Subject of Hit Movie Aids Extortion Sting

A former husband and an ex-boyfriend of movie subject Erin Brockovich were arrested in a videotaped sting Wednesday and charged with trying to extort about $300,000 from her and her boss, Ed Masry.

Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts in the current hit film “Erin Brockovich,” and Masry were both present when district attorney’s investigators arrested the suspects and their Century City lawyer on felony extortion charges, officials said.

Authorities said that former husband Shawn William Brown, 38, and ex-boyfriend Jorg Lawrence Halaby, 46, demanded the money in exchange for not talking to tabloid reporters.

“It is true that there was an extortion attempt of Erin and I,” Masry, a lawyer, said later from his Westlake Village office. “The threat was that they were going to go to the press and say that Erin and I had a sexual relationship and that Erin was a bad mother.”

He and Brockovich said neither accusation is true.

Brown of Simi Valley and Halaby of Costa Mesa were arrested along with their lawyer, John Jeffrey Reiner, 52. They were booked into Ventura County Jail, and bail was set at $50,000 each. Charges were filed Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court.

Brockovich, an investigator for Masry, said Brown and Halaby are “bitter, but that doesn’t mean they’re right coming to me and demanding money. I’ve been trying to do the right thing, and it kind of came back and bit me in the butt.”

She said Brown, her first husband, was upset that he did not get a share of the Universal movie deal, and Halaby was angry at the way their relationship ended.

Halaby’s character, a long-suffering biker/baby-sitter, is prominent in the movie, which tells the story of a down-on-her-luck single mother whose work on an environmental case leads to a $333-million settlement by PG&E.;

“I’m sorry Universal didn’t buy Shawn’s rights,” Brockovich said. “And Jorg was paid by Universal and portrayed well. I was thankful for what he did. And I was kind and good to him, but I was simply not in love with him.”

The arrests culminated a two-week investigation by the Ventura County district attorney’s office, with help from FBI agents in Los Angeles and Ventura, officials said.

It began after Thousand Oaks attorney Cathleen Drury, who represents Brockovich in a child custody dispute with Brown, filed a complaint with the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors charge that in a series of conversations beginning April 11, Reiner called Masry to say that Brown was ready to give interviews that would cast Masry and Brockovich in an unfavorable light. But Reiner said Brown would hold off for $200,000, the charges say.

That amount grew to $280,000 as Reiner came to represent both Brown and Halaby, prosecutors maintain in court documents. On April 17, Reiner faxed a proposal to Masry agreeing that for $280,000, both men would never accuse Brockovich of being a bad parent or of having sex with Masry.

Then, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, as a hidden camera rolled, the three men met with Masry, Brockovich and Drury in Drury’s Thousand Oaks office.

They all signed an agreement calling for the men’s silence in exchange for two checks, one of $30,000 for Halaby and another of $280,000 for Brown, Masry said. Both checks were made out to attorney Reiner as well, Masry said.

Brockovich and Masry left the room. Investigators entered almost immediately to make the arrests.

“I was on the verge of crying,” Brockovich said. “I felt like I was going to throw up. The whole thing made me sick.”

Masry said he might have appeared stoic, “but I felt tremendously sad. Families are going to be impacted by this. My wife is sick from this. Erin’s husband is sick over it. It’s not like we won anything. Everybody in this is a loser.”