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Convicted of extortion

2 cleared of kidnaping

whisky heir Bronfman

WHITE PLAINS,

·N.Y. (P)

Samuel

Bronfman II's two accused abductors were acquitted of kidnaping charges yesterday, but were convicted of extorting $23 million in. ransom from the whisky heir's father.

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Bronfman

By its acquittal, the jury accepted testimony of de-. fendant Mel P. Lynch that the kidnaping Aug. 8, 1975, was a hoax planned by Bronfman, now 23, to extort money from his father. Codefendant Dominic Byrne did not take the witness stand.

"He engineered it," said juror Amelia Driscot, a Mount Vernon (N.Y housewife, in agreeing with Lynch's account of a phony kidnaping. She was one of seven women on the 12-member panel that began deliverations Wednesday night after an eight-week trial.

Lynch admitted extortion to the degree that he delivered ransom demands to Edgar Bronfman, head of the Seagram distillery empire, and picked up the ransom, which was later recovered. But he said he was only doing young Bronfman's bidding.

Lynch said he was forced to help when Bronfman threatned to expose him as homosexual.

Bronfman testified that the kid-

Lynch

Byrne

naping was real and he was in fear of his life. He denied having any part in the extortion scheme, adding he had no need for the money. He said he was kidnaped at gunpoint from his mother's estate about 25 miles from New York City.

Byrne, 54, a limousine operator, did not take the stand. However, he had said he had been duped into taking part in the crime.

Lawyers for both defendants said they would appeal the extortion conviction, which carries a maximum 15-year prison term. Kidnaping carries a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life.