VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — An attorney in Virginia is facing state bar accusations that he tried to get a jailed client to have a three-way sexual relationship with him and another female client.
A Virginia State Bar subcommittee certified the allegations against Virginia Beach attorney Scott A. Lehman last month, the Virginian-Pilot reported Friday. Lehman, who has been a member of the bar since 2009, was given 21 days to respond and provide available dates for a hearing. He didn’t reply to a request for comment from the newspaper.
The jailed woman told sheriff’s officers that she met Lehman on the website Seeking Arrangement, which bills itself as a way for wealthy “sugar daddies” to meet women known as “sugar babies.” When she was jailed for a probation violation in 2019, she asked him for help, according to the 13-page certification document.
Two months later, she told sheriff’s officers Lehman was representing her for free with the understanding that she would have a sexual relationship with him after she was released from jail. She also told them they had had sexual conversations using the facility’s video visitation system.
The officers reviewed footage of the video conversations and said they saw Lehman’s attempts to establish the three-way relationship. The newspaper reported the other woman was also his client and was out on bond while awaiting trial.
The jailed woman denied to a Virginia State Bar investigator that she had said Lehman offered his services for free in exchange for sex. Lehman told the investigator he only agreed to represent the woman for free during a bond hearing.
The bar suspended Lehman’s law license in December after he did not fully comply with an order to turn over case records of the two women.
