A top attorney in Baltimore testified Friday that he advised malpractice attorney Stephen L. Snyder that it was ethical to pursue a $25 million consulting agreement with the University of Maryland Medical System — but he also said he had been unaware of threats Snyder was lobbing at hospital officials.

Snyder is on trial in federal court for charges of attempted extortion, with prosecutors saying he demanded payment while threatening to nuke public trust in UMMS by exposing what he believed were flaws in its organ transplant program.

Snyder, who is representing himself, says he was simply being an aggressive lawyer. As part of his defense, he is pointing to the fact that he consulted with other attorneys to make sure the contours of his behavior were “on the straight and narrow,” as he described it.

In a filing unsealed late Friday, prosecutors acknowledged that they initially declined to criminally charge Snyder because his willingness to include attorney Andrew Jay Graham showed there was “no criminal intent.” A new prosecutor later decided the case should be charged. Snyder is prohibited from presenting that information to the jury.

Graham, founder of the Baltimore firm Kramon & Graham and who often represents attorneys and judges on ethical or disciplinary matters, testified that Snyder reached out seeking advice on how to fashion a consultancy in which he would provide “quality assurance” and improve standards at the hospital.

Graham, who is representing Snyder in a pending case before the attorney grievance commission, was called as a prosecution witness.

Prosecutors displayed an email that Snyder drafted to hospital officials and sent Graham in August 2018. “In summary, this is not a plan to extort money to avoid public exposure — I will help keep this department on the straight and narrow and you will pay me for my firm’s expertise,” Snyder wrote.

Graham sent Snyder two copies of written agreements he could use as a starting point, and confirmed he’d heard that Snyder wanted $25 million.

“Did you ever tell me this contract was extortion?” Snyder, who is representing himself, asked Graham in court.

“No,” Graham said.

“Didn’t I tell you if consulting were to take place, I wanted to do it the right way?” Snyder asked later.

“Yes,” Graham said.

But Graham also said earlier under prosecution questioning that he didn’t know that Snyder was making threats to the hospital.

Another attorney retained by Snyder testified Thursday that he had advised Snyder that it was critical that he maintain duty of loyalty to his clients first and not put his own interests above them.

Snyder initially sought $25 million for a client whose husband died after a transplant, but negotiated a $5 million settlement for her and pursued $25 million for himself. Snyder says it was at his client’s insistence that he pursue a consultancy and fix what she believed were problems at the hospital.

But in his conversations with hospital officials, surreptitiously recorded by the FBI, Snyder referred to his client as crazy and said he’d work to keep problems quiet.

He told hospital officials that he could do as little or as much as they wanted. If they didn’t agree, he allegedly vowed to expose problems in the transplant program and launch a media blitz that would involve newspaper coverage, television commercials and an “internet bomb” in which people searching for information about UMMS organ transplants would be directed to a website discussing the unit’s alleged problems.

Dr. Rolf Barth, a transplant surgeon at UMMS from 2006 to 2020, defended the program’s work from the witness stand Friday and said Snyder did not understand the complexities of organ transplantation.

Barth said UMMS has been at the forefront of helping more people get transplants and extending their lives, and he argued that other hospitals don’t do enough transplants. He acknowledged that hospital executives would have gotten nervous about data showing UMMS with worse outcomes.

“These organs are underutilized,” Barth testified.

Susan Durbin Kinter, senior vice president of claims, litigation & risk management for UMMS’ insurer, took part in meetings with Snyder over his demand and eventually talked with him in calls recorded by the FBI. She said she felt “very threatened” by Snyder, “personally and professionally.”

“Never in all the years I’ve been doing this had any plaintiffs lawyer told me we had to personally pay them money,” Kinter said.

She got emotional recounting the damage Snyder said he would inflict, and said he had no interest in hearing that some of his claims were untrue or distorted.

Kinter said UMMS never wanted to enter into an agreement with Snyder for consulting, causing Snyder to erupt, saying he was misled and entrapped by the hospital.

“If that was your position, why in the hell didn’t you tell me?” Snyder said.

Because he had threatened to ruin the hospital if they didn’t go along with it, Kinter responded. “You said it; I believed it,” she said.