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State Bar Seizes Practice of Man Posing As Lawyer
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar of California reported on Friday that it has seized the practice of a man who, using at least 22 aliases, has falsely represented himself to be an attorney, exacting thousands of dollars from persons in Los Angeles County who paid him for legal services.
Efferin Deans, who is fluent in Spanish, typically makes contact with Spanish-speaking persons at Los Angeles Superior Court courthouses and offers to provide representation, the State Bar said. It noted that representation includes filing papers and making court appearances, noting that in making one such appearance in August, the judge discerned his non-bar status and made a report.
On Thursday, a judge issued an interim order authorizing the State Bar to seize client files and records of former clients of Deans or the Law Offices of Deans and Associates from his office in Canoga Park and his San Fernando Valley home office.
Six Felony Counts
Deans was arrested Oct. 28 after the District Attorney’s Office the previous day filed three felony counts of grand theft, two felony counts of preparing false documentary evidence, one felony count of perjury by declaration, and three misdemeanor counts of practicing law without a license. The charges cover the period of time from January 2019 to last September.
The State Bar investigated Deans in tandem with the Notario Fraud Unit of the District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.
The complaint notes that he has suffered a 2010 conviction for unauthorized practice of law and a 1999 conviction for criminal threats.
2007 News Account
An Aug. 19, 2007 article in the Daily News says:
“Convicted twice before of identity theft, Efferin Deans also has used the names Ishmael Mizrahi, Israel Mizrahi, Israel Alazhari, Robert Masri, Steven Williams and Thomas Hagen, according to court records.
“Police and prosecutors in the case say they have not figured out exactly which is his legal, given name.
“ ‘We booked him as Efferin Deans because that is the name we had that corresponded with his fingerprint record from a previous arrest,’ said El Monte police Detective Rick George.”
The article recounts that in one instance, he was booked as “Kenneth Aslan,” which turned out to be the name he appropriated from a he Ventura County attorney.
He is being held on $176,000 bail.
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company