“I want to know why the attorney’s fees are so high and how the two lawyers calculated it,” Govendo said earlier.
“I am giving the defendants another chance, but I want Jan. 28 to be the last time for the issue to be resolved,” he added.
The lawyers filed hourly billings for the Malite probate which reached a total of over 6,000 hours.
In a hearing on Jan. 5, Govendo gave the two lawyers temporary release from jail until Jan. 16 to prepare for their case and present the necessary documents they needed to explain where the money went and how they spent it.
But during the Jan. 16 hearing, the lawyers asked for one more week.
The judge granted Yana’s request to give him more time to “refresh his memory over and remember his expenses.”
Yana requested for copies of the checks he wrote and which Malite estate lawyer Stephen Nutting had obtained.
Yana told the court that he did not keep track of his checks and that some of the check records were missing from his office — a statement that Govendo described as ridiculous.
Atalig and Yana have been in jail for 10 months since March last year when Govendo ordered them jailed for civil contempt for failing to return the $1,288,500 attorneys’ fees they got from the Malite estate.
The amount involves $1,138,500 in the civil case and $150,000 in the first distribution in the probate case.
Since the order was given, the lawyers have yet to return the fees in part or in full.
