A judge yesterday branded crooked ex-pol Pedro Espada Jr. “a great gamesman” after the former state senator said he had been “misrepresented” by his lawyer and demanded the return of $100,000 in legal fees.

Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley III set a hearing today into Espada’s claims against defense lawyer Daniel Hochheiser, which Pauley called a “ploy” to avoid a Nov. 5 tax trial tied to Espada’s looting of his nonprofit medical clinic.

Hochheiser asked Pauley to let him off the case because Espada had stopped paying his bills.