PNT commentary: As of January 8, 2020 – the incredibly aware and thorough legal blogger known as Luke O’Brien @LUKEobrien has reported the following in regards to the attorney Marc Randazza of Randazza Legal Group.

Unethical attorney-to-the-trolls Marc Randazza is sitting in a Florida court today facing sanctions or disbarment for soliciting porn bribes and other dirty dealing. A former federal judge once called Randazza a danger to the public. With good reason:https://t.co/XXa6pkPDDF

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Randazza has done more than any lawyer to help far-right goons leverage the protections of democracy in an effort to undermine them. He’s very chummy with fascists and racists who use defamation, harassment and threats to silence others. Some of Randazza’s clients:

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Nazi Republican candidate Paul Nehlen; white supremacist Jared Taylor; Holocaust-denying slanderer Chuck Johnson; Pizzagate peddler and Putin fanboy Mike Cernovich, pro-rape misogynist Daryush “Roosh” Valizadeh…

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

8chan, the now-shuttered home of Nazis and mass murderers; Gab, the alt-right sewer where Nazi Robert Bowers radicalized before committing mass murder in Pittsburgh; Mercedes Carrera, the porn star charged last year with eight counts of sexually abusing a minor under 10… pic.twitter.com/TDm0NpcXvg

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Randazza’s 2nd-most notorious client is Nazi Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the Daily Stormer, whose readers tend to murder. James Jackson, who stabbed a black man in NY to death with a sword in an effort to start a race war, cited DS as an influence.https://t.co/SeFef7pQL9

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

In an unprecedentedly classless move, Randazza used Holocaust denial in court to defend Anglin. Deborah Lipstadt, a leading Holocaust denial scholar, called the gambit “revolting.” Anglin ended up losing multiple cases and is now ~$20m in the hole.https://t.co/cxMGevYcJs

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Randazza’s most notorious client-friend, however, is wackadoodle Trump leghumper Alex Jones, the conspiracist who tormented and slandered the families of murdered Sandy Hook kids. Like many who hire Randazza, Jones is also losing big in court. pic.twitter.com/KdY04ofyKt

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Sadly for Randazza, he was deemed unfit to represent the deplorable Jones in a case there when a judge wisely denied Randazza entry to her court, citing the attorney’s “serious misconduct.”https://t.co/NYrP7ZSxXG

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

But that didn’t stop Randazza from lawyerin’ elsewhere. He and rape apologist Cernovich intervened in the Jeffrey Epstein case in an apparent effort to help accused sex assaulter Alan Dershowitz, who mentored Randazza client Chuck Johnson.https://t.co/807GnXMMCm

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Before all this, however, Randazza worked as a copyright enforcer for Liberty, a porn company in Nevada. On his first try at passing the Nevada Bar exam, he failed the ethics part of the test. Randazza would go on to betray his employer and commit numerous ethical transgressions: pic.twitter.com/iUifgJGAs3

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

“There needs to be a little gravy for me,” he once wrote opposing counsel while seeking a bribe from the people he was paid to sue. “I’m gonna want at least used BMW money.” pic.twitter.com/WV0K4BV0Dx

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

In 2013, Randazza’s employer reported him to the Nevada Bar after catching him trying to solicit another bribe. Liberty had to lobby for years and provide a mountain of evidence to get the Nevada Bar to take action.

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

But lawyers police their own behind closed doors, and the Nevada Bar failed to pursue all of Randazza’s ethical violations, instead finding “mitigating circumstances” to allow for lighter punishment. In 2018, Randazza got a stayed suspension and probation. A slap on the wrist. pic.twitter.com/TcW5Qh6H89

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

The punishment did, however, trigger “reciprocal discipline” in other states where Randazza is licensed, including Florida. And different Bars can discipline attorneys differently.

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Randazza has since had unrelated Bar complaints filed against him in California and Arizona by a man named Tom Retzlaff who is upset about Randazza’s behavior in other cases. This is interesting.

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Retzlaff has tangled in court with far-right extremists such as Jason Lee Van Dyke, a lawyer and ex-member of the Proud Boys gang who has worked closely with Randazza. Van Dyke was recently suspended from practicing law for threatening to kill Retzlaff.https://t.co/Atagl0wAl1

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Yesterday, Retzlaff sent a fiery letter to Dawn Caloca-Johnson, the judge in Randazza’s Florida disciplinary proceeding. In it, Retzlaff demanded that Randazza be disbarred.

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Retzlaff’s letter also included a tantalizing tidbit about how Randazza and Van Dyke sponsored Kyle Bristow, a white nationalist and lawyer who has advised Richard Spencer, for admission to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. https://t.co/ftZl1SzEtx pic.twitter.com/OaGCrRQTIR

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

Retzlaff had mentioned the Randazza-Bristow connection to me before. Months ago, I asked Randazza if he’d worked with Bristow. He told me he had. When I asked if he’d sponsored the white nationalist for the Supreme Court, Randazza said, “I don’t remember.”

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

What will Randazza do next? Will the attorney-to-the-trolls be disbarred? Will he keep lawyerin’ for Nazis? More to come.

— Luke O’Brien (@lukeobrien) January 8, 2020

 

via MSNBC

Michael Avenatti jailed without bond after allegedly violating his pretrial release terms

A California federal judge on Wednesday ordered attorney Michael Avenatti to be held in jail without bond until his trial for probable violations of his pretrial conditions, including allegedly hiding his assets to defraud creditors.

Avenatti was arrested Tuesday night on a bench warrant after prosecutors alleged he committed new crimes while out on bail.

Internal Revenue Service agents arrested Avenatti for allegedly violating the terms of his pre-release including committing mail fraud and wire fraud and structuring currency transactions to evade reporting requirements, federal court documents say.

Avenatti is accused of purchasing numerous cashier’s checks, a financial move to evade creditors and law enforcement from fund seizure, and moving money among various accounts. Last May, Avenatti’s first ex-wife, referred to as Christine A. Carlin, purchased a 2014 Mercedes S550 on his behalf using a cashier’s check.

The conditions of Avenatti’s pretrial release prevent him from spending or transferring $5,000 or more in a single transaction without notifying pretrial services.

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