A prominent Manhattan lawyer will no longer represent a serial conman who persuaded him to take his case after claiming he was the lovechild of a late IRA leader.
Attorney Eddie Hayes withdrew from the case Tuesday morning because he now doubts that “Catch Me If You Can” swindler Jeremy Wilson, 42, is indeed the offspring of Brian Keenan, he said.
Wilson claimed that his mother had a fling with Keenan after meeting him at a rally in Ireland in the early 1970s.
“I just don’t know what’s going on,” Hayes said of Wilson’s claim. “The reason I withdrew is I’m Irish American, I go to Ireland all the time, and I don’t want to be in a position where I’d be embarrassed over there.”
Wilson was most recently busted for posing as a wounded U.S. Army veteran to con his way into a posh pad and a luxury BMW lease. He also pretended to be a British Airways executive and an MIT student, authorities said.
Meanwhile, Wilson’s new lawyer Robert Briere told Justice Laura Ward that his client insists his real name is Jeremy Keenan.
The judge said she wouldn’t alter the name on court documents without solid proof.
The late Keenan is a revered figure in Ireland. He spent 18 years in prison for orchestrating the London bombing campaign in the 1970s. But, after his release, he became instrumental in the peace process.