Redondo Beach Councilman Obagi denies State Bar allegations
by Garth Meyer
Fourth District Redondo Beach Councilman Zein Obagi has been charged with seven counts of misconduct by the California State Bar Association.
The charges follow a $710,000 Los Angeles County Superior Court judgment against Obagi, in favor of a former client. The judgment was issued March 12.
The State Bar disciplinary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 27 and could lead to disbarment.
Obagi did not respond to requests for comment on this story. But in a response to the State Bar on Aug. 17, through his attorney Erin Joyce, Obagi denied the “allegations contained therein” for each of the seven charges.
Joyce wrote that the “Notice of Disciplinary Charges fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a claim for a violation of Rule of Professional Conduct.”
The State Bar’s charges against Obagi stem from his representation of two partners in a marijuana dispensary business. After advising the two on the sale of their business, Obagi received $1.82 million from the buyer. According to the Superior Court judgement, he was supposed to disperse $515,000 of this payment to one of the partners. Instead, according to the State Bar, Obagi disbursed to the other partner’s new attorney “the approximate sum of $1,828,391.02, less $118,675.86 for attorney’s fees.”
In the event the charges against Obagi are not resolved at the disciplinary hearing, he will face trial in November before State Bar Court Judge Manjari Chawla.
During the March elections in Redondo Beach, Obagi defeated Fourth District City Councilman John Gran by 33 votes, or less than one percent of the ballots cast. ER