Lawyer Photoshopped Herself Into Star Pics: Judge

Images on website of Svitlana Sangary with Obama, Kim K, others were 'deceptive'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 19, 2014 1:21 PM CDT
Lawyer Photoshopped Herself Into Star Pics: Judge
Svitlana Sangary is accused of posting digitally altered pictures of herself with celebrities to her professional website.   (ABC News)

California attorney Svitlana Sangary apparently wanted to drum up publicity for her firm, so she posted some 50-plus pics of herself on her work website posing with a variety of high-profile luminaries, the Los Angeles Times reports. There she is, mugging with the likes of Kim Kardashian, George Clooney, the Clintons, even the late James Gandolfini—which would be impressive if the images were actually real. In a report that first appeared in the Recorder, a legal newspaper, and is now cited by the Times, State Bar Court Judge Donald F. Miles is recommending Sangary be suspended for six months for the "deceptive" images, of which "many, and perhaps all" of the photos were digitally altered "to make it appear as though [Sangary] was in the presence of a celebrity," experts reportedly testified at a July trial.

In his decision, Miles mentions his "grave concerns" about Sangary's lack of judgment and how she has blown off the court, allegedly failing to show for hearings about the photos, missing court deadlines, and sending in rambling responses that the judge says have "little to no rational connection to the charges at hand." Gawker, which calls her Photoshop work "pretty good," links to her bizarre 16-page response to the judge that discusses, among other things, actress Natalie Portman's fraudulent dance moves in Black Swan. Sangary also repeatedly refers to herself in the third person (in all caps) in her response, the Washington Post reports, and claims President Obama directly solicited donations from her—though the email she attached to her response appears to be a pickup of text from a Democratic National Committee newsletter, notes the Post. (More celebrity photos stories.)

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