In her case against Rep. Tony Cardenas, the associate of Harvey Weinstein has had to withdraw because of “Unethical actions,” according to reports in the Los Angeles Times
by Rufus Ashmount
“America has become a place where, it’s not what you can prove, it’s what you can allege, and it’s not right,” she said in an interview with the L.A. Times. “We can’t be a nation that has a justice system where all you have to do is allege something and it becomes the truth.”
Chavez had accused Cardenas of tampering with her drink at a golf course and then groping her when she became ill.
“What happened to Tony is exactly the kind of thing Lisa Bloom specializes in,” said an insider with knowledge of The Bloom Firm. “She learned it from her mother Gloria Allred, and pushes naive young women into situations where they are way over their heads, bluffing and lying in ways that cannot be supported. It’s a cynical, greedy approach that does as much damage to the young women being coerced by Bloom as it does the accused.”
(Gloria Allred is herself the subject of California State Bar and District of Columbia Bar investigations for unethical comment).
Cardenas now is left with the difficult project of rebuilding his reputation.
“I humbly thank my family, community, and constituents who know I am a person of integrity,” Cardenas said in a statement.
The ripple effects of Bloom’s failure in this case are already being felt. In L.A. Superior court right now Lisa Bloom’s current case, against Alkiviades David, the specter of this issue and the potential State Bar action against Bloom is hampering her ability to try her case.
There’s a growing movement in the business sector to protect employers from unproven allegations being flaunted in the media and social media, including a push to introduce legislation to keep civil employment matters private until verdict just as they are in family and medical cases.