court: disgraced former attorney Richard Luthmann — a once-prominent player in Staten Island politics charged with taking part in a get-rich-quick scheme — bared all before Judge Jack Weinstein.
He said his wife has left him, his business is gone, and he confessed to battling mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, and medicating himself with cocaine and alcohol.
"Somewhere along the road, I lost my way. I lost my way, and I have to apologize to the victims," he said.
"I think there were other psychological issues, psychiatric issues, that have now been put on the record, and there was abuse of alcohol and drugs," said Arthur Aidala, Luthmann's lawyer. "But he's a different person."
In March, Luthmann pleaded guilty to wire fraud and extortion for the scam, which packed shipping containers with "cheap filler material" and sold them as scrap metal.
Prosecutors charged that Luthmann turned on one of his partners and had him held at gunpoint to collect a $7,000 debt.
One of Luthmann's victims spoke at the hearing — an employee of a company that paid $140,000 for a shipment to China. One container was packed with concrete and garbage, and two others never even made it overseas. The man told the court that the scam threatened his company's ability to do business. Prosecutors say Luthmann's enterprise made $427,000 in a matter of weeks.
Luthmann's defense attorney told NY1, "Our message to the court was he's accepted responsibility for what he's done, he's already suffered enough, and that it's time for him to move on with his life."
Luthmann, who faces up to six years in prison, said he's been sober for a year-and-a-half and wants to "get his life in order" and move on.
But he also faces charges in a state criminal case, the result of a NY1 investigation that found he created Facebook pages impersonating Staten Island politicians.
"No one else has had these charges brought against them. And I'm quite confident that other people have done what Mr. Luthmann is alleged to have done," Aidala said. "So to say that his political enemies didn't have something to do with that, you'd have to have your head in the sand and just not be dealing with reality."
Weinstein also heard from Luthmann's mother, who said her son was a changed man.
He'll learn his fate Monday afternoon.