By Frank Parlato

Christopher A. Ambrose was a television writer whose career imploded in a plagiarism scandal in 2018. He is a suspended New York attorney.

He sued psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee after she publicly declared he was a psychopath and a danger to his children.

To avoid a $405 filing fee, Ambrose filed an affidavit with the federal court in Connecticut swearing he was too poor to pay.

When he signed the affidavit, he was paying $3,750 a month to rent a beachfront house valued at $2.4 million, collecting Writers Guild royalties through his California entertainment company, and holding accounts at Fidelity Investments.

On March 31, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sarala Nagala ordered Ambrose to produce his March 2025 bank records, retirement accounts, and lease by April 14 or face dismissal of his lawsuit.

The law that allowed him to file for free is Title 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), which provides that in “any suit, action or proceeding, civil or criminal, or appeal therein,” an individual may proceed “without prepayment of fees or security therefore, by a person who submits an affidavit that includes a statement of all assets.”

The affidavit is sworn under penalty of perjury.

The Second Circuit has held that if a district court finds that an individual’s “allegation of poverty is untrue,” the court is “required . . . to dismiss the action.”

The judge may also refer the filer of a false affidavit to the US Attorney for criminal prosecution for perjury.

The Royalties

The affidavit has an income section. It lists six possible sources of income — business or self-employment, rent or dividends, pension or annuity, disability, gifts or inheritances, and any other sources. Ambrose checked No to each one.

Ambrose wrote for television series including Bones, Instinct, and Law and Order. His career ended in 2018 when he was fired for plagiarism.

The Writers Guild of America pays residuals tied to reruns, streaming, and licensing. A writer does not have to be employed to receive them.

Ambrose’s daughter Mia provided an affidavit to the court on behalf of Dr. Lee declaring that Ambrose has a company that has been collecting WGA checks for years, contradicting his claim of no income on his poverty affidavit.

If the company, Eyes Above Productions, received a WGA payment in March 2025, it may appear in the Bank of America records the judge ordered him to produce.

The judge, however, ordered March 2025 statements only – the month he filed his poverty affidavit.

WGA pays quarterly. If no payment came in March, the statement could show zero even if he received substantial payments that quarter.

His company, Eyes Above Productions, is registered in California. Its listed business type is beauty supply. A television writer registered his entertainment royalty company as a barber supply business. The WGA sends royalty checks to a barber supply company. His daughter points out in a statement that “It is an unusual arrangement for a man who has never cut hair.”

Ambrose claims Eyes Above Productions is a production company, but he’s registered it as a Beauty industry.

The Fidelity Accounts

On the affidavit, Ambrose checked No to owning any stocks, bonds, or securities and swore he had no financial instruments of value. He said nothing about the Fidelity Investment accounts.

In his written explanation, in his opposition to Dr. Lee’s motion to dismiss, Ambrose disclosed that he supports himself by “invading my modest 401K, already depleted by enormous divorce expenses.”

The IRS treats 401k withdrawals as taxable ordinary income. He checked No to income while describing income in the same paragraph.

Mia believes her father’s assets held in various Fidelity Investments accounts and elsewhere, including multiple Bank of America accounts under his and his “beauty slaons” exceed $1,000,000. The judge named Fidelity in her order because Mia named it in her declaration.

Fidelity is not merely a provider of retirement accounts. It is a full-service investment platform that allows a person to hold stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and cash alongside retirement accounts. If Ambrose has a taxable brokerage account at Fidelity — not a retirement account — his claim that he did not know financial instruments had to be disclosed may implicate further falsity.

If Ambrose produces only his retirement Fidelity Investment account when he has others, he may be in violation of the court’s order.

The judge ordered statements for “any financial accounts under his custody or control.”

Ambrose has until April 14 — nine days — to produce the documents. If they show his poverty claim was false, the Second Circuit is clear: the court is “required” to dismiss.

The judge has not yet ruled on Dr. Lee’s request for a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney. That decision, along with dismissal, awaits what Ambrose produces on April 14.

Part Two covers the rent, the lease, and what Judge Nagala is signaling in her own words. Part Three covers the children and the SNAP fraud.

See also:

Ambrose Has Until April 14. His Options Are All Bad.

Federal Judge Orders Ambrose to Produce Bank Records, Criminal Referral Open

A $405 Filing May Finally Expose Christopher Ambrose — His Daughter Just Blew the Case Open

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