Larry Forman, the DUI Guy on YouTube, has built his online brand by making provocative videos, while giving off an air of legal authority.
Over the last couple years, he’s forgotten that he’s a lawyer first and bound by legal ethics when going on tirades against judges and contributing to dubious and frivolous lawsuits.
Forman became an ally of Jeremy Hales approximately two years ago. In so doing, he did a lot of videos on Levy County Judge Craig DeThomasis. Judge DeThomasis was referred to as Judge Grudge for his purported bias against Hales in his disputes with Hales’ neighbor, Michelle Preston.
Judge DeThomasis denied several motions to recuse himself, but in one, Judge DeThomasis gave reasons defending himself.
That violated rules and he had to recuse himself. Since then, Hales and his sycophants have claimed Judge DeThomasis was biased, even though the bias was a legal technicality.
Forman referred to Judge DeThomasis as Judge Grudge and worse.
In one video, he called Judge DeThomasis the “worst judge in Florida.”
Another one entitled Rogue Judge goes after whatthehales had Judge DeThomasis in a clown nose.
He also referred to DeThomasis as “unhinged” and that he “defended perverts.”
This is par for the course for YouTubers looking to get noticed, except Forman is not just a YouTuber. He may have forgotten that he is an attorney first, and attorneys have rules, even on YouTube.
One rule is that attorneys cannot impugn the integrity of a judge.
I previously covered Minnesota attorney, Michelle MacDonald, whose law license is indefinitely suspended after she referred to a hearing where she was handcuffed to a wheelchair as having “no (due) process.”
Even though she didn’t mention the judge- Dakota County Judge David Knutson- this was enough for that bar to deem her as impugning his integrity.
Forman, who did not respond to an email for comment, went way beyond anything Michelle said.
While Forman played shock jock on his YouTube channel, he forgot that it’s called “Attorney Larry Forman” and as an attorney, even things said on YouTube are still subject to bar discipline.
Michelle made her statement in a radio interview when running for judge.
Forman may also have trouble with his local bar- he practices in Kentucky- regarding another ethical transgression.
In April 2024, he appeared with Hales for a fundraiser.
Hales did the fundraiser for Olga Nelson, the biological aunt of the child Michelle Preston adopted.
Nelson then filed a frivolous lawsuit challenging Preston’s adoption.
It was part of a campaign by Hales to torture Preston.
The lawsuit was quickly dismissed, but Forman either knew or should have known that he was contributing to a farce.
Forman is no stranger to ethical lapses.
He previously sued his former employees- Tyler and Samina Hitch.
It came out during the lawsuit that Forman may have forged the Hitch’s signature on a court document.
Another former employee, Ben Potash, is representing attorney Bruce Matzkin, in a defamation lawsuit Matzkin filed.
Matzkin previously represented Michelle Preston in a separate federal lawsuit against Hales.
In that case, Forman falsely claimed that Matzkin would be disbarred, would flee to Armenia, and that he routinely scams people.
Remarkably, Forman made these scurrilous accusations while also acknowledging he had no facts to back them up.
“Then he tried to scam a bunch of people there, probably.” Forman said in a video “I don’t know. I have no evidence of that.”
A judge has ruled the lawsuit has merit and will continue, however, Forman has appealed that order. That appeal is pending.
In my dealings with Forman, he previously made a video sympathetic to Derrick Lee Cardillo Smith.
Smith falsely claimed that Sean Combs raped him in 1997, and he then falsely claimed that he was set up for two rapes to cover up Combs rape.
After Jack Laurence- who was working on a podcast on Smith and Combs- reached out to Forman asking to present evidence counter to his narrative, Forman quietly removed the video without telling his audience.
Jack later created the podcast Suing Diddy.
Post-script
Check out the fundraiser to help me create more articles on the Hales case. Find articles one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, and twenty-seven.
There's a special circle in hell for shameless self-promoting ambulance chasers, and Larry Forman lives in the basement under that. Volpe reports that Forman pushed attacks on Judge Craig DeThomasis, amplified Jeremy Hales-linked narratives, participated in a fundraiser connected to litigation that was later dismissed, and made ugly claims about attorney Bruce Matzkin while admitting he had no evidence for parts of them. That is not fearless advocacy. That is clout-chasing with a law license. Lawyers can criticize courts, judges, and opposing players, but they do not get a YouTube ethics vacation. The bar should look hard at the whole pattern.