State bars have acquired a reputation for targeting conservative attorneys and destroying their ability to practice law, and now they are taking it to a new level — prosecution. It is practically unheard of — unless you’re being targeted — to be criminally prosecuted and arrested for not checking a box about an unrelated civil matter on a form, but that is what is happening to former Republican congressional candidate Jeffrey Moffatt.
Moffatt, who many believe was targeted by the State Bar of Arizona because he and his wife both ran for office as Republicans, was indicted a week ago by the Biden administration related to his efforts fighting back against a sketchy disbarment. He is being retaliated against because of how hard he’s fought back. A good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, as the old saying goes. That’s because the defense doesn’t get a chance to show their side to the grand jury, so the prosecutor can just pick and choose what evidence they want to produce.
In 2016, the presiding judge of the Arizona bar, William J. O’Neil, who has a lengthy history of corruption, including allegedly protecting a sexual predator, so bad that even the liberal Arizona Republic has written about him, disbarred Moffatt over something that other attorneys receive a mere slap on the hand for. But unfortunately, once an attorney has been disbarred in one state, almost every other state and jurisdiction reciprocally refuse to allow that attorney to practice law. It sounds draconian, and the effect sure is, but multiple jurisdictions piling on doesn’t make a person any worse. The left controls much of the legal system, particularly state bars, so it’s done deliberately when they want to thoroughly destroy someone.
Notably, even though Moffatt lives in California and the person who complained about him lives in New Mexico, neither the California bar nor the New Mexico bar did anything about the complaint, only the Arizona bar — and Moffatt has practically nothing to do with Arizona or practicing law there — pursued an investigation, no doubt as part of its pattern of going after conservative attorneys.
The prosecution comes down to the fact Moffatt didn’t disclose to the Social Security Administration that he was disbarred when representing claimants. There is NO requirement that people representing claimants be attorneys, it’s a red herring. Moffatt didn’t think he needed to disclose this information because he was actively fighting the disbarment, fully expecting to get it reversed since it was so obviously heavy-handed targeting. He wasn’t hiding the disbarment and his fight either, he has four federal lawsuits going over it and he and his wife have been very vocal on the internet.
The indictment lists just five payments he received for representing those clients, totaling merely $30,000. The Biden administration is charging him with wire fraud and falsifying a material fact. Whenever the government can’t get someone on a real crime, they throw in wire fraud. It merely means a method of communication like a phone, email, text or fax was used while you were supposedly committing some other crime. It sounds scary but it’s just meant to pile on.
In 2017, Moffatt sued the Arizona Bar, the State of Arizona and the Arizona Supreme Court over the disbarment. He has ongoing proceedings with the Social Security Administration fighting the disbarment going back to at least 2018 — so why bring criminal charges against him now over something they were perfectly happy to civilly litigate with him for three years?
Obviously, by fighting back he got under the skin of a Democrat on a power trip. The U.S. Attorney who signed the indictment, Tracy L. Wilkison, was appointed immediately after Joe Biden took office as president.
Efforts have arisen around the country to strip state bars of their monopolies over the practice of law — essentially functioning as unions, which is illegal in right-to-work states — but haven’t had any real luck yet. State bars have deep pockets because they gouge attorneys with huge mandatory dues. Their powerful lobbyists buy RINO legislators who oppose any legislation dismantling the bars.
The Moffatts believe that O’Neil was unconstitutionally seated — a judicial imposter who committed false impersonations. Many attorneys in Arizona believe he was put in that position in order to do the dirty work of powerful leftists at the top of Arizona’s legal system, accumulating so much dirt on people that no one would dare try and remove him.
Moffatt’s wife Star, who has spent a considerable amount of time investigating O’Neil’s corruption, said, “Some day, the Arizona Supreme Court will have to answer to a higher power why they condoned O'Neil to commit acts of a ‘Judicial Imposter.’ Tell me how in the world does an attorney like my husband get arrested for exposing O’Neil? O’Neil was also previously admonished by the Arizona Supreme Court for exceeding his jurisdiction and authority on death row cases.”
One of the top former prosecutors in Arizona told me, "I have never seen such a gross abuse of prosecutorial power, to arrest and pursue someone merely for not checking a box. Nowhere in the indictment does it even say how Jeff continuing to represent these individuals caused any harm or that the law even prohibits him from representing them. Since he’s not required to be an attorney, it sounds like a violation of equal protection."
Moffatt is filing a motion to dismiss the indictment. Tellingly, O’Neil unexpectedly resigned about six months ago. Moffatt and his wife are wonderful people who have spent years volunteering and serving on the board of Miracle Star helping people with substance abuse problems. When some of the women had no place to go, they put them up temporarily.
This is just the beginning, expect more conservative attorneys to be prosecuted after disbarment. Trump’s attorneys are next, including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. If a conservative attorney fights back too hard trying to expose corruption in the legal system, the leftists who control that arena will retaliate with prosecution. And sadly, judges like O’Neil are rarely punished.