A recent big question in the YSL RICO case is how Brian Steel became aware of a private conversation that the judge had in his chambers. While that ex parte definitely shouldn’t have happened, it is reasonable to ask how Steel was privy of it. The hope is that he didn’t take the same intel route as Michael Jacob Libman. The ABA Journal has coverage:
A California lawyer is accused of planning to hire Israeli hackers to access the personal email and phone accounts of a judge who later ordered him to disgorge $1.65 million in attorney fees.
According to a June 6 notice of disciplinary charges, attorney Michael Jacob Libman of Tarzana, California, sought the help of New York lawyer Paul Paradis, who turned out to be a confidential FBI informant directed to record his phone calls and meetings with Libman…In April 2020, according to the charges, Libman contacted an Israeli hacker identified as “Ben,” who was said to be affiliated with an Israeli company called “Black Cube.” The company is largely run by former officers of Mossad and other Israeli intelligence agencies, according to a prior report.
There isn’t anything inherently wrong with wanting to know the content of someone’s phone calls or emails, but things get weird once you start reaching out to foreign governments to do your snooping. Even if the plan went through as Libman wanted, did he not think far enough to consider how he’d go about introducing the stolen information as evidence? Pointed reminder that if you need to steal or self-incriminate to prove a point, the point probably isn’t worth proving.
Lawyer Accused Of Seeking Israeli Hackers To Obtain Judge’s Personal Emails [ABA Journal]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
#Nosy #Lawyer #Busted #Hack #Judges #Emails
