We rarely feel too much sympathy for lawyers but this one does deserve all of our and your sympathy…….A Manhattan lawyer injured — and wife tragically killed — by a drunk-driving TV star claims he was then victimized again by a trusted employee who bilked him for nearly $500,000 over eight years.
Attorney Fred Seeman’s wife, Helene, died in 2010 after “Melrose Place” actress Amy Locane smashed into the couple’s car as they turned into their Princeton, NJ driveway.
Locane, who played Sandy Harling on 13 episodes of the Fox show, is believed to have had a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit when she was leaving an early-summer barbecue and rear-ended a car at a traffic light.
After a dispute with that driver, Locane fled the scene with the motorist she hit in hot pursuit. The actress then smashed into the Seeman’s car, killing 60-year-old Helene and leaving Fred seriously hurt.
As Fred Seeman recovered from his grief and injuries, he was forced to rely on his office staff more than before, he claims in court papers. The 69-year-old suffered multiple rib fractures and a hole in his diaphragm, which allowed his liver to move into his chest, according to MyCentralJersey.com.
That’s when a trusted law clerk allegedly began using the firm’s credit cards to pay for a host of personal items on Amazon, including clothing, furniture and sex toys, Seeman charges in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Neil Shepherd, 32, is accused of having the items sent to his Brooklyn home, in a scheme which “escalated over the years” to “an extensive, systematic and deliberate covert pattern of purchases,” Seeman alleges.
Shepherd, who bought multiples of some items, apparently with the intent of reselling them, was thought to have been a “capable and friendly employee” until the fraud was finally uncovered in October 2018, according to the lawsuit.
In all, Shepherd allegedly spent $496,000 between February 2011 and October 2018, when he was fired.
