You may know Tom Corea from the twice-weekly, half-hour infomercials he ran on daytime TV called Ask a Lawyer with Tom Corea. Or you may know him as that attorney who sued KTVT and Channel 21 for $1.4 million over said show, claiming the stations didn't forward calls to his office like they said they would. You probably don't know him as the guy caught going 115 down I-20 two years ago in a year-old Mercedes, but that happened too.
Corea now has a new claim to fame: the guy who allegedly ripped off clients for more than $400,000. According to four felony indictments filed against Corea last month in Dallas County, the man who boasts of his "zealous advocacy and personal connection with his clients," was, in fact, quietly screwing them over. One of the charges alleges that he schemed to steal more than $200,000 from a half dozen individuals. In another case, he repeatedly lied to business clients to have them transfer more than $200,000.
To top it all off, Corea allegedly stole the identity of another Dallas attorney and used it on: an American Express Gold Card application; an American Express Plum Car application; an American Express Platinum Card application; tax documents; and a couple of settlement agreements.
The web site for Corea's practice is down, but his phone still works. A message has been left for his paralegal.
