Las Vegas man wants to avoid prison while appealing sex-tape extortion case

A Las Vegas man who was ordered to serve a 366-day prison term for the sex-tape extortion of a wealthy businessman wants to remain free while he appeals his case.

Ernesto Ramos, 38, is to surrender to federal prison authorities on Sept. 28, but his lawyer Kathleen Bliss contended in court papers last week that he is not a flight risk or threat to the community.

Bliss also suggested that Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro did not give Ramos a fair hearing on his bid to withdraw his guilty plea.

The defense lawyer argued that “there were overwhelming and substantial outside influences” on his decision to strike a plea deal.

She alleged that the influences came “from an individual involved in this case through, ironically, extortionary conduct and threats of further prosecution.”

“These are the types of influences that are not proper and that do place the willful and voluntary nature of a defendant’s plea into question,” Bliss wrote.

Bliss has an Oct. 13 deadline to file her opening brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging Navarro’s actions in the case.

Ramos, who has a 13-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy and other serious ailments, pleaded guilty in November to using sex tapes to extort $200,000 from the unidentified married businessman.

At his sentencing earlier this year, his previous lawyer, Gabriel Grasso, disclosed that Ramos was offered money, just days before he pleaded guilty, to keep the businessman’s identity secret for the rest of his life.

Grasso told Navarro that his client believed the offer was made to pressure him into taking a guilty plea. He sought probation for Ramos.

Federal prosecutors have gone to great lengths to protect the identity of the businessman, including obtaining a protective order that keeps his name, initials and company’s name out of court documents.

Bliss argued in her court papers that the “secretive nature” of the case prevented her from speaking freely at the sentencing on the alleged outside influences on her client’s plea agreement.

An FBI complaint identifies the victim only as a married local resident who has two minor children and who is “part-owner of a well-known business” with access to a company jet.

Over a two-year period, the businessman tipped a stripper, who was Ramos’ girlfriend, about $200,000 to dance and have sex with him in a private room at an adult nightclub, the criminal complaint said.

The dancer, who has not been identified, secretly used her cellphone to videotape herself having sex with the businessman in a hotel room during an October 2014 tryst outside the country, according to the complaint.

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