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Carl Brizzi believed complaints were dismissed

Posted at 7:53 PM, May 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-19 21:04:26-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- Carl Brizzi believed accusations about a real estate deal and his involvement in handling a drug case plea deal were a thing of the past.

Brizzi released to Call 6 Investigates two letters from the State Disciplinary Commission dated March 2, 2015. Both letters say, “The Commission considered a grievance against you” on February 13. Both letters also say, “The Commission dismissed the grievance on the grounds that there is not reasonable cause to believe that you are guilty of misconduct which would warrant disciplinary conduct.”

The commission opened its review of the plea deal on October 16, and the real estate deal on October 23. Despite months of discussions and extensions in the fall of 2014 and winter of 2015, RTV6 has learned that Brizzi’s legal team at the law firm of Lewis & Wagner believed the issues were resolved when they received the letters from the Commission.

“It’s eight years old, and notwithstanding the fact that it’s the same stuff investigated by the FBI," Brizzi said. 

READ MORE | Commission recommends discipline for former Marion Co. prosecutor Carl Brizzi

In 2013, the U.S Attorney’s office dropped its three-year investigation the former Marion County Prosecutor. He served in that office from 2002-2010.

Despite the Commission's letters in 2015, Brizzi learned this past April that the group planned on filing a complaint with the Indiana Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Commission's complaint against Brizzi was filed with the court and became public. The paperwork requests he be disciplined “as warranted for professional misconduct” and asks the court to order him to pay or expenses incurred in investigating this case.

Specifically, the eight-page document raises questions about a piece of property Brizzi did not disclose on a required report in 2009, and drug case plea deal 2008  involving the client of a business partner.

The State Supreme Court could not comment on the letters in question, because those are not public records.

Spokesperson Kathyrn Dolan told RTV6, “The charges are only allegations and the attorney has a right to respond in writing. Ultimately, only the Supreme Court can determine what (if any) misconduct has occurred."

In 2015, the Indiana Supreme Court weighed in on 32 disciplinary complaints, though the Commission received 1,422 complaints about attorneys statewide.

Possible punishments range from a private reprimand to disbarment.