Las Vegas defense lawyer faces new allegations in criminal investigation

New allegations of wrongdoing have surfaced in the bizarre criminal investigation of a defense lawyer accused of helping a former client flee the country.

Las Vegas police executed a search warrant April 5 at the downtown law office of Ben Nadig looking for evidence he pocketed a $15,000 insurance settlement that stemmed from a July 24, 2013, accident involving the former client, Robert Wolfe.

Police left Nadig’s office with Wolfe’s personal injury case file, along with a series of emails and checking account receipts, according to a copy of the warrant’s return obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Wolfe’s current lawyer, Louis Schneider, said this week that Wolfe told him he never signed settlement paperwork and did not get any of the $15,000 from Nadig.

But Nadig’s lawyer Josh Tomsheck said Tuesday the allegations are false.

“We are thankful law enforcement is doing a full and thorough investigation, rather than taking the word of an admitted repeated criminal with a documented aversion to the truth,” Tomsheck said. “We are cooperating fully with the authorities and are confident that the end result will reveal no impropriety on the part of Mr. Nadig.”

Wolfe, 70, has been cooperating with authorities investigating allegations Nadig pushed Wolfe into fleeing the country after he was charged in a federal drug-trafficking investigation that had targeted Las Vegas doctors peddling painkiller prescriptions.

More than a year ago, Wolfe secretly pleaded guilty to distributing painkillers on the street for Dr. Victor Bruce, who is now serving a 46-month federal prison sentence.

But Wolfe, who is free on his own recognizance, has yet to be sentenced, as federal authorities have joined the police investigation. Detectives assigned to the Police Department’s criminal intelligence section and FBI agents who specialize in public corruption are working together on the criminal case.

Police raided Nadig’s downtown law office in June 2014 to gather evidence in the alleged scheme to help Wolfe leave the country.

At the time, Wolfe was secretly cooperating with police but not the FBI and the Nevada U.S. attorney’s office.

His police cooperation surfaced during a July 2014 court hearing sought by federal prosecutors to keep Wolfe jailed for trying to obtain a passport and flee to Panama.

Schneider replaced Nadig as Wolfe’s lawyer just prior to the hearing.

To the surprise of prosecutors, Schneider maintained in court that Wolfe had no intention of leaving the country. He said his client was helping detectives determine whether Nadig was behind the scheme to get at Wolfe’s money.

Schneider said Wolfe wore a hidden microphone for police in meetings with Nadig and was instructed by detectives not to tell federal authorities about the investigation because detectives feared word would spread like “wildfire” through the legal community and harm the investigation.

Nadig’s lawyers contended at the time that Nadig, a former deputy city attorney, was not part of the scheme and actually informed federal prosecutors that Wolfe was planning to flee.

Schneider said this week that he did not know what prompted the police interest in Wolfe’s July 2013 accident.

The accident was witnessed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, who were secretly following Wolfe as part of the painkiller investigation, court documents show.

Agents observed Wolfe’s car get rear-ended coming off an exit ramp on U.S. Highway 95 at Jones Boulevard. He suffered injuries in the accident.

A Nevada Highway Patrol officer who did an inventory of Wolfe’s damaged car found a “multi-page” document that appeared to be a record of drug sales, and he showed it to the DEA agents before impounding it, according to the court documents.

Schneider would not discuss why Wolfe has not been sentenced, and he said he “has no idea” what is happening with the criminal investigation of Nadig.

He recalled the time when Wolfe came to his office looking for help two years ago.

“I told him he had two options,” Schneider said. “He could leave my office, and it would remain confidential, or he could report what he believed to be crimes to the police.

“Ever since then, the case has taken on a life of its own.”

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@revewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find @JGermanRJ on Twitter.