Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee is the goal of two lawsuits filed in a Louisiana federal court docket accusing the lawyer and his legislation agency of pocketing settlement cash via unethical accounting practices.
Buzbee has dismissed the claims as “patently frivolous,” arguing they had been designed to hurt his popularity and undermine his agency’s function in representing alleged sexual assault victims within the ongoing civil litigation towards Sean “Diddy” Combs. According to Buzbee, the previous purchasers had been financially incentivized to file lawsuits towards him, including that one former shopper was provided $10,000 to file go well with towards Buzbee.
“We have reported this conduct to the authorities,” Buzbee wrote in an electronic mail Tuesday afternoon. “We anticipate disciplinary motion to be taken towards the legal professionals and people concerned. These investigators have been caught on tape. This is egregious and unlawful conduct.”
The two lawsuits had been filed within the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana final week.
In one case, a former ship captain named Adam Guidry alleges Buzbee took benefit of him by not explaining the related bills in his case. Guidry retained the Buzbee legislation agency in 2020 after he was injured on a dredging ship owned by Callan Marine. The case was in the end settled, however in response to the lawsuit, Buzbee’s legislation agency retained many of the $350,000 settlement. In the tip, Guidry’s attorneys declare he acquired solely $5,123.
In the opposite lawsuit, a ship deckhand named Matthew Ray Thompson claims Buzbee didn’t give him the cash he was entitled to via the Jones Act — which offers a treatment to seamen injured in the middle of their employment aboard a vessel because of the negligence of their employer, in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s web site.
Buzbee’s legislation agency represented Thompson in a 2023 lawsuit towards Strategic Towing Services after he was injured in a barge collision within the Houston Ship Channel. According to Thompson’s lawsuit towards Buzbee, the legislation agency allegedly deposited his checks into the agency’s working account and issued funds to Thompson and his spouse via Venmo as high-interest loans.
Both instances declare the legislation agency of unethical accounting practices, however in response to Buzbee, he has “affidavits from each purchasers agreeing and approving the accounting of their instances.”
“And I now have affidavits and a recording demonstrating that these purchasers had been paid cash to file these frivolous instances,” he added.
Buzbee didn’t share the referenced affidavits or recordings, however informed Houston Public Media that he’s shared the knowledge with legislation enforcement and plans to file a lawsuit in response to the allegations this week.
This comes months after Buzbee introduced he would signify a whole lot of alleged sexual assault victims in authorized efforts towards rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who’s been federally indicted for alleged intercourse trafficking. Also named within the case is high-profile rapper and businessman Jay-Z, who’s accused of drugging and sexually abusing a minor in 2000.
