A complaint has been filed with DC Bar Ethics Council against Stefan Passantino. He represented Cassicy Hutchinson, who gave dramatic testimony to the (now dissolved) January 6 Committee. Lawyers Defending American Democracy explains:
We file this complaint because the testimony Ms. Hutchinson provided to the Committee, and other publicly available information, reveal numerous serious ethical breaches by Mr. Passantino. Among them, Mr. Passantino represented conflicting interests where informed consent was not requested, and no reasonable attorney could consider that the conflicting interests could be reconciled; where his advice to Ms. Hutchinson suborned perjury and placed her in jeopardy of criminal sanctions to protect other clients represented by his firm; and where his conduct also likely violated other federal criminal statutes by encouraging her to give false testimony to Congress. These breaches violated both his duties to Ms. Hutchinson and his obligations to the administration of justice. Set forth below are the facts as we understand them and an analysis of the violations of the District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct (the Rules) that we believe those facts reveal.