Former lawyer who founded LegalMatch.com is charged with sex with minor
Dmitry Shubov. Photo from Modesto Police Department.
A former BigLaw associate who founded LegalMatch.com has been indicted over an alleged sexual relationship with a minor.
Dmitry Shubov was indicted in Stanislaus County, California, and arraigned on Tuesday, report the Modesto Bee and Law.com (sub. req.). He is accused of meeting the girl through a website that pairs older “sugar daddy” or “sugar momma” adults with younger people.
A police spokesperson told the Modesto Bee that investigators believe Shubov met the girl through the website when she was 14 years old and the relationship eventually became sexual. A criminal complaint was filed in May, and Shubov was indicted two days later.
Charges include unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor younger than 16, oral copulation with a minor and sodomy. Shubov’s lawyer, Frank Carson, told the Modesto Bee the charges are “baseless” and Shubov’s innocence will be vigorously defended.
“We’re confident we’ll prevail, and the truth will come out,” Carson said.
Shubov was working as an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson before he left to launch LegalMatch.com in 1999. People who need a lawyer answer questions related to their legal problems on the website, and then subscriber lawyers who are interested in the case send a bid to the potential client.
Shubov was disbarred in New York after he pleaded guilty in 2004 to unlawfully accessing and deleting voice mails from a rival company.
See also:
ABAJournal: “Arranged Rainmaking”
ABA Journal: “Casting for Clients”
Last updated Nov. 2 to clarify headline.
