Three days after attorney Matthew Rifat gets ordained as Deacon in the Catholic Church, the California State Bar Court judge, Phong Wang, rules Matthew acted with an absence of moral turpitude. Thus, he does not get disbarred; he does not get temporarily suspended.
Matthew Rifat was ordained on Saturday, May 24th 2025, as a permanent Deacon in the Diocese of San Diego. He was publicly reproved by the State Bar Court of California on May 27th 2025, just three days later, which did not include disbarment or temporary suspension. Instead, since the ruling stated Matthew neither acted with... Read More
Attorney Matthew Rifat ordained as a Deacon in the Catholic Church. His ordination took place on May 24th 2025 at St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church, San Diego, California.
The Priests and the Deacons and others of the ordained order walked two by two in a long procession. They moved reverently down the center aisle in their white robes at the Catholic church of Saint Therese of Carmel. Then they each bowed as they reached the altar. The pews were in slight semi-circles of... Read More
Lawyers Michael de la Garza and Antony Gluck, along with two others, charged by San Bernardino District Attorney for buying and selling workers’ compensation claimants
This case is being prosecuted by the San Bernardino District Attorney´s office. Two lawyers, Michael de la Garza, and Antony Gluck, are charged with what is estimated to be approximately 14.5 million dollars in workers´ compensation fraud. This scheme targeted Spanish speakers, as many fraud schemes before it. Spanish speakers, especially Spanish-only speakers, generally don’t... Read More
Character witness, Mike Saleh, learned about the Riverside criminal charges but still went ahead and hired Matthew Rifat
Mike Saleh was a character witness for Matthew Rifat on Thursday morning, March 20th 2025. Matthew is on trial to defend his law license. He is being prosecuted by Vilette Magapan and Scott Karpf of the Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the California Bar Association. Matthew is now in the process of calling ten... Read More
Rocky Ventittelli to Matthew Rifat – “I think you’re one of the most moral, honest attorneys that I’ve employed…”
Rocky Ventittelli is Matthew Rifat’s first character witness for Friday, March 21st 2025, starting shortly after 9:00 am. This is the last day of Matthew’s trial with the California Bar Association, Office of Chief Trial Council. He could be disciplined by being disbarred or suspended. The looming question is did he commit moral turpitude. Check... Read More
Jesuit priest takes the stand and calls Matthew Rifat “a model citizen”
The California Bar Association trial challenging attorney Matthew Rifat ended on March 21st, Friday, 2025. It was a six-day trial that went from March 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th and then took up again on March 20th and 21st. It was prosecuted by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel of the California Bar Association. The... Read More
Matthew Rifat’s character witnesses in Bar trial testify to his exemplary character. Priest sums him up as honest and generous.
Matthew Rifat’s trial with the California Bar Association, their Office of Chief Trial Counsel, ended on March 21st 2025, Friday. Matthew is fighting to keep his attorney Bar license in California, as he had been convicted of a felony, PC 549, on February 29, 2024. Any felony conviction gets referred to the California Bar’s Office... Read More
Applicants’ attorney Jon Woods wins on appeal to dismiss 33 counts out of a 37-count conviction.
Jon Woods was charged with workers’ compensation claims fraud in 2017 along with several other applicants’ attorneys by the Orange County District Attorney. He was tried in 2019 and got a mistrial on April 17, 2019. He was tried again in July of 2022 after a long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic; he then... Read More
