Police investigate high-profile NYC lawyer after rape complaint

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities are investigating an allegation that a New York lawyer who has been involved in high-profile civil rights lawsuits against police raped a woman at his Manhattan apartment last week, police said on Monday. Investigators searched the apartment of attorney Sanford Rubenstein on Sunday after a 43-year-old woman told police he raped her, police said. No charges have been filed, and a lawyer representing Rubenstein has said no crime was committed. Rubenstein, 70, and the woman attended a 60th birthday party on Wednesday for civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has worked for years with Rubenstein on misconduct cases against the police department. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, filmmaker Spike Lee and singer Aretha Franklin were among the other guests. A spokeswoman for Sharpton said the woman, who has not been publicly identified, works for the National Action Network, Sharpton's activism group. "I feel that I am in a situation that I could not say anything disparaging about either one of them, so I'll have to wait and see where the investigation goes," Sharpton told reporters on Sunday, according to local news channels. Rubenstein and Sharpton are representing the family of Eric Garner, a man who died in July when New York police put him in a chokehold as they arrested him for peddling loose cigarettes. Sharpton said he and a lawyer from the National Action Network had met with Garner's relatives to discuss the allegations. In a statement, Sharpton said Garner's relatives would announce on Saturday how they plan to continue their "ongoing pursuit of justice." Neither Rubenstein nor the woman could be immediately reached for comment. Scott Rynecki, who leads a Brooklyn law firm with Rubenstein, referred questions to Benjamin Brafman, a defense lawyer for Rubenstein. Brafman told reporters no crime was committed. "We are hopeful and confident that at the end of the investigation no charges will be filed," he said, according to local news channels. Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer representing the woman, said his client and Rubenstein were acquaintances before Sharpton's party, and that she and a friend who was with her when they went to Rubenstein's apartment were cooperating with investigators. "We're here to ensure that this young lady isn't chewed up by the system like many women in this position have been in the past," Montgomery said in a telephone interview. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Mohammad Zargham, Steve Orlofsky and Peter Cooney)