A
recent
big
question
in
the
YSL
RICO
case
is
how
Brian
Steel
became
aware
of
a
private
conversation
that
the
judge
had
in
his
chambers.
While
that
ex
parte
definitely
shouldn’t
have
happened,
it
is
reasonable
to
ask
how
Steel
was
privy
of
it.
The
hope
is
that
he
didn’t
take
the
same
intel
route
as
Michael
Jacob
Libman.
The
ABA
Journal
has
coverage:
A
California
lawyer
is
accused
of
planning
to
hire
Israeli
hackers
to
access
the
personal
and
phone
accounts
of
a
judge
who
later
ordered
him
to
disgorge
$1.65
million
in
attorney
fees.According
to
a June
6
notice
of
disciplinary
charges,
attorney
Michael
Jacob
Libman
of
Tarzana,
California,
sought
the
help
of
New
York
lawyer
Paul
Paradis,
who
turned
out
to
be
a
confidential
FBI
informant
directed
to
record
his
phone
calls
and
meetings
with
Libman…In
April
2020,
according
to
the
charges,
Libman
contacted
an
Israeli
hacker
identified
as
“Ben,”
who
was
said
to
be
affiliated
with
an
Israeli
company
called
“Black
Cube.”
The
company
is
largely
run
by
former
officers
of
Mossad
and
other
Israeli
intelligence
agencies,
according
to a
prior
report.
There
isn’t
anything
inherently
wrong
with
wanting
to
know
the
content
of
someone’s
phone
calls
or
emails,
but
things
get
weird
once
you
start
reaching
out
to
foreign
governments
to
do
your
snooping.
Even
if
the
plan
went
through
as
Libman
wanted,
did
he
not
think
far
enough
to
consider
how
he’d
go
about
introducing
the
stolen
information
as
evidence?
Pointed
reminder
that
if
you
need
to
steal
or
self-incriminate
to
prove
a
point,
the
point
probably
isn’t
worth
proving.
Lawyer
Accused
Of
Seeking
Israeli
Hackers
To
Obtain
Judge’s
Personal
Emails
[ABA
Journal]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.