by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach city councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., has requested a trial “at the earliest possible date” on charges of misappropriating $515,000 in client funds. The Los Angeles-based attorney was accused last summer of seven counts of professional misconduct by the State Bar, including “intentional misappropriation.”
Obagi Jr. counsel Erin Joyce filed the request Feb. 4.
The first-year Redondo District Four councilman contends that he paid $1.8 million in a settlement to a former client (Tim Cullen), related to a sale agreeement, with the understanding that the ex-client would pay $515,000 of the settlement to his one-time partner (Eric Dominguez).
“He never did,” said Obagi, Jr., who had represented the partnership before it split. “I had a duty to remit the money to my client, and he was to pay (Dominguez) and he didn’t. In the worst case scenario, it’s a mistake. I made zero dollars off of that. The kicker is nobody in that time period ever said ‘Hey Zein, you have to pay Dominguez.”
Obagi, Jr. represented the partners in a cannabis dispensary.
“There’s ultimately no outstanding harm,” he said.
His role as city councilman is part of the reason for the request to go to trial. Joyce wrote in the Feb. 4 filing that the delay is causing “irreparable harm.”
“Respondent is an elected official in Redondo Beach,” the document states, “and the specter of the serious allegations in the Notice of Disciplinary Charges continually redirects attention from the serious business before the city during this ongoing pandemic.”
The request for trial follows a judge’s rejection last fall of a stipulation of facts, submitted by Joyce and the State Bar Trial Counsel.
All the while, Obagi remained unavailable for comment in the Easy Reader. Attempts to reach him through his office were never made known to him, said the councilman.
What does he want Redondo Beach residents to know?
“I’ve got counsel representing me in a state bar matter and I continue to represent my constituents in Redondo Beach,” Obagi said in an interview this week. “I am being an effective advocate for my district.”
He pointed to District Four improvements since he has taken office, including a new neighborhood dog run, six intersections getting all-way stop signs, and sidewalk “bold-outs” on Grant Avenue – part of Obagi’s promise to bring safer streets to the city.
Joyce’s filing last week mentioned a Christmas Eve mailer to district residents depicting Obagi as a “Grinch Who Allegedly Stole His Client’s Money.” It was created by the Economic Reform Development Coalition of Southern California, the organization behind the Redondo Beach retail cannabis initiative.
“Of course, the media then picked up on the ‘7,000’ mailers,” Joyce wrote.
The filing also states, “Respondent seeks a speedy trial to clear his name,” that the allegations are false, and Obagi “acknowledges responsibility for engaging in conflicted representation in the Cullen matter. But the facts as drafted by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel establish no misappropriation of client funds.”
Obagi first represented the Cullen-Dominguez partnership six years ago. It disbanded in 2017.
Three years later, L.A. County Superior Court ruled against Obagi, and awarded Dominguez $515,000, plus $180,000 in attorney fees and $15,000 in expert fees. Obagi paid it in May 2020. ER
