Without Supervision
Lori Deveny freed from pre-trial release restrictions
Last week in a criminal case, a federal district judge ordered that “all special and restrictive conditions of release” be removed and that the defendant — disgraced former Oregon attorney, Lori Deveny — be released “on her own recognizance.”
Deveny was charged in May 2019 on 24 counts of mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and bank fraud, arising from her ‘work’ as a Portland attorney who mostly represented cognitively impaired clients.
The restrictions imposed upon her over two years ago in were not particularly onerous to begin with — she was not even required to make bail. And it is likely, given Deveny’s history of fraud and dishonesty, that she was not complying with them to begin with.
Regardless, Deveny is now free to go back to doing many things she was restricted from doing, including: traveling outside of Oregon and getting her passport back; opening new bank accounts or lines of credit; and selling firearms and taxidermy without reporting the sales to the court.
Most notable, though, is the one release condition that she had demonstrably refused to comply with: the surrender of all her legal client files to her former licensor, the Oregon State Bar.
This was also a condition in the state’s criminal case.
Not that the Bar was complaining — or moving for Deveny’s contempt, or alerting prosecutors or judges to her noncooperation, or doing anything except helping Deveny cover for her ongoing defiance.¹
Given the timing of this development in the federal case, and the increasing syncing up with the state case (not to mention the trend towards closed-door hearings there), it is very clear that Deveny has hammered out a deal for herself.
It is also very clear, given the scope of the charges initially filed against her in both cases in 2019, that Deveny has ratted out someone or something quite significant to get such a deal, whatever the terms may be.
¹ I’m working on a comprehensive article about it, but briefly: Records show that not one Deveny victim — from the pool of those who filed a Client Security Fund (CSF) claim with the Bar after the Bar asserts that it had taken custodianship of Deveny’s former practice — learned of Deveny’s situation from a letter sent to them from the Bar. The Bar claims to have sent such a letter to every client for whom Deveny kept a file. Instead, all of the CSF claimants heard about Deveny either from law enforcement, the news, google, or friends.
Deveny was still demonstrably withholding her files from the Bar as recently as 2020. It is certain that given her particular niche clientele (many with cognitive difficulties) that there are still people who are unaware of Deveny’s resignation and legal troubles, and whose files Deveny has therefore successfully withheld from the Bar.
