Spurned woman faces sentence for extortion

BOSTON -- A federal judge says he'll likely accept a plea deal that gives probation to a woman prosecutors say threatened to kill a Boston financier who spurned her.

Under the deal filed in court Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns would sentence Laura Goldman to five years probation for attempted extortion.

Court records say Goldman had a brief affair with financier Thomas H. Lee in 1993, then falsely accused him of rape after he rebuffed her. She was convicted of harassment and extortion in New York in the late 1990s.

A 2002 indictment accused Goldman of threatening to kill Lee if he didn't pay for her mental health treatment. She was extradited from Israel in April.

Her probation deal keeps her away from Lee and his family.

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