LA Lawyer Who Misled Inmates on Resentencing Odds is Disbarred

A Los Angeles lawyer who scammed inmates with misrepresentations that he could help secure their release under a new resentencing law was disbarred Thursday by the California Supreme Court.

Aaron Spolin collected tens of thousands of dollars from clients in eight separate matters, encouraging them to apply under a law that took effect in 2019. He failed to tell them they didn’t meet resentencing criteria, or that their local district attorney’s office wasn’t accepting petitions filed by attorneys or defendants, according to a June stipulation filed in the State Bar Court of California.

One of the eight clients listed in the stipulation was eventually released, but under a different law, and not because of Spolin’s work, the filing said.

Most of these clients had been sentenced for serious and violent felonies, which the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office said wouldn’t be considered under “priority criteria” for resentencing. Spolin didn’t share that information with his clients, the State Bar Court filing said.

“Please keep in mind that contacting our office to provide unsolicited information regarding a particular individual or to ask for an update is not helpful and, in fact, severely detracts from our ability to review these cases in a fair, orderly and expeditious manner,” the LADA’s office told Spolin in a 2022 letter, responding to one of his client’s petitions—but he proceeded anyway.

Spolin also misled the public about his firm’s services, in violation of professional ethics rules, the State Bar Court filing said.

An announcement stood on his firm’s website between 2020 and 2023 titled “GOVERNOR PUBLICLY ANNOUNCES COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE FOR SPOLIN LAW CLIENT,” without mentioning the fact that no attorney at his firm applied for the commutation.

In fact, the defendant applied on his own behalf, according to the stipulation.

The State Bar announced the court’s order in a Thursday news release.

“By preying on incarcerated individuals and their families and charging them unconscionable fees for his own personal gain, Mr. Spolin committed egregious misconduct,” Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said in the news release. “His disbarment serves to protect the public and maintain trust in the legal profession.”

Spolin was the subject of a Los Angeles Times investigation in April 2023. Disciplinary charges were filed in State Bar Court in August 2024. Spolin’s attorney in his disciplinary case didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Spolin on Discipline, Cal., No. S292012, 9/11/25.