DENYING EXTORTION BROCKOVICH MISLED EX, LAWYER SAYS.

Byline: David Greenberg Staff Writer

VENTURA - The lawyer for Erin Brockovich's ex-husband on Wednesday accused the recent movie subject and her lawyer-boss of initiating the money talks that led to the arrest of his client and two others on extortion charges.

Shawn Brown was simply discussing the negative portrayal of him in the Julia Roberts blockbuster ``Erin Brockovich'' when the real-life legal researcher and her boss, Ed Masry, brought money into the discussion, the attorney said.

``The offers and conversations of what to say and not to say started from the Brockovich-Masry camp,'' said defense attorney Joel Isaacson, who stopped short of calling the April 26 arrest a set-up.

Brown ``felt like he wanted to respond to (the movie.) We feel he has the right to do that. He wanted to tell the truth - the way he saw it occur,'' Isaacson said.

Isaacson's remarks outside the Ventura County Hall of Justice came after lawyers for the three defendants delayed their arraignments until June 19 on felony charges of conspiracy to commit blackmail and attempted blackmail.

Authorities say Brown, 38, of Simi Valley, Jorg Halaby, 46, of Costa Mesa and Century City attorney John Reiner, 53, threatened to portray Brockovich and Masry in an unflattering light if the two did not pay them $310,000.

They are accused to threatening to tell the tabloid media that Brockovich and Masry - both married to others - had an affair and that Brockovich was a poor mother to her three children. Brown is the father of Brockovich's two older children.

Brown was to receive $280,000 while Halaby, an ex-boyfriend of Brockovich's who is portrayed by actor Aaron Eckhart in the movie, was to receive $30,000, authorities said.

But Isaacson said the meeting April 26, when money exchanged hands under police surveillance, took place on the advice of Reiner.

``(Extortion) did not happen,'' Isaacson said. ``We think the whole picture's got to be looked at.''

Prosecutor Bob Calvert would not comment on the case.

Brockovich, the 39-year-old director of research at Masry & Vititoe, a Westlake Village law firm, was in New Orleans. Her assistant said Brockovich refused to comment on Isaacson's allegations.

Masry, however, laughed off the claims.

``Why would I initiate a talk to give Shawn money?'' he said. ``My mother may have raised an ugly child but she didn't raise a stupid one. That's ridiculous.''

In the critically acclaimed movie, Roberts portrays Brockovich as a down-on-her-luck, twice-divorced single mother of three who is hired as a file clerk by Masry, played by Albert Finney. She becomes interested in a case in which residents of Hinkley, Calif., are suffering devastating illnesses because of a contaminated water supply, and she helps Masry's law firm win a record $333 million judgment from the powerful utility Pacific Gas & Electric.

Brown is not depicted in the movie, although the title character implies that he is a deadbeat father who was never around. But in an interview after his arrest, Brown maintained that he has always been a caring father to his son and daughter, now 16 and 15.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1) Erin Brockovich's ex-husband Shawn Brown listens, above, while his attorney, Joel Isaacson, talks to the media Wednesday at the Hall of Justice in Ventura.

(2 -- ran in Valley edition only) Below, Jorg Halaby, right, clasps the hand of his lawyer, Sheldon Levitin. Brown, Halaby and a third defendant have been accused of extortion of Brockovich and her boss.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color -- ran in Conejo and Simi only) Shawn Brown, ex-husband of movie subject Erin Brockovich, sits in a Ventura County courtroom where his arraignment on blackmail charges was delayed Wednesday.