Update (March 17, 2011): U.S. Mag. Judge Janie Mayeron (D. Minn.) grants Afremov’s motion to amend the complaint. Her order is here. It seems that every order in this case sheds a little more light on the murky picture. Then, on further review, the picture may be as murky as ever? (LaFond is alleged to have fabricated the tax fraud scheme and then is alleged to have tasked two of his fellow lawyers with finding evidence to support the fabrication???)
Original Post (February 2, 2011): Regular readers of Minnesota Litigator will know of the case of Michael Afremov against the New Hampshire law firm of Sulloway & Hollis, and former Minnesota lawyer, Michael Lafond (who left Minnesota for New Hampshire and S&H) for attorney malpractice.
For newcomers to Minnesota Litigator, this is a tale of an alleged kickback cover-up tax fraud scheme purportedly cooked up by over-zealous advocates for a trusting client who allegedly paid his lawyers millions of dollars for the poor counsel and, on top of that, Afremov paid with a guilty plea to criminal charges for tax fraud. (For more detail, previous ML posts on the case are here.)
Now Afremov seeks to add two more S&H lawyers to the party. This week, Afremov’s lawyers at Winthrop & Weinstine have brought a motion seeking leave to file their Fourth Amended Complaint (redline version).