Richard Luthmann, a writer for Frank Report, is suing New York City Councilmember Kamillah Hanks over her alleged failure to pay him for legal work and campaign expenditures before he was disbarred.
Luthmann’s lawsuit claims he was not paid for campaign work in 2017 for City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks and her partner Kevin Barry Love.
Luthmann claims he is owed over $86,000 in fees for Hanks’ 2017 campaign for NYC Council against incumbent Debi Rose, who won the election.
Hanks subsequently won the election to the seat after Rose reached term limits in 2021, forcing her to vacate the seat.
The New York Post reported on Luthmann’s lawsuit: Disgraced ‘trial by combat’ lawyer sues NYC councilwoman over unpaid $86K bill.
In the Post’s story, Hanks did not respond to the allegations. Love called Luthmann’s allegations a “vulgar lie.”
Love told the Post, “Missing from his lawsuit is not a single piece of evidence other than the rantings of a mentally ill man.”
The New York Post did not seek comment from Luthmann.
Luthmann claims he has ample evidence that Hanks, Love, and her campaign owe him tens of thousands of dollars and took advantage of his legal woes in 2018.
Luthmann faced federal and state charges, was in pretrial custody, was convicted, and served four years in federal prison.
Luthmann said Hanks and Love took advantage of his incarceration, not paying him for his legitimate legal and campaign services.
He now wants to be paid. He told Frank Report: “Kevin and Kamillah are running around Staten Island, telling anyone who will listen that they have ‘enemies’ out to ‘destroy’ them. Their enemies are their two big mouths. The evidence I plan to show reveals these two are deadbeats who took advantage of my legal difficulties to avoid their proper obligations.”
When asked about Love’s claims that Luthmann could not provide “a single piece of evidence,” Luthmann spun it back at Love.
He said, “Kevin Barry Love can call me all the names he wants, but he can’t produce a receipt or canceled check showing he paid my fees.”
Luthmann said, “My normal retainer was a minimum of $5,000. Hanks and Love cried poverty and asked me to take a down payment of $1,650 for the campaign work, promising they would pay me more later.”
Luthmann said he succeeded in eliminating Hank’s rival, Phil Marius, from the ballot.
Luthmann told Frank Report, “I worked to remove Marius, not for my benefit, but for Kamillah Hanks and her campaign. Kamillah, Kevin, and their consultant, Scott Levenson, know we agreed I would be paid.”
Luthmann produced emails in his court filing to support his claim that he did extensive work for Hanks.
Luthmann said he was not paid for hours of legal work beyond a $1,650 check, which did not even cover out-of-pocket costs.
Luthmann said he had costs such as:
- gas and tolls back and forth to the Board of Elections,
- opponent candidates’ petition copies,
- buff card copies,
- fees for the handwriting expert,
- process servers,
- private investigators,
- filing costs for the election law case in New York State Supreme Court,
- Cash paid to feed people performing the line-by-line examination of Hanks’ opponent Phil Marius’ petitions [Luthmann’s work resulted in Marius’ removal from the ballot]
Is Kamillah Hanks lying about Luthmann’s involvement in 2017?
When the “Fake Facebook” story first broke, she tried to distance herself from Luthmann. Hanks’ campaign spokesperson Jennifer Blatus said, “Richard Luthmann was hired solely for the petitioning process and is not employed by this campaign.”
That statement is a far cry from the evidence Luthmann has released so far.
Hanks and Love also came to Luthmann for his legal skills when they had a family problem.
Luthmann said, “The Department of Education barred their daughter Nadia from participating in her graduation ceremony at LaGuardia High School because of her academic deficiencies.”
“Her parents came to me. They appealed to me, putting it on a personal level. It was a sensitive matter. They did not want their daughter humiliated by not participating in the graduation ceremony when all her friends would be there. They needed the legal work done fast since graduation day was coming. They assured me of payment. ‘Whatever it takes,’ they said. ‘This is our daughter.’ Trusting their word, I went to court and won. I got a judge to order the school to let Nadia walk with all her classmates in the graduation ceremony.”
“You know, Hanks and Love, the proud parents, never paid me a nickel. They didn’t even reimburse me for the cost of the Index Number in that case, which came out of my pocket.”
See Teen gets judge’s order to walk in HS graduation; suit alleges teacher ‘maliciously’ failed her.
Luthmann claims Hanks and Love promise payment before the work is undertaken, then after it is completed, they fail to make payment.
Luthmann said. “It’s their business practice. They’re millionaires with deep pockets and alligator arms. They claimed they did not have enough money to pay me, yet afterward, I saw them on Facebook vacationing in Paris.”
Luthmann claims he will reveal details about witnesses, including ex-elected officials present during their arrangements.
Luthmann said meetings took place in Love’s basement and Hank’s campaign headquarters parking lot.
Luthmann also groused that Love and Hanks’ consultant Scott Levenson smoked his marijuana without offering to replenish his or offering any of their own.
Luthmann said, “Kevin Love and Scott Levenson never even paid for the pot we were smoking. They bogarted mine.”
Luthmann advises others who might do business with the grifting couple to get the money upfront.
Luthmann said, “Hanks and Love have severe memory issues. Why not ask the people they owe money to? Their memory is much more feeble than their many creditors.”
Luthmann told Frank Report that if he wins the lawsuit against Hanks and Love, he will put the proceeds towards restitution from his 2019 conviction on an unrelated matter.
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