Listen Live
Magic 95.5 Featured Video
CLOSE

A scandal in New Orleans has the city riveted as a prominent lawyer, his wife, a Federal judge and a businesswoman who is head of the one of the city’s popular Black Mardi Gras organization and facing federal charges, are involved in what looks like a love triangle.

Lisa Crinel, a New Orleans businesswoman is suing her former lover, Clarence Roby, who is married to the Federal judge, U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Wells Roby who signed off on federal search warrants for Crinel, who was represented by Roby in a case alleging that she stole $30 million from Medicare through her business, Abide Home Health Services.

NOLA.com reports:

Crinel’s lawsuit restates facts that Crinel’s current lawyers have used to try and suppress evidence obtained in a March 2014 search of the headquarters of her Abide Home Health Services in eastern New Orleans.

Crinel and Roby carried on “an intimate, romantic relationship” for about 12 months, starting in September 2013, according to her lawsuit. In January, she also hired him to serve as her lawyer as she negotiated the purchase of another business.

On March 24, 2014, the couple were together at Crinel’s house “until late in the evening as their romantic relationship continued,” the lawsuit states. The next day, federal agents raided Abide’s headquarters.

In motions filed in the federal case, Crinel’s lawyers claim that Karen Wells Roby signed off on the warrants used in the search, and have suggested the judge was aware of her husband’s affair with Crinel, and may even have driven past Abide’s offices while investigators were carting out files.

After the raid, Crinel’s lawsuit says Roby told her he could continue to serve as her lawyer despite their romantic relationship, and even though his wife had approved search warrants. Crinel’s lawsuit accuses him of violation professional codes for attorneys and committing “legal malpractice.”

“Mr. Roby never informed Ms. Crinel that it was a conflict of interest for him to represent her and her company while carrying on an extramarital affair with her… or to represent her in matters related to a search warrant that was signed by his wife,” the lawsuit states.

Crinel, who had more than $1 million in assets seized by investigators during the search, seeks compensation for any losses that result from Roby’s alleged malpractice. The lawsuit names Roby’s law firm and an unnamed insurance company as co-defendants.

New Orleans Scandal Involves Judge, Prominent Lawyer And Businesswoman Facing Federal Charges  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

1 2Next page »