Snyder attempted extortion case to proceed to trial, judge rules

The government’s case against indicted medical malpractice attorney Stephen L. Snyder for attempted extortion will proceed to trial, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman denied both of Snyder’s motions to dismiss the indictment entered against him.

On Snyder’s first motion to dismiss, in which he claimed a violation of the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution, Boardman found Snyder has not established that a recorded August 2018 meeting would have been useful to his case, and further that the government had no duty to create evidence that would help Snyder or any defendant.

On Snyder’s second motion to dismiss, where he argued the indictment creates a fictitious version of events, Boardman found that case law does not allow the court to look outside the indictment and that there is no authority to dismiss an indictment because the government selectively quoted from the August 2018 meeting.

Boardman said that it is the jury’s role to determine whether Snyder engaged in attempted extortion of the University of Maryland Medical System.

During the motions hearing, Snyder represented himself and argued, in part, that his indictment should be dismissed as a matter of law because he was justified in threatening to launch a public relations campaign in 2018 against the UMMS if it did not pay him $25 million.

Snyder also argued that the fact that prosecutors initially declined to prosecute his case should show this is enough to throw out the case.

Boardman repeatedly redirected Snyder to cite legal authority, to which Snyder largely cited factual arguments instead.

“All my life I’d ‘Snydered’ others,” Snyder said. “I feel like I’m being Snydered.”

Snyder said during court that the indictment has “completely destroyed my life,” that he “had a 20-year track record of loyalty and success” and that he had no criminal intent.

But Matthew Phelps, prosecutor for the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, disagreed.

“This case is straight blackmail,” Phelps said Friday in federal court, contending that the consulting agreement “was a sham.”

The indictment against Snyder alleges he threatened to go public about problems with UMMS’ flagship hospital’s organ transplant program if UMMS didn’t agree to a $25 million consulting deal.

Snyder allegedly couched the consulting agreement as part of a settlement with a woman whose husband allegedly died because of a botched transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Federal prosecutors have said that Snyder did not intend to do any work for the money and was simply seeking a payout.

The deal also would have ensured that Snyder was “conflicted out” of future lawsuits against UMMS. Prosecutors said Snyder threatened to publicly expose problems with the medical center’s transplant program, including by going to the news media, if he did not get paid.

Snyder has denied the charges and argued that the consultancy offer was a real effort to reach a deal with UMMS.

“I’m a good lawyer … I was not an extortionist,” Snyder said during the hearing.

The two-week trial is set to begin Nov. 12.