Documentarian Billy Corben has filed a complaint with the Florida Bar accusing lawyer and Miami Commission candidate Monique Pardo Pope of publicly misrepresenting his legal record.
He’s demanding that the organization investigate her and take disciplinary action, though he doesn’t expect it to do so.
Corben’s biting complaint — which features several pop culture references, including one about the film, “Gremlins,” that includes a footnote explaining it — points to a written statement Pardo Pope made to the Miami New Times in September following his reporting that she is the daughter of a Nazi-admiring serial killer named Manuel Pardo.
In her response, Pardo Pope contended that Corben “has made a career of slinging mud, which has even resulted in losing a defamation case.” Corben — whose legal name is William Cohen — called that statement false, noting that the only time he was party to a defamation case, his side secured a six-figure fee award under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute.
He then sent her a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Pardo Pope immediately stop “making false statements of fact” about him. Two months later, she still hasn’t “retracted the lie she published about” him, Corben said, adding that her conduct “appears to run afoul of the Florida Bar’s standards for professionalism.”
The complaint, sent Thursday, cites the Bar’s Professionalism Expectations, which among other things states that lawyers shall not “engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation,” and that in law-related communications, a lawyer “must not disparage another’s character or competence.”
“Ms. Pardo Pope’s disparaging statement claiming I have lost a defamation case is unambiguously dishonest, deceitful, and misrepresentative of the facts,” Corben wrote.
“It is unfathomable that a lawyer with over a decade of legal experience lacks the ability and/or judgment to ensure they speak truthfully when commenting to the media about the outcome of litigation. Yet here, Ms. Pardo Pope apparently knew I had been involved in litigation alleging defamation, but she either (1) knew nothing of the actual facts of the case and falsely ascribed an outcome; or (2) knew I won the case, but falsely claimed I did not. Regardless of which explanation Ms. Pardo Pope invokes, it is irrefutable that she lied about the adjudication of a case that occurred in her own home judicial circuit.”
Beyond the individual allegation, the complaint raises institutional concerns. Corben argues that the Bar’s prior dismissal of his February 2024 complaint against former City of Miami Attorney Victoria Méndez, who made unprofessional public remarks about him during a municipal broadcast, signals a pattern of “preferential treatment” of politically connected lawyers.
He warned that failure to act in the current case “will have broader implications” for the Bar’s credibility.
He framed the matter as a test of the organization.
“Of course, the way this story ends ultimately lies in the hands of the Florida Bar,” he wrote. “Will this complaint be used as an opportunity to do the right thing and salvage what’s left of the Bar’s diminishing reputation, or will the Bar’s deference to social status and/or political connections once again triumph over ethics and professionalism?”
Florida Politics contacted Pardo Pope and two people working on her campaign, but did not receive a response by press time.
The Bar has not yet publicly indicated whether or when it will take action on Corben’s complaint, viewable below.
