Suit claims lawyer continued affair with his client after his wife, a US magistrate, OK'd search
A New Orleans businesswoman claims in a malpractice suit that her lawyer had conflicts of interest because he represented her despite their affair and despite his wife’s authorization of search warrants targeting the businesswoman’s home health care business.
Businesswoman Lisa Crinel, who has pleaded not guilty to Medicaid fraud, filed the suit last week against New Orleans lawyer Clarence Roby, NOLA.com reports. Investigators seized more than $1 million in assets as a result of the raid of Crinel’s business, Abide Home Health Services. Roby’s wife is U.S. Magistrate Karen Wells Roby.
The suit says Clarence Roby agreed to represent Crinel in the purchase of a different business in January 2014, several months after their romantic relationship began. Crinel’s health care business was raided in March 2014, and Roby’s wife had signed the search warrant.
The suit claims Roby maintained he could continue to serve as Crinel’s lawyer after the raid, and he never informed her he had a conflict of interest because of the relationship and his wife’s signature of the search warrant.
Prosecutors said in court papers that they weren’t aware of the affair until the search produced records referring to the relationship, according to the NOLA.com story. Email messages suggested Roby was doing his best to hide the affair from his wife, prosecutors said in court filings.
Crinel’s lawyers are seeking to suppress evidence seized in the search.
Clarence Roby didn’t respond to NOLA.com’s phone messages seeking comment. A court clerk told the publication that Judge Roby declined to comment.
Subsequent coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “No evidence supports claim US magistrate was aware of husband’s affair with probe target, judge says”
