Target of LA Criminal Investigation Has 13 Felony Counts Dismissed and Walks Away Vindicated

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- P. Vincent Mehdizadeh, a corporate executive, announced today that he has resolved a pending matter initiated by the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs from activities occurring from 2005-2008 relating to a law firm Mehdizadeh used to manage, as a non-attorney manager, alongside a supervising attorney, Thomas R. Lee.

"After three years of intense scrutiny into my personal and business life, the District Attorney's office finally gave up and conceded that I wasn't the person that they portrayed me to be," stated Mehdizadeh.

Thomas R. Lee, the attorney Mr. Mehdizadeh worked for, resigned from the practice of law with charges pending from the State Bar in 2008, for matters that predated his working relationship with Mr. Mehdizadeh. Mr. Lee closed his office abruptly - leaving clients without legal representation and angry that their cases were not completed as promised by Mr. Lee.  In 2010, Mr. Mehdizadeh was formally charged for cases that were handled in that attorney's office from 2005-2008. Mr. Mehdizadeh explained, "That attorney, who has been disbarred since 2008, has no assets to speak of, so of course the person they target is the one who does. They wanted someone to pay the clients back and it made no difference to them that I wasn't the one who received the money from the clients as long as I had deep enough pockets to pay them."

Mr. Mehdizadeh accepted a plea arrangement whereas he entered a "West" Plea on 2 counts, meaning he denied guilt but accepted the terms of the plea. He was put on probation and volunteered payment to the victims of Mr. Lee's office. It was specifically negotiated that Mehdizadeh would qualify for an automatic expungement, or deletion, of the record after probation was successfully concluded. 

Interestingly, while Mr. Lee was never charged with a crime, Mr. Mehdizadeh's own father was also charged with a crime for referring cases to the firm, while operating a properly permitted, state licensed, lawyer referral service.

"I was ready to take the case all the way as I had personally organized 843 pages of evidence that confirmed that the attorney I was working with received the funds from the aggrieved clients and not me. In addition, documents pulled from State Bar complaint records demonstrated that every single client admitted to hiring Mr. Lee and not me," stated Mehdizadeh. "However, with a 78 year old father being targeted as a means of leverage against me, I wasn't about to put him through a trial that we would have ultimately won, but possibly at a severe detriment to his health and mental well being," he added. "Had his health not been an issue and the company I currently work for not been negatively affected by the speculation that accompanies such trials, I would have contested the matter and prevailed. As it is, a payment was made voluntarily to law office clients from 2005-2008 from whom I did not retain funds, but the attorney did."

Mr. Mehdizadeh states that he has no ill will towards the prosecutors in the matter who conducted themselves professionally. His qualm was with how the case was presented to the prosecutors by the LA County Department of Consumer Affairs and specifically a field agent whom Mehdizadeh believes coerced testimony from Mr. Lee's clients in order to suit his agenda against Mehdizadeh.

"I am aware that calls were placed to individuals with whom I had business dealings by this particular consumer affairs agent and those people were told I was a 'bad guy' and to come file a complaint to get money back. I received a couple calls from people that stated as much and that they had no issue with me at all," stated Mehdizadeh. "It is a sad world we live in when people in positions of authority abuse that authority."

Earlier this year, Mehdizadeh announced he was writing a book entitled "Self-Made – How I became a multi-millionaire in the legalized marijuana industry without selling marijuana." The book will document Vincent's struggles as a young man and will capture every nuance of his difficult journey in becoming a success, with all proceeds of the book going to St. Jude's Children's Charity.

About P. Vincent Mehdizadeh: 

Mr. Mehdizadeh founded Prescription Vending Machines, Inc DBA Medicine Dispensing Systems, in February 2008. He has been responsible for establishing corporate direction and setting the Company's strategy as well as earning a patent in 2010 for his biometric medicine dispensing machine. Mr. Mehdizadeh has been featured in interviews with CNN, ABC News, Reuters, Associated Press, NPR, and has been featured in articles appearing in Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal, to name a few.

Some other career highlights include:
Director of Client Relations for Law Office of Donald J. Townley, Law Offices of Frank E. Miller, Law Offices of Thomas R. Lee, Rexford Law Group, & the Moheban Law Firm from 2003‐2009.

SOURCE P. Vincent Mehdizadeh