you're going to have to work at being scummier than this lawyer
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A Minnesota lawyer who has drawn scorn for his tactics in filing porn copyright lawsuits and disability litigation has been indicted alongside a longtime partner in a multimillion-fraud and extortion conspiracy that counted as its victims hundreds of people nationwide and the court system itself.
Authorities arrested Paul Hansmeier, 35, of Woodbury, and John L. Steele, 45, an attorney in Illinois who was a former classmate of Hansmeier's at the University of Minnesota Law School, shortly before U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced charges Friday morning. Hansmeier was arrested in the Twin Cities; Steele, who has lived off and on in Florida, was arrested in Fort Lauderdale.
They were charged Wednesday in an 18-count indictment with running a multimillion-dollar extortion fraud scheme between 2011 and 2014. The charges, unsealed Friday, include conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit and suborn perjury and conspiracy to launder money.
"In order to carry out the scheme, the defendants used sham entities to obtain copyrights to pornographic movies — some of which they filmed themselves — and then uploaded those movies to file-sharing websites in order to lure people to download the movies," the indictment says.
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The attorney who made headlines for suing small businesses that can’t afford to fight back has filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Paul Hansmeier sues businesses, claiming discrimination against people with disabilities.
Disability experts believe his motive is to make money, not make businesses more accessible, as he proclaims.
Hansmeier has caused dozens of small businesses in Minnesota a legal headache, and cost them thousands of dollars.
His law firm Class Justice sues on behalf of a group of people with disabilities, claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA’s Accessibility Guidelines or the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Some are valid, but experts close to the cases claim he seeks a payday through a settlement.
And WCCO has learned it’s what he did before suing for discrimination that has Hansmeier filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
His former firm was part of a copyright trolling scheme that sued thousands of people for downloading online porn, and then settled for nominal amounts. Court documents show he made millions.
“The courts determined that was an abuse of the legal process,” attorney Ted Sheu, with Best & Flanagan, said.
Sheu sued Hansmeier on behalf of a “John Doe” client and won. He now represents other firms and their clients in collecting money from Hansmeier for what judges deemed to be fraud.
“For the past two years we’ve been trying to collect on the sanctions and that leads us to where we are today,” Sheu said. “He has the money somewhere. We’ve been trying to find it.”
Hansmeier owes approximately $193,000 in their cases. He filed for bankruptcy a day before he was to go before a judge to prove why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating an order to turn over financial records. And two days before he was ordered to pay sanctions totaling $65,263 in Illinois.
“The timing was clearly designed to thwart the legal process, and the collections process,” Sheu said.