State Bar of California

UPDATED: Federal Prosecutor Booted From Controversial Organized-Crime Case

A U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor--who aggressively pursued a Los Angeles-based, Armenian organized-crime investigation with tentacles in Orange County but ran afoul of a federal magistrate--has been booted from the case. Though exceptionally rare inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal ... More >>

Navel Gazing's Project Un-uncensored

Looking back at 2012 news that was fit to blog but not to print . . . until now

Is John Eastman Hiding Homo-Haters?

Former presidential candidate Fred Karger wants the former Chapman University law professor to reveal who's donating money to his fight against gay marriage

More American Than Jay Chen?

Ignoring racist emails is all in a day's work for the Democratic congressional candidate

Jay Chen, LA-OC Congressional Candidate, Gets Racist "Gook" Email From Disbarred Lawyer

Most people don't respond to mass emails from political campaigns. But Sam Liu, campaign manager for candidate Jay Chen, sent the Weekly a message he received on Oct. 13 in response to a bulk email asking voters to support Chen's race for the 39th congressional district against i ... More >>

Meet the Man Whom Anaheim Council Candidate Steve Lodge Had Wrongfully Imprisoned for Murder

In 2003, then-Santa Ana police officer and current Anaheim city council candidate Steve Lodge--he of the multiple police-brutality lawsuits filed against him--received a glowing profile in the Los Angeles Times by then-Orange County bureau reporter and current Pulitzer Prize winner Jeff Gottlieb. It ... More >>

OC Detective Calls For County Supervisors to Dismantle Alternate Defense Services

 Remember CJ Ford?He was the private investigator who I profiled in my March 2010 story, "Bad Detective." Ford isn't the bad detective in question, though. That honor went to Joseph Szeles, who does detective work for low-income inmates being housed in the county jail who choose to represent th ... More >>

Orange County Lawyer in Loan Modification Scam Loses Federal Appeal

For several years beginning in about 2008, Orange County attorney/businessman Paul Jeffrey Lucas and his Lucas Law Center ran a mortgage loan modification scam that ripped off numerous consumers between $1,000 to $3,995 each.From their Aliso Viejo offices, Lucas and his employees promised to perform ... More >>

Kiddie Porn Case Wrecks Newport Beach Lawyer's Career, Sends Him to Prison

Carlton Neil Morse grew up in Tustin with a loving family, joined the Boy Scouts, became an Eagle Scout and eventually graduated from USC Law School, which helped him land a great job at a Newport Beach law firm.Life was outwardly great for Morse.But he couldn't handle his attraction to other men, t ... More >>

Tuan Thanh Tran, Former Attorney, Accused of Stealing $150k from Former Clients

Between May 2011 and this past February, Irvine attorney Tuan Thanh Tran represented five separate clients in lawsuits tied to traffic accidents, settling with insurance companies and receiving checks totaling more than $150,000 for his clients.The thing is, the 43-year-old is alleged by Irvine Pol ... More >>

Peter David Nitschke, Attorney-Church Leader, Allegedly Stole $720k from Elderly Sisters

Peter David Nitschke was an Irvine-based attorney and president of Lutheran Church of the Cross in Laguna Woods in 2010 when he offered to "help" manage the finances of two elderly sisters he knew from the congregation, after the death of their 95-year-old mother.But, on Tuesday, Irvine Police arr ... More >>

Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, Couple Accused of Planting Drugs in School Volunteer's Car, Have Hearing Delayed

The arraignment of Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, who are accused of planting drugs in a school volunteer's car, was delayed today because of a "healthcare emergency" that left the husband "unable to speak," according to his lawyer.Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schw ... More >>

Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter Sued by Terrified School Volunteer

The husband and wife lawyers accused of planting drugs on an Irvine elementary school volunteer as revenge for their son getting disciplined have more court time coming their way.Besides the criminal case against Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jill Bjorkholm Easter, they are now subjects of a lawsuit brou ... More >>

George Jaramillo, Ex-Assistant OC Sheriff, Faces Jail Again if Lying To Federal Judge About Money

Wearing his traditional natty dark suit but minus the once dominant cat-who-swallowed-the-canary glare, Assistant Sheriff turned convicted felon George Jaramillo marched into the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse today to explain why he's still not, well, a sneaky bastard.Of course, I am taking sligh ... More >>

Kurt Duncan Naegele Sentence in Hearst Castle DUI Crash That Killed a Man Satisfies None

No one was happy when Kurt Duncan Naegele was blamed for causing a 2009 car crash near Hearst Castle that injured him, two others and killed a fourth. And they weren't happy when a mistrial was declared in his vehicular manslaughter trial after the defense said it would present evidence showing a di ... More >>

[UPDATED with Possible Victim I.D., Easters' Past:] Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, Attorney Couple, Allegedly Planted Drugs on School Volunteer

See end of the post for victim possibly identified in lawsuit Kent Easter filed against her and his wife Jill's legal and crime-thriller background. ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 19, 2:23 P.M.: Kent and Jill Easter are accused of being very bad eggs.The husband and wife attorneys face charges today of planti ... More >>

Michael Alexander and Marc Tow, Newport Beach Investment Partners, Outed as Con Men

Michael Alexander​Newport Beach investor Mike Alexander was portrayed as hero a few years back for acquiring and planning to rehabilitate hundreds of foreclosed residences in Detroit. Now that many similar deals have turned to merde in Cleveland, he is being portrayed as a scam artist who once wen ... More >>

Christopher Wright Fox and Curtis James Melone Loan-Mod Prosecution Does Not Surprise Blogger Who Has Dogged Them

​When the California Attorney General last week announced the arrests of Christopher Wright Fox (left) and his partner Curtis James Melone for allegedly collecting more than $6 million from homeowners nationwide for loan modification services that were never performed, Moe Bedard was not surprise ... More >>

[UPDATE] Law Enforcement Descends on 'OC Weekly' Building!

Brandon Ferguson​UPDATE, 2:30 P.M., SEPTEMBER 6, 2011: It's been eerily quiet in the hallways surrounding Weekly world headquarters since our neighbors at the Law Offices of Anthony Kassas were escorted off the premises nearly three weeks ago by officials from the California Department of Justice. ... More >>

Law Enforcement Descends on OC Weekly Building!

Brandon Ferguson​Usually, when an aspiring journalist imagines the excitement of his job, he has visions of far-flung battlefields or back alley crime scenes in some gritty urban environment, not the sterile office-park building that houses the Costa Mesa newsroom where he works.But that's exactly ... More >>

[UPDATED with Artist Accusing Gallerist of Fraud:] Todd White, SpongeBob Squarepants Animator-Turned-Painter, Blamed in Suit for Surf City "Attack"

​UPDATE, AUG. 17, 1:39 P.M.: Calling allegations that he hired ninjas to attack, silence and force out a Huntington Beach gallerist "totally absurd" (not to mention the accompanying $5.5 million lawsuit), Hollywood artist Todd White unveiled a much different version of the Aug. 2 events at Surf Ci ... More >>

[UPDATED with Defense Response:] Pierce O'Donnell, LA Super-Lawyer, Appears Prison Bound

​UPDATE, AUG. 5, 9 A.M.: In response to our blog post yesterday on Pierce O'Donnell (shown at right) pleading guilty in federal court to making illegal contributions to presidential candidate John Edwards in 2003--to complete a deal with prosecutors that would have the LA super-lawyer in lockup fo ... More >>

Soka University of America Is a School On a Hill

The Aliso Viejo college was founded by a Buddhist sect that preaches peace—so why are so many former professors alleging the opposite?

Redmond Peter McAneny, Newport Beach Attorney, Accused of Screwing Widow Out of $117,000

​An attorney who practices in Newport Beach and resides in Huntington Beach is accused of stealing $117,000 from a widow after representing her in a case regarding her late husband's life insurance policy. Redmond Peter McAneny, 55, could get up to four years in state prison if he is convicted o ... More >>

Sunday News Notes

​News highlights include:Meg Whitman's cash is buying her second placeCathleen Decker of the LA Times reports that new polling shows Jerry Brown gaining a "slight edge" over Meg Whitman and that Barbara Boxer has "opened a wider margin over GOP nominee Carly Fiorina in the race for U.S. Senate. ... More >>

Mike Carona On the Mic

[Moxley Confidential] The convicted ex-sheriff says he should have been warned that his buddy was wearing a wire

College District Board's Battle Cry: Send Lawyers, Hired Guns and Money

​The South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) board votes tonight on whether to pay a private lawyer $25,000 in taxpayer funds for helping negotiate what the district calls the "Mathur settlement." Why the district must settle anything with Raghu Mathur, who in January was fired/did ... More >>

FBI Raids Irvine-Based Law Firm

Photo by Randall MarquisULG's motto: "Legal services for honest Americans."​Do not give this man your money. Irvine-based loan modification firm, United Law Group, was raided this afternoon by the FBI and Irvine Police.Robert Buscho ​The firm describes itself on its website as one of the largest ... More >>

Westminster Tabs New Police Chief

Mitch Waller goes from captain to chief at Westminster Police Department.​Westminster Police Captain Mitch Waller will be promoted to police chief with the retirement of Andrew Hall, City Manager Don Lamm and the Westminster City Council announced.

Ex-Dana Rohrabacher Aide Turned Convicted Pedophile Gets Out of Prison

Nielsen is outJeffrey Ray Nielsen--the Orange County Republican activist, close Washington, D.C., aide to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and convicted pedophile--is out of prison and living in Laguna Beach, according to a California Attorney General's website that tracts the where ... More >>

Agran Crony and Gore Campaigner Agrees to Guilty Pleas in Federal Wire Fraud Case

Irvine attorney Sandeep Baweja, the 39-year-old money man for that town's "progressive" political boss Larry Agran and a former official with Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, agreed in court papers to plead guilty to two felony charges related to a scheme where he ripped off nearly all of the $ ... More >>

Anti-Obama 'Eligibility' Movement Members Breaking Ties With Laguna Niguel Birther Orly Taitz

Meet Orly Taitz, Queen Bee of People Obsessed With Barack Obama's Birth Certificate

Attorney Who Misspent Clients' $2.7 Million Was at Center of Irvine Election Controversies

The Register's Greg Hardesty has the scoop on 38-year-old Irvine attorney Sandeep Baweja admitting to burning through nearly all of a $2.7-million settlement that was supposed to be shared by about 1,000 plaintiffs he represented in a class-action labor lawsuit.According to the story, Baweja played ... More >>

Counsel Bluffs

The DA's office claims John Hedderman wasn't just a bad lawyer when he bungled all those cases-they say he wasn't a lawyer at all

a Clockwork Orange

Reversal of Misfortune

Convicted OC businessman alleges his attorney was a no-good, two-timing shyster

Scam Adams

John Adams wants to be judge in a bad way

Where Are the Cops?

Despite a judges ruling that he defrauded investors of millions, Eddie Allen still runs free