What the Hales? Lawsuits, Lies & Legal Fictions - The Unknown Podcast – Episode 33

🤡 Hales Unhinged: Civil “Plea Deals” and YouTube Circus
In the latest What the Hales? segment, Volpe and Luthmann dissect Jeremy Hales’ escalating legal absurdities, including a wild video claiming an unnamed defendant in his civil defamation case has struck a “plea deal.” Luthmann corrects the record: “There’s no such thing as a plea deal in civil court—it’s called a settlement agreement.” Hales’ misuse of basic legal terms is, at best, novice and, at worst, manipulative.

They analyze his strategy as psychological warfare—comparing it to the “Prisoner’s Dilemma.” Luthmann explains Hales may be trying to scare a co-defendant into flipping by planting false narratives about settlements. Volpe adds, “None of this makes sense. There’s been no answers, no motions to dismiss. This is just chaos and clickbait.”

🕵️‍♂️ Astroturf Armies & Allegiances
Volpe takes aim at his former collaborator Megan Fox, accusing her of weaponizing small YouTube creators to attack him. He reveals how she promoted content creators like “Jay Hip” and “Rosalyn Duke,” who’ve gone from obscure nobodies to active attackers in the Hales orbit. Fox allegedly moderates their streams and boosts them across platforms.

“She went from friend to manipulative bitch in 10 minutes,” Volpe says, reading private messages where Fox warned him not to cover Hales-related stories, citing “harassers” and “defamers.” Luthmann slams Fox’s behavior as a betrayal of journalistic integrity: “You never tell another journalist not to cover something. That’s censorship.”

🚗 Hales Violates His Own Protective Order
Volpe and Luthmann present video evidence of Jeremy Hales driving past the home of John Cook and Michelle Preston—neighbors he sued and secured a protective order against in Ohio. “He’s using the court’s shield as a sword,” Luthmann says, calling for sanctions and judicial scrutiny.

Despite this, Ohio Magistrate Candy O’Connor recently held Cook or Preston in contempt—an act Luthmann brands “a legal fiction.” He explains that judges are accepting fabricated or misrepresented facts, then codifying them in rulings. “They’re saying the sky is orange in the courtroom, and lawyers are running to the street claiming it must be true.”

⚖️ Sean Martin: Defense Lawyer or Doormat?
Sean Martin, the attorney for Cook and Preston, is accused of gross incompetence. He failed to submit video or police evidence disproving Hales’ narrative and allowed the case to flounder. “He let Jeremy walk all over his clients,” Volpe says, calling Martin a “scumbag” for not defending the poor and overburdened neighbors.

🧼 Social Media Defamation: Frivolous Lawsuits Everywhere
The segment ends with another “Is It Frivolous?” case. This time, it’s social media influencer “Lauren the Mortician” suing rivals for calling her a “TERF” (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist). Volpe explains such claims are opinions protected by the First Amendment. “It’s like being called a racist—it may sting, but it’s not defamation.”

He reads from the judge’s ruling: “These statements are subjective and not actionable.” Luthmann says courts need to crack down on these meritless suits using Rule 11: “Start hitting lawyers and litigants hard when they waste court time.”

They draw a direct line between this case and Jeremy Hales’ defamation crusade, noting his own claim of being called a psychopath is similarly protected speech. Luthmann warns, “The courts are becoming reality show venues for narcissists.”