#EXCLUSIVE The defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy is being formally charged by the Massachusetts Bar Counsel with a multi-count ethics petition (the bar’s version of an indictment).
The complaint accuses him of using client money to pay personal bills, abandoning a prisoner client for six years after taking $25,000, and attempting extortion.
One of those text messages that Reddington sent a client on the eve of his criminal trial, demanded more money and threatened the possibility of decades in prison if he didn’t get it, saying
“I am really pissed off. You better figure out at least how much you can get us.”
“Do NOT tell Me You are all broke. They can all enjoy Visiting you in Leavenworth for the next thirty years.”
#massachusetts
If he’s found guilty, he could be suspended or disbarred.
Kevin J. Reddington is the 75-year-old lawyer who represented Clancy in her triple-m*rder trial and described her as a wonderful, amazing person after she strangled her three young children to de*th.
The Bar Counsel’s charging document is dated June 23 and was filed with the Board of Bar Overseers. (C3-24-00286282 and C3-25-00287910)
Reddington is facing four counts:
Count IV – The Correia case $150,000 and subsequent shakedown
- In May 2018, Jasiel F. Correia II – the former mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts – hired Reddington.
- Correia paid him a $150K flat fee plus expenses in an oral agreement.
- There was no written agreement, which is a violation.
- By March 2021, just before the April trial, Reddington had already been paid at least $115K.
- However, on the eve of the trial, he texted Correia demanding another $50,000 “from wherever” and “a percentage of snoowl. Like 20% then we go to war” – meaning he wanted a slice of Correia’s business SnoOwl which was a smartphone app
- So basically, Reddington was shaking Correia down right before trial, telling him to turn over 20% of the company as part of his pay, on top of the extra $50K and the $150,000 flat fee.
- When Correia said the family was tapped out, Reddington texted on March 31, 2021:
- “I am really pissed off. You better figure out at Least how much you can get us abs then we will Take A piece of Sno owl.”
- “Please Advise and do NOT tell Me You are all broke. They can all enjoy Visiting you in Leavenworth for the next thirty years.”
- Correia made small payments equaling $7,700 during trial.
- He was convicted on most counts and sentenced to 72 months.
- Reddington withdrew after sentencing.
- In May 2024 Correia told a federal judge that Reddington had
- “Attempted to extort $50,000 from Defendant and his family plus 20% of Snoowl with threats of 30 years in Leavenworth.”
- Reddington called Correia “a liar” and said, “20% of nothing is nothing.”
- He also said he got a “wrinkly little check for $4,000.”
- The Bar Counsel says Reddington is lying.
Count III – $25,000 and six years of no prison visit
- In late 2017 Reddington took a $25K flat fee from a prisoner to file a post-conviction motion.
- But Reddington never once visited (2017-2023) Jose Polanco – the prisoner – despite promises that he would come “next week,” “shortly,” and once he had “a grasp on the actual direction that the case is going to take.”
- In 2019, Reddington wrote a letter to Polanco claiming he had filed an ‘appearance to represent’ him ‘a year ago.’
- However, the Bar Counsel says that was a lie; Reddington didn’t actually file the appearance to represent until May of 2020 despite taking the money in 2017.
- He promised Polanco an expert but never hired one.
- When Reddington finally filed a motion, it didn’t have any case citations (“Commonwealth vs.” and “Commonwealth vs. Catton, Mass. ().”),
- There was a blank paragraph after “In Catton,” a missing exhibit, and two unsigned family affidavits.
Count II – Spending client funds for personal bills
- In 2019 Reddington was paid $18K from a client; $15K was his flat fee, and $3K was for a forensics evaluation.
- Reddington took his $15K out, but instead of keeping the $3K in the trust as required, he used it to pay another attorney for the work they did for a different client.
- He made a $1,500 payment in August and another in November.
Count I – Bank Account violations from 2017 to 2025
- Reddington used the IOLTA account (which is a special bank account a lawyer is required to use when holding his client’s money that is not yet his) to hold personal money and failed to pull out fees promptly.
- He never performed required reconciliations, never kept proper records with client identifiers, never kept individual client ledgers, never kept a bank-fee ledger, and never performed the required three-way reconciliations.
Reddington’s behavior issues were on full display during and after the Clancy trial, from calling the child k*ller a wonderful person and being admonished by the judge for trying to intimidate the female prosecutor, to gender doxxing the lone guilty holdout on the jury.
He also accused the hold-out juror of being a bigot and demanded the judge hold an open court questioning of that juror to expose his identity to the public.
Reddington also accused the juror of refusing to apply the law and stealing seven weeks from the lives of the other jurors.
Then he gloated, telling the District Attorney Timothy Cruz,
“You, Tim, were crushed.”
Legal commentator Jonathan Turley said that attacking the lone holdout after the trial was “utterly reprehensible”.
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