Complaint Review: Scam Artist Attorney Michael C. Berry - Clearwater/Tampa Florida

Scam Artist and Manipulative Fraudster Attorney Mike Berry Of Clearwater/ Tampa Florida

I speak from persona experience when I urge others to Beware of Scam Artist and Con Man Michael C. Berry of Clearwater Florida. The man is a hoodster and fraud who works to manipulate the fear in his clients in order to obtain extremely high fees for legal services he never performs. Every person who is dealing with a family divorce or child custody case must be aware that Michael C. Berry incorporates illegal activity in order to gain leverage so he can suck up your and your family's finances.  

My dealings with lawyer Michael C. Berry were awful. 

I am a mother living in Florida who was going through a divorce that had international ties. I have several young children. At the time, I was concerned for my children's safety and about my ex illegally retaining my children abroad (Brazil) during a trip my he was taking to see his family with my kids.  During that time, I set up an appointment to see Mr. Berry in his fancy office at 33. N. Garden Avenue, Clearwater Florida 33755. I explained my circumstances and shared that I had a moderate financial nest-egg. I purposefully did not share the whole picture of my family's wealth (which is not mine), but kept the issues focused on my divorce and children. At first, Michael C. Berry seemed very credible. He had a spacious, well appointed office in one of Clearwater's nicer office buildings. He had plaques and numerous photos on his office wall to try to give off the impression that he is well respected and an above board lawyer. He spoke about the concern of children during a divorce. As I soon would find out, his words were simply a front: Truth is Michael C. Berry is a scam artist who preys on others misfortunes and circumstances and uses fear of a child's safety as the primary catalyst to cause parents like myself to turn over large sums of money to him, as I will explain.

At first I was blinded by his charm, his hollow credentials, and eventually out of fear for my children's safety. 

At the end of my meeting, I signed a retainer agreement with Mr. Berry and gave him an initial retainer of $12,000.00 for my divorce.  I gave him some of the evidence I had and reasons why I wanted my divorce.  I explained that I did not think my divorce would be a messy one, and that my husband and I worked together, etc. 

Two days after I met Mr. Berry, my children's father informs me that he is not coming back to the US with my kids for another week citing that he was looking to purchase more items for our family business and that the kids were enjoying seeing their grandparents and cousins. . I immediately called my hot-shot international lawyer Michael Berry. He puts the fear of God into me and tells me this is a major warning sign for an international child abduction, and that clearly my children are at grave risk. He tells me he has the ability to get everything under control 'Because I am the best in the country at bringing home abducted children', but that I would need to send him another $10,000.00 (he knew I had the money because in the documents I gave him, I included my and my husband's financial statements).  I was devastated, and agreed to drive over to Clearwater the next day to drop him off the money.  

What occurs next is unthinkable - and every person should be aware of the brute and unethical tactics Berry used to access my family's money.  In the documents that I gave to him, there was mention of my family and our family's business. At some point during the night, someone pulled my, my mother's and my father's credit reports. My parents became aware of this because they are high net worth individuals who have their credit reports monitored and are immediately notified when there is a credit inquiry (As it turns out, the entity that requested the credit reports were from a bogus real estate company south in Bradenton (conveniently close to Clearwater). 

Around 10:15 a.m. that morning, I receive a call from scheming lawyer Michael C. Berry. He tells me that he 'had his people check to see what was going on with my children' who were in Brazil.  He said that he used his contacts(he went on during our first meeting that he was a referral lawyer for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children).  He said my children were at grave risk and that they were not coming home. And that he had a plan to get them back, but it was complicated but could be done. He said we had to act immediately. And that he was very sorry about what was happening to me. And that he hated child abductors. He put the fear of God into me. He said that very few abducted children ever come home. And that the first few days are critical. And that he had contacts in the country where they were. And that he had a few good private investigators who would travel with him within 48 hours (enough time for the check to clear) and make sure that my children were going to come home. Then he told me that instead of giving him $10,000.00, I needed to give him $25,000.00 (The con man Berry knew I had this money because I had given him copies of my financial statements).  What else could I do? I was so concerned about my children.  I agreed to bring him the money. During that time, attorney Mike Berry of Clearwater, Florida instructed me not to call my husband and tip him off that the 'Good Guys' were on the way because they did not want him to be tipped off and disappear. Berry also told me that I should not ask my husband when he was coming back to the US, or challenge him and ask him why is he not returning because then we would tip him off that we know that he was planning on not coming back.  it all made sense because as Berry said, he was one of the best international child abduction lawyers in the country (he is not). 

In reality, Mike C. Berry figured out all the angles on how to isolate me. He knew that I was naive to this stuff. In truth - Michael Berry alleged child advocate and noble lawyer was nothing more than a sophisticated and evil predator.

Around noon that day (I was planning on seeing him at 2:30), I received another urgent phone call from Mike Berry. The news was bad. He said that my husband was definitely abducting my children (this was a lie), and that he (Berry) was preparing legal papers right now to file, and that in order to protect and bring home my children he would need more resources otherwise 'they very well could disappear into the Amazon, and you'll never see them again.'. He then asked me for $60,000.00 instead of the $25,000.00, and instructed that I bring him the money in a certified check. I told him I didn't have the other $25,000.00 in immediate cash, and that he knew how much money I had. 

Then the shocker: he went on and urged me to 'get it from my parents'. I told him that I don't borrow money from them. He then literally screamed at me and said 'What type of mother do you want to be? One that fights for her children or one that lets them disappear into the Amazon?'  He then went on to tell me how many abducted children who disappear are murdered when they are on the run. Again, I told him that I would give him the $25,000.00 he initially asked for today, making it a total of  $37,000.00 over a two day period. He then went on and screamed at me that he needed to bring down trusted operatives, and that they needed to act fast, and that they were not cheap, and Brazil was a corrupt place. He then told me, 'get the d**n money from your parents. They have it. And if they can't get to the bank, they could put it on their credit cards.' 

And that is when I realized Michael C. Berry had arranged to have someone pull my family's credit reports because he would have seen how large of a credit line my parents have on their credit cards, not to mention their assets (my father told me that someone had pulled their credit reports that morning).  

I told the lying thieving, con man lawyer Michael C. Berry that I would talk to my parents and get the money, but that I wouldn't be able to get to his office now until around 3:30 or 4 pm. He agreed. 

Then I immediately raced over to my mother and father's office and told them what happened. They were livid. 

My father is a very direct person: he called my children's father immediately (despite the initial warning I had shared with him from Mike Berry). The kid's father picked up the phone immediately. My dad was very direct and asked my husband if he was planning on coming back to the U.S. or staying in Brazil. My husband said that he was absolutely coming back to the U.S., and would be back in a few days. He then gave my father a freight tracking number for 5 very large shipments of furniture (we're in the furniture business) that he had shipped from Brazil to the Port of Miami the day before (worth over $20,000.00).   My father confirmed the shipments, then called my children's father back and explained what had gone on. My husband was livid because he was never abducting our children. He was buying furniture for our company while seeing his parents!  Two days later my children and their father returned to Florida just like he said he would when he spoke to my dad.  

Today we are divorced (we had a very civil divorce), but we still work together and have a great co-parenting relationship. 

As for the scam artist attorney Michael C. Berry of Clearwater, Florida and who tried to put the fear of God into me and my family into thinking that he had 'confirmation' that my children were being abducted, and who tried to steal a total of $72,000.00 (plus who knows how much more) from me and my family, I was able to stop payment on the $12,000.00 check I gave him.  And we never gave him the other money, but instead told him where to go.

The fact is my now ex husband never intended to abduct my children. Michael C. Berry found out my family was well off, that we had some money, that my children were in Brazil, and he knew just how to manipulate me (and God knows how many other parents) into thinking my children were being abducted.  Truth is, my kids were not being abducted. There were no 'informers' working with Michael C. Berry. He pulled our credit reports (we can't prove it was him, but the timing was perfect and coincided with him asking me for $25,000.00 then a total of $60,000.00 on top of the $12,000.00 I gave him). 

Attorney Michael C. Berry of St. Petersburg, Florida played on my and my family's fears and tried to manipulate us into giving him nearly $75,000.00. Every parent in the world should be aware Michael C. Berry is a con man, and a manipulative predator who preys on his clients biggest fears, including using children and their safety to make a lot of money. WORD TO THE WISE. BEWARE OF MICHAEL C. BERRY.  

(One final note: we sought to bring Michael C. Berry's actions to the Florida Bar Association, and consulted with other lawyers. However, we were told that though Berry acted highly unethical, we could not prove that he was behind pulling our credit reports, and that it would be a waste of time to file a complaint against him because it would go nowhere. So I am filing one here for the world to know what type of horrible man Michael Berry is, and to avoid him at all costs. It is my hope that when others individuals in need of legal services read what I went through, that they become aware of the scam played out by Mr. Berry so that they can protect from it happening to them. He is very clever: start out with a modest amount of retainer money, then create an urgent crisis that requires immediate action and a whole lot of money. Lastly, in advance of any rebuttal be warned that Berry is a lawyer and a litigator. He is trained to make arguments and defend actions and statements. Truth is, he is a dangerous lawyer who should not be practicing law. He is interested in one thing: stealing your money).