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The latest delay was triggered by an effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to block defense attorney Eric Soehnlein from representing Peter Gerace Jr., the club’s owner.

Gerace is awaiting trial on charges of bribing a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, drug trafficking, sex trafficking and witness tampering. Gerace’s charges include maintaining Pharaoh’s as a drug-involved premises where vulnerable young women were exploited through their drug addictions and coerced into engaging in commercial sex acts.

Retired DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni is awaiting trial with Gerace on charges of accepting more than $250,000 in bribes from Gerace and other drug dealers who he thought were associated with Italian organized crime.

At a court proceeding Friday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo said he could not predict how long the delay would last. The case has been scheduled to go to trial Jan. 8, but Vilardo said he would be “flabbergasted� if the trial started then.

“Flabbergasted would be an understatement,� he added.

“Looking at what I see right now, and the mess that this case is in right now, I do not see a very brief delay,� Vilardo said during a Nov. 28 court proceeding.

Prosecutors on Nov. 21 filed a document asking that Soehnlein be removed as one of Gerace’s two defense lawyers. The document is sealed from public view, and not even Gerace and Bongiovanni’s defense lawyers were made aware of its contents. Lawyers involved in the case declined to comment.

Vilardo met with prosecutors and attorneys from both sides in his chambers Dec. 1. Since then, prosecutors have considered options the judge has suggested for how to press their motion while giving the defense attorneys enough information to fairly respond. Vilardo on Friday set deadlines for the prosecution’s court filing and for Gerace’s lawyers to reply.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said in court Friday that information was uncovered that led to another investigation that caused a “conflict� for Soehnlein.

Tripi did not describe the new information or the conflict. But the judge told Tripi that Soehnlein and his ethics counsel, Brian Melber, should be provided information before Vilardo decides how to respond to the government motion.

“I want Mr. Soehnlein and Mr. Melber to have everything they need to know about the disqualification motion,� Vilardo said.

Vilardo called it a matter of fairness that prosecutors turn over “everything you are alleging against Mr. Soehnlein. Everything.�

A possible clue to what is motivating prosecutors emerged during a public proceeding Tuesday, during what was supposed to be the sentencing of Roderick Arrington on his narcotics racketeering plea. The charges in his case are not related to any of the charges in the Gerace case. Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford converted the proceeding into a status conference because of a letter she received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office raising potential conflict of interest issues for defense lawyer Mark Foti, who has represented Arrington and Gerace in their respective cases.

A Dec. 4 letter to Foti from Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch said that in early November the government uncovered a conspiracy, which the investigative team believes involves Arrington, Gerace and others. The other names were blacked out in his redacted letter that was placed on the public record. Gerace and Arrington were in custody at the Niagara County jail at the same time as their cases proceeded through the court system.

“Because you represent Mr. Arrington and Mr. Gerace, the government’s investigation raises a potential conflict of interest for you,� wrote Lynch, who’s handling the prosecution against Arrington.

As a result, Arrington opted to represent himself when he’s eventually sentenced.

In an email to Wolford, Lynch confirmed the government does not believe Foti was involved in or witnessed the alleged criminal conduct that the investigative team uncovered.

Three pages of Lynch’s five-page letter to Foti deal with U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr.’s recusal last June in the Bongiovanni and Gerace case. Sinatra recused himself from that case over two names on a witness list submitted by Gerace’s attorneys. Sinatra did not discuss the connection he has to the two people that prompted his recusal but said he was “duty-bound to recuse.�

“I am skeptical of this tactic,� Sinatra said when he recused himself. “It appears to be gamesmanship – some kind of a maneuver of some sort.�

Soehnlein was one of Gerace’s lawyers at the time, but then moved to withdraw from the Gerace case less than two weeks later for “good cause,� which was never revealed in open court or in filings.

Then Soehnlein rejoined the Gerace defense team in September, teaming up with Foti, who was also appointed to replace the prior counsel, Steven Cohen.

At the Nov. 28 hearing, Foti said his ability with Soehnlein to prepare Gerace’s defense “has taken a significant step back� as a result of the government motion to disqualify Soehnlein.

Foti defended Soehnlein at that hearing, still unaware of the nature of the government’s allegations against his co-counsel.

“He, as the court knows, has a reputation in this community that I think is well-earned and well-deserved,� Foti told the judge. “He is an attorney of integrity.�

Tripi said the government did not publicly reveal information in its motion to disqualify Soehnlein because of a “legitimate need to preserve secrecy of the grand jury.�

“We understand that now this has jeopardized getting a case to trial that we’ve wanted to get to trial since fall of 2022,� Tripi told the judge Nov. 28.

Tripi told the judge that the government was duty-bound to raise the issue.

“Yeah, you say ‘duty-bound,’ Mr. Tripi,� the judge replied. “That may be an overstatement.�

“I have some serious doubts about whether the government is duty-bound to do what they did,� the judge added.

Tripi at the Nov. 28 hearing said Soehnlein “can figure out a good portion� of the government’s reasons for seeking to oust him because he and his co-counsel have access to recordings and “they lived through the events. So he does know.�

“So he can figure it out for himself?� the judge replied. “Not going to happen. Incredibly unfair, incredibly heavy-handed and not going to happen.�

Vilardo was less aggressive toward prosecutors at Friday’s proceeding but pressed them to share information with Soehnlein and his counsel.

At his proceeding on Tuesday, meanwhile, Arrington complained about being targeted by authorities, even as Wolford sought to refrain him from making comments about the other investigation unrelated to his racketeering conviction.

“They purposely send people into the jail targeting me,� Arrington said. “I see them coming a mile away.�