Lawyer Accused Of Luring Women Into Polygamous Lifestyle
DENVER (CBS4) - A high profile defense attorney in Denver faces allegations he traded legal services for sex.
A lawsuit filed in Denver District Court claims Charles Fife preyed on desperate women and lured them into a polygamous lifestyle. The suit alleges sexual exploitation.
Fife does not face criminal charges. The lawsuit states he faced a similar suit in 2004 that did not result in him being disbarred.
Fife operates the website DUIDenver.com. His website also says he specializes in protecting the victims of sex crimes. But according to the lawsuit those were exactly the women Fife targeted.
"They were vulnerable women who really didn't have any other opportunity to get help except through an exchange of sex with him," said Jay Reinan, who represents a victim in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the activity stretches back five years. It states Fife housed the women at an apartment building called Korsakov apartments on 1625 South Birch Street, which is a few blocks from his law offices.
It also states Fife traded sex for legal counsel after a victim ran out of money to pay him. The suit says Fife claimed women he picked up through his practice as wives and that Fife pressed his fundamental Mormon beliefs on them.
The suit doesn't claim any of the women were raped, but Reinan said most of the women were financially destitute. They allegedly felt trapped and couldn't say no.
"She really can't consent to having a sexual relationship with him because he has all the cards. He has the money, he has the ability to keep her out of from jail, he has the ability to stop representing her if she withholds sex from him. So it's not fair," Reinan said.
Fife eventually hired the victim in the lawsuit to work for him, where the relationship continued.
His office was allegedly used as a sex studio. Allegedly, 30,000 videos and pictures of obscene sex acts with multiple women were recorded.
Fife did not return CBS4's calls requesting comments about the matter.