Justice Matters
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Justice Matters
Hello. I am asking for your help. We need to raise $60,000 to secure justice for eight elderly people whose $800,000 Trust Fund was defrauded and their money stolen by acts of fraud and corruption by six lawyers. The money you help raise will also help to reverse another injustice that happened when an innocent man was deliberately, and secretly, criminally convicted for an administrative building code matter by fraudulent acts committed by his two lawyers. After many years of hard work, I am now prepared to initiate legal action to bring about justice. Doing so will ensure these elderly creditors are finally repaid, that this innocent man will be un-convicted and restored, and that these dishonest lawyers are held accountable.
The truth is, dishonest lawyers cause serious harm to individuals, families and society …and as a just society, we must stand up and hold the legal profession accountable for the egregious misconduct of a few dishonest lawyers and judges.
FIRST STORY: Eight elderly creditors were awarded judgments and court orders that guaranteed full repayment of an $800,000 trust fund. Twelve years later, the trust fund matured. However, the lawyer who controlled the funds crafted an unconscionable scheme to defraud the judgments and court orders with a goal to steal the money away from the eight creditors.
At the time this lawyer was scheming to defraud, he was also serving as vice president of the Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar …one of the highest-ranking lawyers in the state. Worse, the judge assigned to preside over the distribution of the trust fund happened to also be in leadership roles with the Board of Governors and thus a peer of this dishonest lawyer. Rather than recuse himself from presiding as the judge in the case because of his conflict-of-interest with the lawyer, the judge remained silent, stayed on the case, and knowingly ignored the fraudulent misconduct of this lawyer. This judge then deliberately ignored the judgments and court orders that controlled the distribution of the $800,000 trust fund to the eight creditors. In the end, the judge authorized the misappropriation (theft) of the entire trust fund in favor of the lawyer. Not one creditor got a dime!
When a significant State Bar Complaint with supporting evidence was filed against the lawyer who planned and executed this fraud, Disciplinary Counsel refused to follow its own procedural rules and would not require this dishonest lawyer (VP of the Bar’s Board of Governors) to file a required written response to the Bar Complaint. Despite that the Mission Statement of the Oregon State Bar is to "protect the public” from such egregious, damaging acts by its lawyer-members, the Disciplinary Counsel lawyers refused to investigate the alleged fraud. Instead, they engaged in their own ethical misconduct in order to cover up the frauds committed by two of their own: the high-ranking lawyer and the judge. Both the lawyer and the judge got away with the theft. This fraud actually happened in 2014-2016.
SECOND STORY: A building contractor had just finished a beautiful office building for a property owner, including the interior improvements for a group of medical doctors who just moved into their new offices. City officials got upset with the owner over a landscaping issue behind the building so they revoked the occupancy certificates and ordered the owner to evict the doctors during the course of the dispute. The owner refused to put the doctors out of business over minor landscape concerns and did not evict his tenants. This angered City officials, so the City Attorney issued three criminal citations …but against the "builder" instead of the owner. The citations alleged a building code violation (occupancy without a certificate), not a criminal act.
There was one problem, however. In Oregon, a building code violation can only be resolved through the State’s Administrative Agency Building Code Board, not by a judge in a criminal court of law. The reason for this is that the purpose for a criminal court is to punish criminal wrongdoing, whereas the purpose for administrative civil code enforcement is to get the alleged violation corrected so the building is safe for its occupants. Despite having no probable cause, and in violation of law, the police served the three citations upon the builder anyway, and dragged him into court.
The builder hired the most powerful law firm in the region to represent him and solve the absurd occupancy and landscape problems. The City Attorney then admitted to the law firm that he had no authority to prosecute the builder for two reasons: the builder was not the property owner; and the occupancy dispute was a civil penalty issue, not a criminal penalty act. So, the City Attorney settled the matter with the builder’s lawyer and promptly filed a Motion to Amend the Citations with the court. The Motion was to remove the builder as the named-defendant and replace him with the property owner for prosecution. For reasons unknown, the lawyers concealed from their client (the builder) the settlement agreement and motion papers, and then lied to the City Attorney, saying, "their client did not want the citations amended after all."
Worse, the law firm coerced the builder to sign a no-contest plea by falsely telling him that the plea was the only harmless way to resolve the matter. Unaware of the concealments, lies, misrepresentations and false statements by his lawyers, the builder signed the plea. The case was closed. The lawyers also never told their builder/client that the judge would use the no-contest plea to enter three criminal convictions against him. The builder, without a trial, hearing, due process or his knowledge, was criminally convicted three times (once for each citation). The builder would not discover he had been defrauded and secretly convicted until five years later.
The law firm quickly withdrew from representing the builder after causing him to be convicted to his harm but never solved the occupancy problem they were hired to fix. As a consequence, the City still refused to issue the occupancy certificate and threatened the builder with new citations back into court. The builder was then forced to hire new lawyers to solve the ongoing problem. His first law firm then sued him for $68,000 for unpaid attorney fees. Eventually, the builder, unable to work because he was buried full-time in lawsuits because of the damaging conditions his lawyers left him in, went bankrupt. He lost his business, his income, his home, all his assets, and was saddled with multiple judgments.
Five years later, when the builder learned that his own lawyers had defrauded him and caused him to be criminally convicted, he sued the law firm. However, despite that the fraud actually occurred and the convictions happened, the law in Oregon is that a convicted defendant cannot sue his lawyers while he remains convicted. Only until and unless the convictions are set-aside can a defendant sue his lawyers. With your help, the funds we raise will allow a capable law firm to get the convictions set aside. Once this builder is freed from the convictions, he will also be free, for the first time, to sue his lawyers and hold them accountable in a court of law for the severe damages they caused. This fraud actually happened in July 1999.
IN AMERICA, the very Foundation of our Democracy and Freedom is premised on the Rule of Law and requires an honest Judicial System; but we must fight against the fraud and corruption within our Judiciary if we are to maintain the freedoms that our fair and just legal system was intended to afford its citizens.
My name is Ian McElroy. I am this GoFundMe Campaign Organizer. I am 63. I am a paralegal and former general contractor. I am also "that builder" who was secretly convicted without due process or my knowledge, in a criminal court that had no jurisdiction, for an occupancy violation in a building I did not occupy and did not own. That fraudulent episode committed against me by my own lawyers destroyed my construction company, caused the demise of all my business and personal affairs, and in turn harmed many others too.
Worse, I had one remaining asset: my part-ownership in the office park I built. Choosing to take responsibility for my debts nineteen years ago, I voluntarily surrendered my $800,000 asset to my eight creditors through judgments and court orders. I initiated those legal actions against my own interests in order to guarantee that at least my creditors would eventually be repaid if I were to go bankrupt.
You now know the story: Twelve years later the office park property was sold and my funds were ready to be disbursed to the creditors. It was then, in 2014, that the lawyer representing the office park decided to defraud the judgments, the court orders, and the creditors. With help from the judge, the fraud worked. So, not only did eight judgment creditors not get paid, the theft left me $800,000 in ongoing debt that was set to finally be paid off. Indeed, fraud and corruption by our lawyers and judges ruins lives and seriously harms our society; and the State Bar Disciplinary Counsel that is supposed to police attorney misconduct and protect the public is a complete affront to the ideals of justice, values and integrity.
I have spent the past three years collecting the evidence needed to reverse all the wrongs committed against the innocent people in these Two Stories, particularly to have the resulting, unlawful judgments set aside. Notably, for the acts of fraud upon the court committed in both cases, there is no statute of limitation that would prevent the victims from obtaining justice in 2019 for the harms committed in these past events.
I remain committed to winning these cases in court. To win, I have secured Declarations signed under penalty of perjury from eight honest attorneys with personal knowledge of the frauds committed and who wish to see justice administered. Also, I have secured four Legal Ethics Opinions from a respected ethicist in Washington DC. An outside ethicist was needed because Oregon's Disciplinary Counsel attorneys refused to investigate the misconduct complained of in order to avoid any release an official, truthful conclusion about the reported corruption. The Ethics Opinions I have obtained explain in detail the ethical violations committed by the lawyers involved. You can read the Opinions if you like. See the link below.
With the Evidence, Declarations, and Ethics Opinions in-hand, I am now ready to hire a reliable, aggressive law firm to file an action in Federal Court to set aside the judicial rulings that stole an $800,000 trust fund from eight elderly creditors, and that convicted an innocent man twenty years ago. Once this happens, the trust funds will be ordered returned to the court for proper disbursement to the creditors. Also, this builder will finally be free to sue the former law firm for the damages they caused.
Thank you for helping to raise $60,000 needed to take these matters to Federal Court. Your taking time to read the two stories and contribute will assure that I stand successfully against this corruption, to put an end to lawyers who believe they are above the law, and to obtain justice and restore integrity in our Judicial System.
Justice Matters …and matters to all of us!
For more information about Justice Matters, you may visit my website at: https://www.justicematters.us
While on the website, you may also access and read the five Legal Ethics Opinions that have been prepared to help right the wrongs committed, as well as eight Attorney Declarations (signed under penalty of perjury) by lawyers involved in these matters who are willing to speak honestly and publicly to the acts of misconduct they witnessed and/or are willing to testify to in a court of law based on their personal knowledge.
I can be reached via email at: [email redacted]
Hello. I am asking for your help. We need to raise $60,000 to secure justice for eight elderly people whose $800,000 Trust Fund was defrauded and their money stolen by acts of fraud and corruption by six lawyers. The money you help raise will also help to reverse another injustice that happened when an innocent man was deliberately, and secretly, criminally convicted for an administrative building code matter by fraudulent acts committed by his two lawyers. After many years of hard work, I am now prepared to initiate legal action to bring about justice. Doing so will ensure these elderly creditors are finally repaid, that this innocent man will be un-convicted and restored, and that these dishonest lawyers are held accountable.
The truth is, dishonest lawyers cause serious harm to individuals, families and society …and as a just society, we must stand up and hold the legal profession accountable for the egregious misconduct of a few dishonest lawyers and judges.
FIRST STORY: Eight elderly creditors were awarded judgments and court orders that guaranteed full repayment of an $800,000 trust fund. Twelve years later, the trust fund matured. However, the lawyer who controlled the funds crafted an unconscionable scheme to defraud the judgments and court orders with a goal to steal the money away from the eight creditors.
At the time this lawyer was scheming to defraud, he was also serving as vice president of the Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar …one of the highest-ranking lawyers in the state. Worse, the judge assigned to preside over the distribution of the trust fund happened to also be in leadership roles with the Board of Governors and thus a peer of this dishonest lawyer. Rather than recuse himself from presiding as the judge in the case because of his conflict-of-interest with the lawyer, the judge remained silent, stayed on the case, and knowingly ignored the fraudulent misconduct of this lawyer. This judge then deliberately ignored the judgments and court orders that controlled the distribution of the $800,000 trust fund to the eight creditors. In the end, the judge authorized the misappropriation (theft) of the entire trust fund in favor of the lawyer. Not one creditor got a dime!
When a significant State Bar Complaint with supporting evidence was filed against the lawyer who planned and executed this fraud, Disciplinary Counsel refused to follow its own procedural rules and would not require this dishonest lawyer (VP of the Bar’s Board of Governors) to file a required written response to the Bar Complaint. Despite that the Mission Statement of the Oregon State Bar is to "protect the public” from such egregious, damaging acts by its lawyer-members, the Disciplinary Counsel lawyers refused to investigate the alleged fraud. Instead, they engaged in their own ethical misconduct in order to cover up the frauds committed by two of their own: the high-ranking lawyer and the judge. Both the lawyer and the judge got away with the theft. This fraud actually happened in 2014-2016.
SECOND STORY: A building contractor had just finished a beautiful office building for a property owner, including the interior improvements for a group of medical doctors who just moved into their new offices. City officials got upset with the owner over a landscaping issue behind the building so they revoked the occupancy certificates and ordered the owner to evict the doctors during the course of the dispute. The owner refused to put the doctors out of business over minor landscape concerns and did not evict his tenants. This angered City officials, so the City Attorney issued three criminal citations …but against the "builder" instead of the owner. The citations alleged a building code violation (occupancy without a certificate), not a criminal act.
There was one problem, however. In Oregon, a building code violation can only be resolved through the State’s Administrative Agency Building Code Board, not by a judge in a criminal court of law. The reason for this is that the purpose for a criminal court is to punish criminal wrongdoing, whereas the purpose for administrative civil code enforcement is to get the alleged violation corrected so the building is safe for its occupants. Despite having no probable cause, and in violation of law, the police served the three citations upon the builder anyway, and dragged him into court.
The builder hired the most powerful law firm in the region to represent him and solve the absurd occupancy and landscape problems. The City Attorney then admitted to the law firm that he had no authority to prosecute the builder for two reasons: the builder was not the property owner; and the occupancy dispute was a civil penalty issue, not a criminal penalty act. So, the City Attorney settled the matter with the builder’s lawyer and promptly filed a Motion to Amend the Citations with the court. The Motion was to remove the builder as the named-defendant and replace him with the property owner for prosecution. For reasons unknown, the lawyers concealed from their client (the builder) the settlement agreement and motion papers, and then lied to the City Attorney, saying, "their client did not want the citations amended after all."
Worse, the law firm coerced the builder to sign a no-contest plea by falsely telling him that the plea was the only harmless way to resolve the matter. Unaware of the concealments, lies, misrepresentations and false statements by his lawyers, the builder signed the plea. The case was closed. The lawyers also never told their builder/client that the judge would use the no-contest plea to enter three criminal convictions against him. The builder, without a trial, hearing, due process or his knowledge, was criminally convicted three times (once for each citation). The builder would not discover he had been defrauded and secretly convicted until five years later.
The law firm quickly withdrew from representing the builder after causing him to be convicted to his harm but never solved the occupancy problem they were hired to fix. As a consequence, the City still refused to issue the occupancy certificate and threatened the builder with new citations back into court. The builder was then forced to hire new lawyers to solve the ongoing problem. His first law firm then sued him for $68,000 for unpaid attorney fees. Eventually, the builder, unable to work because he was buried full-time in lawsuits because of the damaging conditions his lawyers left him in, went bankrupt. He lost his business, his income, his home, all his assets, and was saddled with multiple judgments.
Five years later, when the builder learned that his own lawyers had defrauded him and caused him to be criminally convicted, he sued the law firm. However, despite that the fraud actually occurred and the convictions happened, the law in Oregon is that a convicted defendant cannot sue his lawyers while he remains convicted. Only until and unless the convictions are set-aside can a defendant sue his lawyers. With your help, the funds we raise will allow a capable law firm to get the convictions set aside. Once this builder is freed from the convictions, he will also be free, for the first time, to sue his lawyers and hold them accountable in a court of law for the severe damages they caused. This fraud actually happened in July 1999.
IN AMERICA, the very Foundation of our Democracy and Freedom is premised on the Rule of Law and requires an honest Judicial System; but we must fight against the fraud and corruption within our Judiciary if we are to maintain the freedoms that our fair and just legal system was intended to afford its citizens.
My name is Ian McElroy. I am this GoFundMe Campaign Organizer. I am 63. I am a paralegal and former general contractor. I am also "that builder" who was secretly convicted without due process or my knowledge, in a criminal court that had no jurisdiction, for an occupancy violation in a building I did not occupy and did not own. That fraudulent episode committed against me by my own lawyers destroyed my construction company, caused the demise of all my business and personal affairs, and in turn harmed many others too.
Worse, I had one remaining asset: my part-ownership in the office park I built. Choosing to take responsibility for my debts nineteen years ago, I voluntarily surrendered my $800,000 asset to my eight creditors through judgments and court orders. I initiated those legal actions against my own interests in order to guarantee that at least my creditors would eventually be repaid if I were to go bankrupt.
You now know the story: Twelve years later the office park property was sold and my funds were ready to be disbursed to the creditors. It was then, in 2014, that the lawyer representing the office park decided to defraud the judgments, the court orders, and the creditors. With help from the judge, the fraud worked. So, not only did eight judgment creditors not get paid, the theft left me $800,000 in ongoing debt that was set to finally be paid off. Indeed, fraud and corruption by our lawyers and judges ruins lives and seriously harms our society; and the State Bar Disciplinary Counsel that is supposed to police attorney misconduct and protect the public is a complete affront to the ideals of justice, values and integrity.
I have spent the past three years collecting the evidence needed to reverse all the wrongs committed against the innocent people in these Two Stories, particularly to have the resulting, unlawful judgments set aside. Notably, for the acts of fraud upon the court committed in both cases, there is no statute of limitation that would prevent the victims from obtaining justice in 2019 for the harms committed in these past events.
I remain committed to winning these cases in court. To win, I have secured Declarations signed under penalty of perjury from eight honest attorneys with personal knowledge of the frauds committed and who wish to see justice administered. Also, I have secured four Legal Ethics Opinions from a respected ethicist in Washington DC. An outside ethicist was needed because Oregon's Disciplinary Counsel attorneys refused to investigate the misconduct complained of in order to avoid any release an official, truthful conclusion about the reported corruption. The Ethics Opinions I have obtained explain in detail the ethical violations committed by the lawyers involved. You can read the Opinions if you like. See the link below.
With the Evidence, Declarations, and Ethics Opinions in-hand, I am now ready to hire a reliable, aggressive law firm to file an action in Federal Court to set aside the judicial rulings that stole an $800,000 trust fund from eight elderly creditors, and that convicted an innocent man twenty years ago. Once this happens, the trust funds will be ordered returned to the court for proper disbursement to the creditors. Also, this builder will finally be free to sue the former law firm for the damages they caused.
Thank you for helping to raise $60,000 needed to take these matters to Federal Court. Your taking time to read the two stories and contribute will assure that I stand successfully against this corruption, to put an end to lawyers who believe they are above the law, and to obtain justice and restore integrity in our Judicial System.
Justice Matters …and matters to all of us!
For more information about Justice Matters, you may visit my website at: https://www.justicematters.us
While on the website, you may also access and read the five Legal Ethics Opinions that have been prepared to help right the wrongs committed, as well as eight Attorney Declarations (signed under penalty of perjury) by lawyers involved in these matters who are willing to speak honestly and publicly to the acts of misconduct they witnessed and/or are willing to testify to in a court of law based on their personal knowledge.
I can be reached via email at: [email redacted]
Organizer
Ian McElroy
Organizer
Lake Oswego, OR
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