Dan Rashbaum

Dan Rashbaum led Charlie Adelson’s defense, arguing that post-killing payments and recorded conversations reflected extortion rather than murder-for-hire compensation. He challenged the asserted relocation motive, the timing and reliability of witness accounts, possible witness bias, cooperating witnesses’ prior statements and incentives, and the interpretation of recurring payments. He also emphasized limits in financial records, historical cell-site analysis, undercover operations, audio recordings, investigative inferences, and alleged burner-phone evidence. During the defense case, he used Adelson’s testimony and recorded calls to present Adelson’s denials and claimed understanding of threats and payments, while litigating the admissibility and scope of text messages, a family call, and other evidence. He closed by arguing that conflicting testimony and disputed interpretations left reasonable doubt. The jury found Charlie Adelson guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation.

At Donna Adelson’s later trial, a recorded call and former counsel Marissel Descalzo’s testimony referred to Rashbaum in connection with consultations about Donna Adelson’s stated mental-health concerns, ethics advice, possible travel, and uncertainty over an arrest warrant or airport arrest.