‘Fat, weak c**t’: Former lawyer’s threatening texts to witness revealed
A tribunal has found embattled former lawyer Pat Lennon engaged in professional misconduct when he sent threatening texts to another lawyer calling him “a dog”.
Police & Courts
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Disgraced former lawyer Pat Lennon engaged in professional misconduct when he sent threatening texts to another lawyer calling him a “fat, weak c--t” and “a dog”.
Lennon, 61, sent the messages to former barrister Dimitrios (James) Podaridis after learning he was to give evidence in a civil trial on behalf of a woman who allegedly failed to pay $500,000 in legal fees to Lennon’s law firm.
In profane SMS exchanges, Lennon labelled Mr Podaridis a “fat, weak c--t” and a “dog” and asked “U at ur mums fat c--t?”.
“C u in 15 — be there,” he said.
In a judgment published this month, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Lennon engaged in professional misconduct over the messages and threatened Mr Podaridis to stop him from giving evidence at the July 2020 County Court trial.
Finance company Argyle Lending, owned by Lennon’s wife Jane Lennon, brought a civil claim against Maria Lantouris — Mr Podaridis’ second cousin — as they sought to recover $500,000 in legal fees to Lennon’s former firm, Lennon Mazzeo Lawyers.
They alleged Ms Lantouris agreed to pay the sum on behalf of her brother Nicholas Sevdalis who owed more than $800,000 in legal fees to LM Lawyers.
Mr Podaridis had brokered the deal between the Sevdalis family and the Lennons.
In a letter to a Victorian Legal Services Commissioner investigator, Lennon said he believed Mr Podaridis had become “disenchanted” with the Sevdalis family and was “very much part of the plaintiffs’ camp”.
Lennon, whose clients have included underworld figure Mick Gatto and disgraced former jockey Danny Nikolic, wanted to call Mr Podaridis to give evidence on his firm’s behalf, but decided against it after he was proofed.
Mr Podaridis advised Lennon that he had spoken to Ms Lantouris’ lawyers and, prior to the texts, Lennon’s solicitor sent an outline of the evidence that Mr Podaridis was proposing to give on her behalf.
“By his own account, Mr Lennon says he was ‘furious with Mr Podaridis because he should have been a witness in the case and told the truth’,” the VCAT ruling said.
“He ‘los(t) (his)temper with Mr Podaridis and gave him a piece of (his) mind’.”
In his letter to VLSC, Lennon denied he planned to confront Mr Podaridis at his mother’s home “partly because I would have been in no fit state to drive”.
He also claimed he met with Mr Podaridis to apologise for the texts.
A further VCAT hearing is set down for September 6 before an expected Victorian Legal Services Board application to have Lennon’s name struck from the roll.
In January, Lennon was found guilty of attempted ice possession after 11 grams of the drug were found in a shoulder bag during a police search in South Yarra.
Lennon no longer practices law after his practising certificate expired last year.
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