A lawyer who has represented high-profile clients from Joey Buttafuoco to Michael Lohan and the husband of the woman who killed seven people when she drove her minivan the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway has been accused of stalking, harassing and attempting to extort his ex-wife.

 

Long Island attorney Dominic Barbara was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted grand larceny, aggravated harassment and stalking, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. 

 

Rice said the 67-year-old Barbara threatened to file false police reports and a false order of protection against his ex-wife unless she gave him $200,000.

 

Barbara denied the charges, saying Tuesday, "I want this all to go away and be done."

 

Rice said that Barbara texted and called his ex-wife multiple times between March and September initially asking for $10,000. When she refused, he allegedly began a campaign of threatening calls and texts designed to destroy her reputation and career that continued after he was told to stop. 

 

Barbara is accused of threatening to expose details of his ex-wife’s alleged sexual relationships, disclose compromising photos and videos, and hold a press conference about the men he claimed she had slept with. Then, rather than ask for $10,000, he demanded $200,000 to keep quiet.

 

Barbara also allegedly threatened to file a false civil complaint and an order protection against his ex-wife, Rice said. He texted and called his ex-wife’s friends, clients, and business partner in an effort to get her to comply with his demands.

 

In a phone call to her employer, Barbara allegedly stated that he had sexually explicit photos of his ex-wife with a partner of the firm, and threatened to send those photos to the law partner’s wife, Rice said. On another occasion, Barbara allegedly confronted his ex-wife at a beauty salon, telling her that “things are going to get a lot worse.”

 

Barbara was arrested in a separate case in September for violating an order of protection by trying to contact his ex-wife through a third party. The order was filed in late August 2012. 

 

He faces up to one year in jail if convicted of the latest charges.