WOODLAND HILLS : Lawyer Abused System, Prosecution Argues
Former Woodland Hills attorney Lynn B. Stites directed a ring of corrupt lawyers in an elaborate scheme to cheat insurance companies “and defraud the judicial system” by rigging and prolonging litigation, a federal prosecutor said in closing arguments Friday at Stites’ mail fraud and racketeering trial in San Diego.
Assistant U.S. Atty. William Q. Hayes told a federal court jury the government had presented “overwhelming evidence of the existence of a criminal enterprise” that cost insurers at least $50 million and that involved a network of Los Angeles-area lawyers known as “the Alliance.”
But during more than four hours of arguments, a defense lawyer called Stites the victim of a vendetta by insurers who prevailed on the government to prosecute one of their most successful opponents.
Stites, 48, who also practiced law in West Los Angeles, is charged with one count of racketeering and 25 counts of mail fraud.
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