Chancellor slams Bar!
It appears the walls are closing in on Hattiesburg attorney Corey Ferraez. The Mississippi Bar asked the Supreme Court to suspend Ferraez from the practice of law Tuesday. Multiple clients have accused Ferraez of embezzling from their settlements in lawsuits filed against the lawyer.
The motion states the Bar received two informal complaints where the attorney did not deliver funds entrusted to him to the client. "By one admitted account, (he) converted those funds to another use and was unable to do deliver same," claimed the Bar.
Ferraez would not provide any information to the Bar as it investigated the two complaints. The Bar explained why Ferraez's law license should be suspended:
4. The violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct outlined in the Formal Complaint demonstrate a pattern of misconduct, such that the continued practice of law by Mr. Ferraez poses a threat of serious harm to the public and justifies his immediate suspension pending final disposition of the Formal Complaint as anticipated by Rule 8.7(a) and (c). 5. Additionally, Mr. Ferraez's testimony before the Chancery Court of Perry County that he suffers from depression and addiction issues that severely limit his ability to practice law provides additional grounds for his immediate suspension under Rule 8.7(b).
The first complaint involves Ferraez client Jerome Orloff. The attorney received two insurance check of $38,784 (March 2023) and $45,000 (November 2024) for Orloff. However, Ferraez did not disburse $39,163 to the client as he was supposed to do. Orloff sued Ferraez for the remainder of his settlement in Forrest County Circuit Court in June. Earlier post.
The infamous Weatherford estate case is the subject of the second complaint. Sylvia Weatherford's husband was killed in a car wreck. Ferraez represented her in a wrongful death lawsuit. The insurance company settled the case for $450,000 and sent the check to Ferraez in early 2024. The retired widow lives on a fixed income and struggled to pay her bills. She was forced to take out multiple pre-settlement loans at high interest rates while her attorney kept the funds.
Perry County Chancellor Sheila Smallwood held a show cause hearing in June and ordered Ferraez to deposit the funds with the Court. However, Ferraez did not appear for the hearing nor did he deposit said funds. The Court ordered his incarceration. While staying on the lam for a month, Ferraez deposited $215,000 with the Court. The attorney surrendered on Bastille Day.
Ferraez explained to Judge Smallwood he withheld $195,168 for his fees and expenses as approved by the Court. The Chancellor busted the lying attorney, stating she never approved any fees as she recited the record. She ordered him incarcerated. Ferraez served two weeks in jail before Judge Smallwood ordered his release. The Court gave Ferraez 30 days to pay $185,168 or else he would be incarcerated again.
The Bar noticed something Ferraez said at his contempt hearing:
9. Mr. Ferraez also testified at the July 14, 2025, hearing that he suffered from depression and addiction issues that severely limit his ability to practice law.
The deadline for paying $195,168 rolled around on August 24 yet Ferraez only deposited two money orders for a grand total of $2,000.
The Bar asked the Court to immediately suspend Ferraez from the practice of law while it adjudicates his formal bar complaint as it argued embezzling a client's funds was the most serious offense a lawyer could commit in the practice of law.*
The bar complaint provides more information. Judge Smallwood reported Ferraez's transgressions to the Bar. The complaint states the Bar received information from the Chancellor that "Mr. Ferraez misappropriated wrongful death settlement proceeds."
The complaint states Ferraez did not respond to either complaint as required by the Mississippi Bar. The Bar recounted past discipline against the wayward attorney. The Bar issued a public reprimand against Ferraez in 2018 after he ran for office in one county while living in another.
The Bar asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to suspend Ferraez for more than six months.
Judge Smallwood criticized the Bar in her letter reporting Ferraez's misconduct:
These submissions meet the reporting requirement of the action taken by the 10th Chancery Court District in compliance with Rules 1(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline. I am confident that Mr. Ferraez has misappropriated funds held for a client in violation of Rule l(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Discipline and Rules 1.15 and Rule 8.4 of the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct. Over the last few days, I have learned of other bar complaints and criminal charges against this attorney for similar misconduct. I would encourage the bar to make judges aware of attorneys in their district with pending bar complaints - especially if they involve misuse of client funds. If I had known that other allegations of misconduct were known to the bar and were under investigation, I would have given this case increased scrutiny.
The motion and complaint (p.50) are posted below.
Meanwhile, Ferraez faces more legal problems:
2021: Indictment for embezzlement
2021: Indictment of embezzlement
2025: Contempt of court incarceration in Perry County for possible embezzlement.
2025: Orloff lawsuit for embezzlement.
2025: Bullock lawsuit for embezzlement.
2025: Saxon lawsuit for embezzlement.
Stay tuned.
* The motion cites a Mississippi Supreme Court case that spells out how serious an offense embezzling from a client is:
There can be no more damaging evidence, however, as to a lawyer's fitness to practice law than mishandling a trust account. The personalities of lawyers are as wide and varied as the rest of the human race. They commit follies, they do things for which they later feel ashamed. Such errant conduct may or may not reflect upon an attorney's fitness to practice law. Dishonesty does. Brumfield v. Mississippi State Bar Ass'n and dishonest conduct by an attorney with his own client goes to the very core of a lawyer's fitness to practice law, Mississippi State Bar v. Odom.... There can be no legal profession in the absence of scrupulous honesty by attorneys with other people's money. Public confidence here is vital. There may be worse sins, but the ultimate wrong of a lawyer to his profession is to divert clients' and third parties' funds entrusted to him to an unauthorized use. A lawyer guilty of such conduct exhibits a character trait totally at odds with the purposes, ideals and objectives of our profession.If creditors are hounding a lawyer, he can take bankruptcy. If he is hungry, he can go to the Salvation Army. But mishandling other peoples' money is a thought he should never entertain.Embezzlement is a felony in any event.
13 comments:
Getting to where you don't know whom to trust anymore.
Not a good look for the bar that additional crimes have been committed against members of the public years after the first criminal indictments.
Judge Smallwood did exactly what she was supposed to do. Corey will be back in jail very soon.
The Mississippi Bar- slow as molasses.
I don’t believe I would have that silly smile on my face immediately after ruining my career and humiliating myself and humiliating my family.
this little pretty boy will not do well in MDOC.
This one leaves a slime trail everywhere it goes.
Thank God the Mississippi Bar finally got off its ass and decided to do something! It's a little late in the game, but I guess "better late than never."
The MS Bar wants to suspend a lawyer? That's one in a row.
The nascent signs the end is nigh. In these disciplinary proceedings, the Mississippi Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction. But the Court has delegated its authority out to adjudicatory bodies. The Mississippi Bar essentially acts as the prosecutor, and a "Complaint Tribunal" (appointed by the Court) hears the case. The tribunal will take up the Bar's motion for interim suspension pending final adjudication. If the tribunal issues the interim suspension, then the rules require the disciplinary proceedings to be expedited. Might get to a full suspension or complete disbarment (relatively) quickly. Very likely disbarment. They hammer in law school that misappropriating client funds is the “cardinal sin” for a lawyer. It is the one thing that will not be tolerated. I'll be curious to see if Cory attempts to defend his license or just voluntarily resign. One can rage against the dying of the light, but why fight the inevitable?
The Ms. Supreme Court gets paid to make decisions. What is the problem?
I caught an episode of the MPB version of Antiques Roadshow last week and Corey was featured as one of the experts giving out information about the antiques.
Somebody should have taken Corey to Sonic long ago.
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