Kyle Rittenhouse attorney John Pierce quits #FightBack Foundation fund amid reports his firm is mired in debt
On Saturday, September 5, Kyle Rittenhouse's attorney John Pierce announced that he would resign from the #FightBack Foundation board that had raised $700,000 for the Kenosha shooter's legal defense. This comes after reports that Pierce's law firm has allegedly "defaulted on millions in debt." Pierce's firm that is working in defense of Rittenhouse has access to some of the funds raised according to Daily Mail but Pierce has said that he wanted to "avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest." With reports that Pierce's firm has struggled when it comes to paying off its debts, the attorney apparently debunked the allegations stating that his firm "has zero debt."
Pierce is on Rittenhouse's defense team fighting the 17-year-old's "intentional" homicide charges after he had shot two people dead and wounded another last month during protests that were happening in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In a recent tweet, Pierce made it clear to everyone that he was stepping down from the Foundation Board. He explained that he's doing so, so he can "focus" on his defense of the Kenosha shooter, Rittenhouse. The attorney also mentioned that he wanted to avoid a cash conflict.
With another tweet on Sunday, September 6, 2020, Pierce reiterated his resignation from the foundation while calling out the debt rumors. Calling it fake news, Pierce tweeted that his firm had "zero debt." He also made it a point to re-announce that he was stepping off #FightBack. In the post, Pierce mentioned that the firm will be paid for the work it has done.
Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, Pierce's firm has been accused of "defaulting on millions of dollars owed to investors" as revealed by court documents and publications such as Daily Mail. Although he has refused that his firm is suffering from any type of debt, Pierce did say that he did not pay Karish Kapital $4 million for cash advances his firm had received from them, earlier this year. In March 2020 as reported by the Daily Beast, payday-lender-style financial business Karish Kapital sued John Pierce and Pierce Bainbridge alleging that Pierce took out a loan worth $4 million from them and also used the firm’s assets as collateral.
Furthermore, the publication reported that the attorney has "extensive personal debts" reporting that on documents from November 2019, Pierce had said that he owed the IRS $850,000 along with $200,000 in "other" taxes. Apparently he had claimed that overall he was paying $20,000 monthly to clear debts.
Besides the fact that articles such as 'The Lawyer Raising Money for Kyle Rittenhouse Nearly Sank His Own Law Firm' courtesy of the Daily Beast continues to circulate online, Pierce is at the center of attention for other major reasons. With Rittenhouse facing hate from many around the world, his attorney Pierce said that the teenager had acted in "self-defense" on that fateful day of August 25, where BLM protestors were marching over the recent shooting of Jacob Blake that had occurred two days prior.
Rittenhouse's case is currently the talk of the town with politics of both the left and right deeply involved along with social and racial injustices. Lin Wood, another attorney who had started the fund along with Pierce is now controlling the foundation adding that Pierce will be reimbursed for the work he had put in defending the Kenosha shooter.