Sidney Powell and Other Kraken Lawyers Pay for Election Fraud Lawsuit

Attorney Sidney Powell will have to give up some of her net worth for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. However, it won’t put too much of a dent in her net worth, which is estimated to be $1 million–$5 million.

On Dec. 2, a Michigan federal judge ordered Powell and eight other attorneys to pay back about $175,00 in legal fees to the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit for the lawsuit they filed challenging the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.

After Joe Biden won the presidential election, Powell and a group of pro-Trump attorneys including Linn Wood, filed lawsuits in four states where Biden won the majority of electoral votes. They alleged that the elections were riddled with fraud.

In Michigan, U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker dismissed the lawsuit in December 2020 and called it “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” In August 2021, Parker ruled that the attorneys broke state election laws and should therefore face sanctions.

“It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election. It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here,” Parker wrote in her Aug. 25 ruling.

Powell and the other lawyers will have to pay the state of Michigan $21,964 and the city of Detroit $153,286 as reimbursement for the money spent on legal fees for the lawsuit.

The judge also ruled that Powell and the other lawyers have to brush up on their knowledge of election laws by attending at least 12 hours of continuing legal training.

Besides punishing the lawyers with fees and sanctions, the federal judge also made a move to have the lawyers disbarred by filing complaints with the disciplinary boards in Michigan and the states where each of the lawyers is licensed.

The State Bar of Texas, where Powell is licensed, is investigating complaints by top Michigan officials that she violated multiple rules of professional conduct expected for Texas lawyers, Forbes reported.

The complaints, filed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, allege that Powell violated rules by “knowingly mak[ing] a false statement of material fact or law,” and “engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

According to The Guardian, a federal grand jury is also investigating Powell and her political action committee Defending the Republic for fundraising fraud.

Powell refers to the group of lawyers working to overturn the 2020 election as “Kraken,” the mythical creature from the Clash of Titans. In November 2020 interview on Fox Business Network, Powell said, “I’m going to release the Kraken,” in reference to supposed evidence she claimed she had about election fraud.

The “release the Kraken” phrase has since become a rallying cry for Trump supporters and QAnon followers.