Attorney Maria Perez of Coral Gables, FL; greedy loser

The state of Florida presented Maria Elena Perez with a law license in 2001 after she graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School.

The Florida State Bar has charged Maria with the following misconduct.

In one matter, Maria offered to gather information for the NCAA during depositions in the bankruptcy of her client, Neil Shapiro, if the NCAA would foot the bill. The NCAA and the University of Miami raised concerns about the situation. The NCAA offered to pay for costs of transcripts if the depositions were scheduled and open to public view.

Maria previously represented Shapiro in a criminal case wherein he received a 20-year sentence for operating a Ponzi scheme. Shapiro admitted he made donations to the Univ. of Miami football team that violated NCAA rules. Because he felt the NCAA abandoned him in prison, Shapiro wanted to report the violations to the NCAA.

NCAA investigator told Maria she could bill for deposition costs, but not attorney fees. During witness depositions that would be helpful to the NCAA investigation, Maria failed to disclose her relationship with the NCAA.

Subsequently, Maria billed the NCAA for service of process, copy costs, paralegal time, legal work she performed and bankruptcy training. Maria knowingly inflated her time in regards to the bankruptcy training.

She also billed for costs incurred before any agreement with the NCAA to pay for deposition costs. She then had the chutzpah to double bill the NCAA by billing for paralegal time for the same work she billed at her attorney rate. In total, Maria billed the NCAA more than $65,000.

Lastly, Maria was charged with leaking a deposition transcript of Shapiro’s former assistant to the Miami Herald , “thus providing full disclosure of [the deponent’s] finances, bank account numbers, and other sensitive, personal information.”

All that remains now is to see what if any punishment is meted out to Maria by the enablers for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Florida Supreme Court.

As we speak (April 2014), Maria practices at 145 Madeira Avenue in Coral Gables, Florida.