Sardi Story Questioned
I received some pointed criticism from family of his ex-wife.
Bill Sardi’s story kicked off the investigation into Orange County, California.
His divorce started in 2014 and was still not settled in February 2022, when he died.
He said he filed for divorce in January 2014, but the couple did not split assets until June 2016. Meanwhile, a final ruling on custody until January of 2017.
"That's a lot of money spent on legal fees and jockeying around." Sardi said.
Sardi said one attorney recommended to go to a private judge in a private court to speed up the process.
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Private judges in California have received some attention recently because Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been using one.
The private judge they were using was recently disqualified after failing to disclose some business relationships he had with Brad Pitt's attorneys.
In Sardi's case, he said rather than streamlining the process, the private court only made things even more complicated.
He said rulings by the private judge stopped him from seeing his son at all, even though everyone was still living in the same home.
Nearly eight years in, Bill was still finding himself in court for hearings: he had one scheduled for March 2022, before he died.
In fact, in 2021, he was still being ordered to answer discovery requests.
Check out my interview with Bill about his case below.
From my conversations with him, I believe the process had been extremely stressful and it likely contributed to his untimely death.
I have also received a fair amount of criticism of my coverage of his case: continuing even after death. I initially got an email from Bill’s ex-wife’s divorce director, Kathy Stevens. She stated in part.
You recently published two YouTube audio only interviews with Bill Sardi. It is unfortunate that you do not choose to investigate the credibility of your subjects prior to these airings. Had you bothered to do even a cursory check of the claims made by this man, you would have quickly distanced yourself.
As a journalist, you should know that all you have is your reputation. You are apparently comfortable hiding behind a “he’s entitled to his opinion” posture. However, what Sardi failed to mention is that the delays and monies spent during this contentious divorce we’re primarily because of his conduct and refusal to follow court orders - not any wrong doing by any other party. Get the transcripts. Your need for ratings should not outweigh the need to make sure your interviews are honest and fair. If not, you’re not a journalist. There are many things that could be improved with the Los Angeles Court system in general. I agree with you on that 100%. And shining a light on this need could be an honorable pursuit. However, allowing people who have an ax to grind to continue to repeat their lies over and over is a poor representation of journalism.
I would imagine you deal with a lot of sociopaths in your line of work. Perhaps if you think back over the years and the people you have allowed to, really, do no more than bitch about a bad deal they think they got, you will develop an eye for spotting sociopaths and people like Bill Sardi who think if they tell a story often enough it becomes the truth.
Bill responded.
Kathy Stevens is a former assistant district attorney (now physically disabled) and friend of the family who took it upon herself to coach my ex-wife how to navigate divorce and play tricks on the Petitioner (father), Stevens having been coached herself by a former divorce attorney to Hollywood stars she knew closely.
Kathy Stevens is my ex-wife’s “divorce director” and is no impartial party to the matters of public interest at hand. Stevens falsely alleged in a prior declaration that I as father of our son "went into tirade about me not being welcome in his home.” That was not a tirade and because she was openly calling me a liar in front of my then 10-year old son. I asked her to leave our property if she was going to continue slandering me in front of our son. She refused to leave. There was no “spitting food on her” as she alleges.
Ms. Stevens did interfere with our son’s math tutoring when she had no call or authority to do so, arguing over the methods our son’s math tutor was using to teach arithmetic, which was none of her business. The math tutor was the only tutor who had been able to get our dyslexic son to learn arithmetic. The Respondent (mother) argued over the selection of the math tutor because he was selected by the father. The Respondent (mother) sought to make all the tutors people she had selected. During that confrontation between Ms. Stevens and the math tutor, she misrepresented herself as our son’s “auntie.”
The struggle over a laptop computer was simply that I had mistaken the laptop she was using as mine. Stevens called the police over that event, claiming she was assaulted. Officers dismissed her claims.
Now, more than a month after his death- and months after the latest article on his case- his ex-wife’s sister has apparently contacted me. She sent this.
Bill Sardi is damn liar and his attorney Scott Tipps is a crook and pedophile. They spewed lies about my Sister. I dare anyone to ask me anything! I will tell the truth. Our family has been non confrontatiol about all the lies! C'mon Ask me anything!!!
Bill, it should be noted, has had several attorneys and he was not satisfied with any of them. Check out the follow up interview.
She continued, “Contact me you ignorant liar! You know nothing. My nephew is suffering and nobody cares about his feelings. You assholes only continue the lies and now Wayne, Bilks brother wants a piece of the our after being estranged for 20 years because he is a rip off thief who was vanished by Bill!!!! Contact me Anytime.”
I invited her to join me on the podcast, but she was not having it.
“Because all the lies you spew are ignorant and laughable. Leave your lies about my sister off the internet. YOU KNOW NOTHING!,” she told me in a follow up email.
Then, she suggested I might be sued, “Stop the lies or you will be Legally Responsible for defamation of Character of a person you do not know!”
I asked her on the podcast again.
I've been threatened by gangsters. You don't scare me, but you're welcome to come on and tell me all the lies. I'll give you plenty of opportunity to explain everything I got wrong.
That's how things work in America.
So, do you want to come on?
She “politely” declined again. “Not threatening you but by your comments you seem a bit insecure about something. Tell you what lies. You have only heard one side of lies lol. So ignorant. Call Scott Tips for more lies! That's how your America works! On Lies! BYE!”
I have never spoken to Scott Tips. I got a response from another previous attorney for Bill, Matthew Miller, and here is his response.
In general, and not specifically responsive to your inquiry about a particular individual, an attorney is bound by the ethical responsibilities outlined in the California Rules of Professional Conduct, and owe to each client a duty of loyalty and a duty of confidentiality. These duties define an attorney and their professional reputation; if an attorney were to violate those duties, in any way, and/or engage in actions that are contrary to their own client's interests (i.e. "work against" a client), from a legal standpoint, they would subject themselves to professional discipline from the California State Bar, and/or could subject themselves to disbarment. Neither myself personally, nor any attorney from our office have ever, nor would they ever engage in the types of behaviors that you have alleged in your correspondence. To take action or engage in any course of conduct that is contrary to a client's interests, in addition to being unethical, would be tantamount to professional suicide. While this office cannot respond further to your inquiry about any specific individual, certainly not without a signed written waiver authorizing that communication (as to do so would potentially violate the duty of loyalty and confidentiality referenced above), if you are truly interested in the objective facts alleged in any dissolution of marriage action, as well as the manner in which those facts were argued in court documents, as opposed to an individual's perception and/or their recollection thereof, you should take a look at the publically {sic} accessible court file.
I have been threatened by a gangster before; his message on my voicemail is below.
Unfortunately, the article which included this has been removed but check out my speech from the 2018 Whistleblower Summit, where I talk about this threat.
Update:
Mr. Tips, the attorney attacked reached out to me a few days after this was published with the following statement.
Your post about Bill Sardi has recently come to my attention. In that post, you republish gratuitous, defamatory remarks about me that are false and entirely baseless. These remarks have been made by someone whom Bill Sardi very generously helped with money, a paid job, and a car. Now that Bill Sardi is dead, this man has evidently decided to personally attack me – Bill Sardi’s close friend and business attorney – with a smear campaign, one that you are helping spread by repeating in your blog.
I do not deserve this, and the comments are not even relevant to your post.
Post Script:
Check out the previous articles in the series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, and Part 12.
To support the continued investigation into Orange County, find the fundraiser for Orange County here.