The latest guest on the podcast is Scott Segal.
Scott is the founder of JJ Green Paper which provides an “organic, recyclable and biodegradable packaging for food & beverage,” but he was here to talk about his custody case in Miami-Dade.
In 2021, I did an in-depth investigation of Miami Dade, and one corrupt player was Anastasia Garcia. Here is part of a story from 2021.
Foster-Morales also throws her weight around in other ways. For instance, she has been able to get the judge, Ivonne Cuesta, to order Gabe to pay Foster-Morales bills, the bills for the GAL- Anastasia Garcia, and for the attorney Garcia hired- Jacqueline Valdespino.
Valdespino promptly sent Gabe her first bill, including a retainer of $7,500.
Anastasia is corrupt, but she is good at a few things.
She’s good at illegally overbilling and making sure that other people join her on custody cases so they can overbill.
Scott explained that by agreement his ex-wife moved from Florida to California, but with a custody visitation schedule.
Once in California his ex-wife began withholding their children, claiming they no longer wanted to see him.
As I’ve described many times, court rackets work by trying to identify problems. Any problem will do, including problems the court creates or dreams up.
In this case, the problem is the kids weren’t seeing Scott.
The solution is always to appoint someone, and usually multiple someone’s.
In this case, his attorney, Richard Preira, recommended Julio Vigil to “consult.”
“He was a court whisperer,” Scott said he was told, meaning Vigil had influence with the courts.
Vigil then recommended Anastasia who subsequently recommended Stacey Jones, a reunification therapist.
Anastasia was appointed to be the guardian ad litem (GAL).
Though we didn’t talk about it during the podcast, I also interviewed Jake Baccari.
He told me that he also had Vigil and Garcia on his case. He said Vigil recommended Anastasia who returned the favor by recommending Vigil’s wife, Dr. Laura LoBuglio-Vigil.
I reached out to both Vigil’s, Anastasia, Jones, and to Preira, but received no responses.
Scott is currently suing Anastasia, Jones, and Preira for malpractice and more.
Anastasia’s idea was to fly to California, she and Jones, to find out how bad the situation was. The trip occurred in April 2021. Here’s where the overbilling began in earnest.
“She had to fly first class,” Scott said, he paid for the ticket.
Anastasia billed him for the entire weekend they were in California, including having dinner with the children, going to the mall, and more frivolous activities.
Jones was only licensed in Florida, not California.
As such, Anastasia was required to oversee any sessions Jones had with the children.
For all those sessions, Scott paid a total $675 per hour ($425 per hour for Garcia and $250 per hour for Jones). Here is more from Scott’s lawsuit against Jones.
The brazen overbilling was only starting. Scott described how a scheme run between Preira, Anastasia, Jones, and others would create billable hours for everyone.
Scott said he would send an email to his lawyer who would forward it to Anastasia, then to Jones, and others.
All of them would read it, discuss, and even hold a video conference about it. Here is more from the lawsuit against Anastasia.
To top it off, Anastasia still failed to deliver on all her promises.
Because the children and Scott bonded so well on the trip, Scott explained that his ex-wife’s proverbial hand was forced, she could no longer block visits.
Anastasia promised an interim report to help the process along; she has yet to finish this report.
I had a chance to speak with Scott’s lawyer, Sharmila Bhagwandeen, in his lawsuits with Anastasia, Jones, and Preira.
She explained that with a GAL their laws are similar to Missouri, which grants GALs quasi-judicial immunity, making it nearly impossible to sue successfully. Check out Mikaela’s Law, which seeks to change that.
Here is part of a story from the St. Louis Record.
In this case, Arseneau accused Pudlowski of misrepresenting to the St. Louis County Circuit Court the contents of a St. Charles County Circuit Court judgment granting an order of protection for her son whom her ex-husband’s son was allegedly molesting.
But Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk in her Sept. 29 opinion ruled that, “Presenting evidence and taking testimony in the course of a child custody proceeding are part and parcel of a guardian’s responsibilities under the Missouri Supreme Court Standards and the court order appointing Pudlowski.”
Pitlyk further explains in her 10-page ruling that Arseneau’s claims are barred because of quasi-judicial immunity, which affords individuals with judicial process duties complete immunity from civil rights suits.
Judicial immunity was codified in the US Supreme Court case Stump V Sparkman; judges are immune from nearly all lawsuits, unless it is shown they acted outside jurisdiction.
In Florida and Missouri, GALs enjoy nearly the same amount of immunity.
As I mentioned, Gabe Shapiro was also embroiled with Anastasia. Megan Fox and I interviewed him last year. His interview is below and starts about thirty-eight minutes in.
Michael Volpe Investigates Podcast the Impromptu Episode 52: an Interview with Scott Segal