In 2012, the Miccosukee Tribe, based in West Miami-Dade, sued its former chairman, Billy Cypress, in federal court and accused him of stealing million from the tribe. Officials claimed he spent the money on gambling trips, shopping sprees, real estate and luxury cars. The lawsuit also alleged prominent Miami attorneys Guy Lewis and Michael Tein conspired with Cypress who paid them kickbacks, and said attorney Dexter Lehtinen was paid more than million over 20 years for legal advice on a wide range of issues related to the tribe’s casino.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke later dismissed the tribe’s claims, and ordered sanctions against the tribe and lawyer Bernardo Roman III for filing a lawsuit with “no evidence or only patently frivolous evidence.” And recently, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Cooke, ruling there were “no factual references to support” the allegations against the lawyers. The appeals court panel wrote the tribe’s 314-page lawsuit seemed to be nothing more than “an attempt to create the impression of specificity through page-number ‘shock and awe.’” A tribal lawsuit against Lewis and Tein in state court also was unsuccessful.
Paul Calli, attorney for Lewis and Tein, said, “The terrible shame is that the tribe and its lawyers were able to prosecute these lies for years, leaving a wake of destructive litigation that cost millions of dollars to defend. Thankfully, the courts have put a stop to it.”
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Thornton ordered Roman and the tribe to pay Lewis and Tein’s legal bills. Thornton wrote the tribe “in bad faith” continued its lawsuit “in the face of overwhelming evidence demonstrating the claims against Lewis and Tein were unfounded and frivolous.” The Florida Bar is conducting an ethics investigation regarding Roman.
