Todd Blanche haunted by former clients accusing him of 'malpractice and forgery': report
At the same time that he is serving as Donald Trump’s acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche is living under a cloud due to a lawsuit filed by two highly litigious clients dating back to his private practice days.According to a report from Vanity Fair’s Noah Shachtman, when Blanche worked at the prestigious law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft, he agreed to represent Adam and Daniel Kapaln, twins in their 30’s, who were worried that they were being targeted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office for financial fraud, so they were looking for “a good lawyer, preferably one for a good price.”They came to Blanche who, reportedly, offered to take on their case at a rate lower than the firm he worked at normally would charge.From there, things went south, Shachtman is reporting.The Kaplans initially came to Blanche seeking legal representation for financial fraud investigations and now claim the attorney assured them they "would not be paying Cadwalader prices" and that he "did not want to make money on the representation," implying steep discounts.The firm's first bill arrived in June 2022 for $677,925.32. By November 2022, the Kaplans had paid Blanche's firm $1.65 million and were told they owed even more. On November 19, 2022, at 5:27 a.m., Blanche emailed the brothers: "I am forced to instruct my team to stop work on this matter," until the bill was brought current.Instead the Kaplans' fired back with a malpractice lawsuit, filed in June 2023, that makes specific allegations: Blanche forged their signatures on an engagement letter. To support their claim, they enlisted a handwriting expert who confirmed the signatures were forgeries, Vanity Fair is reporting, before adding that the twins also alleged Blanche withheld evidence that could have aided their defense against federal charges. The malpractice suit contends Blanche billed them approximately 2,475 hours at roughly $1,000 per hour — far higher than the discounted rate he promised.Their former attorney Daniel Abrams, a malpractice specialist, told Vanity Fair, "If those allegations are proven, and we have a good faith belief that they will be, you know, he's not an ethical guy."Blanche and Cadwalader denied all allegations and later countersued the Kaplans for $1,208,403.76 in allegedly unpaid bills.The malpractice case became more complicated when a federal grand jury indicted Adam and Daniel on 16 counts of money laundering and wire fraud in July 2023. They were forced to post $2.5 million bonds, according to the report.One twin, Adam, was convicted on all charges and is held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — where Nicolas Maduro and Luigi Mangione currently reside. Daniel was convicted on all but two money laundering counts and remains free pending sentencing expected later this year.Even as federal prosecutors pursued the Kaplans as alleged financial criminals, they presented themselves in state court as victims — of the law firm and of Blanche, who by April 2023 had started his own practice and took on Trump as a key client, which then led to his hiring at the Department of Justice.According to Vanity Fair, the malpractice case will continue through the twins' sentencing as Blanche goes about his business at the DOJ with an eye of being confirmed to fired Pam Bondi's position should Trump formally nominate him.
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