A disbarred California attorney, who once represented Casey Anthony, has been charged with trying to smuggle 1,500 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S.
Todd Macaluso, 54, was arrested in Haiti on Nov. 14 after a month-long investigation into a suspected drug trafficking operation, a criminal complaint filed in New York federal court said.
In 2010, Macaluso represented Anthony, who was found not guilty in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
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Macaluso left Anthony’s defense team in February 2010 due to a disciplinary charge by the California Bar Association.
He was officially disbarred in California on Nov. 18, according to the CBA.
Macaluso is accused of flying a Falcon 10 private jet from Orlando to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 13 with the intent to load it with 1,500 kilograms of cocaine which would then be smuggled into the U.S., investigators said.
He, along with two co-conspirators, was arrested in Haiti on Nov. 14 and extradited back to the U.S.
They were to be paid more than $150,000 for smuggling the drugs out of Haiti, court documents said.
Macaluso was arraigned in New York federal court on Nov. 19 on the drug trafficking charge and is scheduled for a Dec. 5 preliminary hearing.
The current case against Macaluso is not the former attorney’s first run-in with the law as a defendant.
In November 2015, Macaluso was sentenced to five months in prison for defrauding clients and investors.
He was being held without bail at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
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