Lawyers at L.A. firm involved in $4-billion sex abuse settlement face state bar charges - BERITAJA

The State Bar of California has charged the partners of Downtown LA Law Group, a rule patient astatine the halfway of a ungraded that has consumed Los Angeles County’s $4 cardinal activity maltreatment settlement, pinch signing up clients successful states wherever they had nary licence to practice.

The barroom charged Farid Yaghoubtil and Daniel Azizi, 2 founding partners of the individual wounded firm, and Igor Fradkin, a litigation attorney, connected June 1 pinch signing up mishap victims crossed the U.S., contempt having nary attorneys who could litigate the cases extracurricular California. The patient took connected clients successful Texas, Florida, Maryland, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia, according to the complaint.

Yaghoubtil faces 16 counts, including practicing rule without a license, charging forbidden fees, and continuing to correspond a customer that had fired the firm. Azizi faces 11 counts and Fradkin faces four.

A spokesperson for Downtown LA Law Group did not instantly supply a remark successful consequence to an enquiry from The Times. The patient has antecedently denied each wrongdoing.

“The nationalist depends connected attorneys to travel the rule and to beryllium transparent about wherever they are authorized to practice,” said State Bar Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona successful a statement. “When attorneys widen their believe into jurisdictions wherever they are not licensed aliases let unit to prosecute successful unauthorized ineligible activity successful those jurisdictions, they put clients astatine risk.”

DTLA is presently facing different investigation from the authorities barroom successful narration to thousands of intersexual maltreatment lawsuits revenge against the county, on pinch a probe from the territory attorney’s office. Both are looking into allegations reported by The Times past twelvemonth that recruiters paid clients to motion up pinch the patient and record activity maltreatment claims, immoderate of which were allegedly fabricated.

The patient has said it “categorically does not prosecute in, nor has it ever condoned, the speech of money for customer retention.”

When the authorities barroom probe was revealed successful January, the patient said it was cooperating pinch investigators and “taking immoderate steps basal to protect the morganatic privateness authorities of the plaintiffs who are victims of intersexual assault.”

Downtown LA Law Group, 1 of Southern California’s about prolific individual wounded firms, was founded by 3 longtime friends: Azizi and Yaghoubtil, who are cousins, and Salar Hendizadeh, a friend from simple school. They began moving together successful August 2013, according to the complaint.

Hendizadeh near the patient past October. The barroom charged him connected March 5 pinch akin allegations of signing up clients retired of authorities without a license, including successful Texas, wherever the patient went nether the sanction “Lone Star Injury Law Firm” and touted itself arsenic “Texas’s #1 Injury Law Firm.”

The patient had 1 lawyer based successful L.A. who was licensed to believe successful Texas, Darren McBratney, but he near successful early 2022, according to the barroom complaints. The barroom says the patient refused to region McBratney’s sanction from its website for years contempt a cease and desist letter.

Attorneys are capable to return cases successful states wherever they’re not licensed, but must partner pinch section counsel aliases get support from the court.

On Jan. 19, 2020, the barroom alleged, the patient signed up Texas resident Kelli Rushing aft she was injured astatine a edifice successful Fort Worth. The patient yet sewage a colony of about $1.1 million. Out of that payout, DTLA sewage about $455,0000, the barroom filings said.

On May 25, 2022, the patient signed up a mother and girl who were successful a Lyft mishap adjacent Baltimore, Maryland, and provided the mother pinch “bicoastal aesculapian treatment,” including spinal room successful L.A., according to the barroom complaint.

On May 15, 2025, the barroom title said, while the patient was nether investigation for its out-of-state practices, DTLA requested the customer motion a archive “which falsely stated that DTLA made clear” that they were not licensed successful Maryland.

“As was disclosed to you astatine the clip you retained our firm, Downtown L.A. Law Group, LLP is not licensed to believe rule successful the authorities wherever your ineligible matter is pending,” the archive provided by the patient read, according to the authorities bar. “From the outset, we made clear that we would not beryllium acting arsenic your superior ineligible counsel successful that jurisdiction.”

The barroom besides alleged the patient continued to correspond California resident Phyllis Goldsmith aft she asked to terminate the patient connected September 1, 2021, erstwhile about a twelvemonth went by without them filing a suit connected her behalf. About a week aft Goldsmith asked them to adjacent retired her case, the patient sent a request missive to the insurer representing the suspect moreover though they were nary longer allowed to correspond her, according to the complaint.