Ethics Complaint Filed against Attorney Husband of Elusive “Mary Fanning”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jan. 12, 2023) — On December 9, 2022, intelligence analytics company XRVision CTO Yaacov Apelbaum, through his attorneys, filed an ethics complaint against Illinois-based Kirkland & Ellis partner Gregg Kirchhoefer in connection with a lawsuit Apelbaum and others lodged against Kirchhoefer’s spouse, Mary Fanning (Kirchhoefer), one year ago.

“In April 2022,” Apelbaum wrote on his blog that day, “I sued Marry Fanning for defamation [sic]. Fanning’s vicious attacks against me started after I published a post detailing how she, Dennis Montgomery, and several other associates engaged in targeted disinformation operations…”

Apelbaum was referring to “TGP COMMUNICATIONS LLC ET AL V BRANNON HOWSE ET AL,” filed in the state of Missouri in early January last year. The plaintiffs, consisting of Apelbaum; XRVision; The Gateway Pundit, owned by Jim Hoft; and Hoft’s brother, Joseph, accuse Fanning and her co-writer at The American Report, Alan Jones, of defamation.

Fanning and Jones made claims about Apelbaum, The Gateway Pundit, and other parties in which they claimed TGP “put out disinformation about CIA whistleblower Dennis Montgomery.”

“Dennis Montgomery” is a former U.S. government subcontractor through a now-defunct business he co-founded, eTreppid Technologies, LLC, and for a short time afterward for another now-defunct company, Blxware. Several months after former government subcontractor Edward Snowden in June 2013 revealed surveillance tools routinely deployed by U.S. government intelligence agencies against American citizens, Montgomery claimed to possess evidence demonstrating that the government “illegally” surveilled and collected personal information on millions of U.S. citizens, including Donald Trump and members of his family, Alex Jones, 156 federal judges, then-Sheriff Joseph Arpaio and other public officials.

More recently, through The American Report, Montgomery has claimed he invented technology allegedly utilized by the federal government to change the results of the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The technology, Montgomery claims, according to Fanning and Jones, is a mega-computer, “The Hammer,” and a software package, “Scorecard.”

A departure from that narrative on January 3, 2021 was Fanning’s assertion, reportedly derived from Montgomery, that a “cyberwarfare attack” from China changed the 2020 election results. The video to which she referred as demonstrating “a clearly coordinated cyberwarfare attack by foreign adversaries” linked to a website owned by Montgomery but is no longer available.

Although appearing prolifically on internet broadcasts to promote Montgomery’s assertions and other theories stemming from current events, Fanning never reveals her face, joining by audio only. On one such broadcast on Tuesday, Fanning claimed both “Hammer/Scorecard” and “cyberwarfare” scenarios took place to alter the election outcome.

Apelbaum’s case against Fanning initially named as an additional defendant Worldview Weekend (WVW) host Brannon Howse, who frequently hosted Fanning and Jones on his program for a time. The Post & Email has reason to believe Howse has been removed from the case but has asked the question and is awaiting a response from Apelbaum’s counsel, Jonathon Burns.

On January 5, 2022, the court reported Jones was not issued a summons “due to present address unknown.”

Now a regular host on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s Frankspeech website, Howse has indicated he believes Montgomery’s claims that “The Hammer” and “Scorecard” were commandeered to alter the 2020 presidential election results despite no corroboration or proof having yet emerged.

The Post & Email can confirm that Fanning and Jones’s book, “The Hammer is the Key to the Coup,” contains defamatory information about former Maricopa County Cold Case Posse lead investigator Mike Zullo, who for a year supervised a project on which Montgomery was hired to serve as a confidential informant to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).

In early 2021, according to Howse, Fanning was instrumental in connecting Montgomery with Lindell, who later said he purchased Montgomery’s technology and evidence allegedly revealing in real time the hijacking of the 2020 election.

Beginning in June 2021, Lindell on multiple occasions promised to release the evidence, in the form of “PCAPS” (packet captures), Montgomery sold to him but more recently began to claim it is prevented from disclosure by a nearly-16-year-old protective order which he and Montgomery are attempting to convince a federal court to lift.

On his blog, Apelbaum claimed Lindell’s nine-part video production, “Absolute Proof,” which was co-produced by Howse, Fanning and Jones, is one of a handful of “republican establishment active measures designed to target President Trump and the MAGA movement.”

An update issued Monday indicated that a January 9, 2023 jury trial in TGP Communications was “continued” (postponed) to February 21, 2023. The Missouri courts do not make case documents available to the public but issue updates on specific cases to subscribers which are viewable on an online docket.

Apelbaum’s ethics filing begins with a two-page complaint form followed by a six-page “Motion to Compel and to Strike” signed by “John C. Burns” and others whose names are redacted denoted as “Attorneys for Yaacov Apelbaum, XRVision Ltd., Joseph Hoft, and TGP Communications, LLC.”

Five additional exhibits appear below the aforementioned documents.

The complaint form concludes with, “Attached/enclosed, please find briefing and exhibits that more fully provide context for this grievance, and also prove that Mr. Kirchhoeffer was ghostwriting and ghost-filing pleadings for his wife’s case, representing her without leave of court, without local counsel, and without a Missouri law license.”

A docket entry in the case dated April 22, 2022 notes a filing of a “Notice of Hearing of their Motions to Compel and to Strike and of Defendant Fannings Motion for Continuance” by plaintiffs’ attorney Jonathon Christian Burns and a “Motion to Compel and Motion to Strike” with seven exhibits, the last being “Evidence of Gregg Kirchhoefers Fax Number.”

In the six-page “Motion to Compel and Strike” on Apelbaum’s website, plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote that Fanning failed to file formal responses to their “discovery requests” but did file “an unsigned ‘Motion for Continuance’ on April 14, 2022, in which she requested this Court continue this case ‘until such time as the Court deems appropriate'” which plaintiffs’ attorneys deemed an “improper and untimely motion.”

The attorneys indicated their provision of a “Return & Affidavit of Service” on Fanning on February 1, 2022.

In paragraph 4 of page 2, the attorneys wrote that Fanning missed subsequent filing deadlines and asked the court to “make and issue an Order compelling Defendant Fanning to Answer Plaintiffs’ Petition and respond to Plaintiffs’ First Interrogatories, First Requests for Production, and to declare that Fanning’s failure to timely respond to Plaintiffs’ First Requests for Admissions are deemed admitted.”

The brief further contends:

6. On April 14, 2022, Defendant Fanning (or her attorney husband) faxed a “Motion
for Continuance,” “affidavit,” and other associated documents to the Court, directing them to the attention of clerk Matthew Swafford. Exhibit 3 – “Motion” for Continuance, fax cover sheet and letter.
7. This unsigned “motion” does not comply with Missouri’s Rules of Civil Procedure,
and the “affidavit” was not notarized. Rule 55.25.
8. Defendant’s motion requests this case be continued for some unstated period, and
in support of this request, Fanning states that she is an unrepresented pro se litigant, and in need of additional time to obtain counsel.
9. Fanning’s motion is highly misleading, improper, and groundless.
10. Upon information and belief, Defendant Fanning’s husband is Gregg Kirchhoefer.
Defendant Fanning and Mr. Kirchhoefer own a mansion in the Chicago area, as well as a mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.³ Exhibit 4 – Property Photos. Mr. Kirchhoefer is a partner⁴ at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, the largest law firm in the world by revenue, and seventh largest by number of attorneys (over 2,700).⁵
11. According to Mr. Kirchhoefer’s CV on the Kirkland & Ellis website, Mr. Kirchhoefer is not a member of the Missouri Bar.⁶ Exhibit 5 – Kirchhoefer CV. A search of the Missouri Bar legal directory shows no one by the last name of Kirchhoefer.⁷
12. According to Defendant Fanning’s filings with this Court, Defendant’s faxed filings were sent from Mr. Kirchhoefer’s office at Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s downtown Chicago headquarters. Exhibit 3, at p. 1. Phone calls directed to one or more Plaintiffs and their attorney have come directly from Mr, Kirchhoefer’s direct office line. Exhibit 6- Declaration of John C. Burns.

In paragraph 16, the attorneys wrote that “No local counsel has entered an appearance on behalf of Defendant Fanning.” As shown in the above graphic from the court docket, plaintiffs’ attorneys also filed a “Notice of Hearing” with the court.

One week later, “Joseph E. Martineau” filed an “Entry of Appearance” and other documents on Fanning’s behalf requesting “leave to respond to requests for admission out of time.” Martineau appears to be a “member” of the Lewis Rice, LLC law firm located in St. Louis.

On July 5, Judge Joan Moriarty denied plaintiffs’ April 22 requests and granted Martineau’s petitions.

Exhibit 2 in Apelbaum’s ethics filing refers to the lawsuit as “TGP COMMUNICATIONS, et al v. MARY FANNING, et al,” with plaintiffs’ attorneys submitting a list of “Requests for Admission” to be answered by Fanning and Howse within 60 days of the filing.

The “Admissions” pertain to Fanning, Howse and Jones’s contentions that Montgomery collected “authentic” data from the 2020 election. The document further demands that on 20 different aspects of their narrative, the defendants “admit” to the falsity of their claims, including:

Admit that your claims of having authentic domestic and international PCAP captures from the November 2020 election night are false.

Admit that PCAPS and or other file purporting to contain real/actual pocket traffic to and from the various November 2020 election sites as presented by Mike Lindell and Mary Fanning are forgeries and/or fabrications…

Admit that at the time Mike Lindell made the various claims in his ABSOLUTE PROOF series, the people promoting the November election PCAP data (including but not limited to yourself) knew that it was false…

Admit that Dennis Montgomery’s claim of leaking USG (NSA and CIA) usage of the HAMMER AND SCORECARD computer/software and having past or present
access to the source code, operational data (such as credit card data, PII, SS numbers, phone number, etc.), design documents, Concept of Operations, and/or data intercepts for such system are false…

Admit that Dennis Montgomery does not now and did not at any point have any actual PCAPS of the November 2020 election data…

Admit that Dennis Montgomery fabricated the network records showing PCAPS from foreign locations to the November 2020 US elections sites…

Admit that Dennis Montgomery published his PCAP claims on his Blxware.org website he was aware that the information he was promoting was fraudulent.

Exhibit 3 on Apelbaum’s website consists of a fax cover sheet from Kirkland & Ellis to Matthew Swafford of the 22nd Judicial Circuit on April 14, 2022 from “Gregg Kirchhoefer, P.C.” referencing a “Motion for Continuance by Nonresident Defendant w/Affidavit.” The document bears a stamp on its upper-right margin of the “City of St. Louis” and indicates it was received at 6:28 p.m. on April 22, 2022.

The second page of the exhibit appears to be the reverse side of the fax, while the third is a statement from Fanning addressing herself to a “Matthew” claiming the “motion for continuance” as hers, accompanied by an affidavit she claimed to have filed twice previously “but for which I have not received confirmation of filing.”

She then wrote she was “told this suit would be dropped” by plaintiff Joseph Hoft, a claim plaintiffs’ attorneys denied in the Exhibit 1 brief, paragraph 19.

On the following page and identifying herself as “Mary Fanning Kirchhoefer,” Fanning said she “did not receive the Complaint” “until recently” and was representing herself.

“I should not be penalized with the cost of defending this frivolous, intimidating lawsuit,” Fanning wrote. “Therefore, I am requesting a continuance of the time to respond for as long as the Court deems appropriate.”

The fourth and final page of the document requests “a reasonable opportunity to defend the lawsuit” and is clearly written in a professional legal manner.

Exhibit 5 presents Kirchhoefer’s curriculum vitae from Kirkland & Ellis’s website, including other aspects of his experience and memberships in professional organizations.

Under “Admissions & Qualifications,” Kirchhoefer is indicated to hold a law license solely in Illinois.

Exhibit 6 is a montage of preceding information with the “XRVision” logo on the lower left corner (enlarged version here).

A jury trial set July 18 for hearing on July 25 was “continued” to September 19, with additional delays, bringing the current trial date to February 21, 2023.

The Post & Email has reached out to Burns and Fanning for comment and will update this report if and when we receive a response.

We also submitted an inquiry to the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), a branch of the Illinois Supreme Court, regarding the status of the ethics complaint against Kirchhoefer.

Update, 8:15 p.m. EST: Regarding the ethics complaint against Kirchhoefer, on Thursday The Post & Email also contacted former New Mexico State University associate law professor and former assistant district attorney David Clements, who with his wife Erin spearheaded a 2020 election audit in Otero County, NM against the backdrop of considerable government and media efforts to discredit it.

Clements attended Lindell’s August 2021 “Cyber Symposium,” before which Lindell had first pledged to release Montgomery’s PCAPS data but reneged after claiming he was told a “poison pill” might be injected into it. Afterward, Clements characterized Montgomery as “a fraudster” who he said “was used to hurt Lindell, and by extension, he was used to hurt President Trump.”

In February 2022, after reposting on his Telegram channel commentary by Lin Wood stating, in part, “Mary Fanning is running out of FOOLS TO FOOL. Her game is up. You decide,” Clements wrote on his channel that Kirchhoefer and Fanning threatened him with a lawsuit.

In response, Clements wrote on Telegram, “I know defamation law. I’m a subject matter expert. I’ve personally handled defamation cases, including the frivolous ones. Taught it at university. To threaten someone that is a defamation expert, that can represent himself, loves trial, and has probably done more trials than anyone at Kirkland Ellis is not wise.”

In his response to us Thursday evening, Clements said:

I have no knowledge of the merits of the lawsuit between Apelbaum and Fanning.

But yes, I was threatened with legal action by Fanning and her husband Gregg Kirchhoeffer about a year ago. I raised questions concerning Kirkland & Ellis’ legal role in facilitating the capital raise for Dominion Voting Systems in the United States.  

Kirchhoeffer is a senior partner with Kirkland & Ellis–he works with the intellectual property division.  I was equally concerned that it appeared that Mary Fanning did not apprise Mike Lindell of her marriage to Gregg Kirchhoeffer and the major conflict of interest that her relationship presented, given the fact that Dominion filed a frivolous billion dollar defamation lawsuit against Lindell and Sidney Powell.  

I believe Mike Lindell and Sidney Powell to both be honorable in their efforts to expose Dominion and the inherent vulnerability their machines and software present.

With that said, I was told by Kirchhhoeffer that if I did not retract the questions raised and publicly apologize, that I would be “awaking a sleeping giant.”  When I asked what he meant, Kirchhoeffer went on to say that I’d be facing 2,000 lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis.

Instead of apologizing during our conversation, certain concessions were made: (1) Kirchhoeffer acknowledged he worked at Kirkland & Ellis with the IP division, and (2) confirmed his firm facilitated the capital raise for Dominion, though he vigorously denied having any knowledge of it.  I told him that his lack of knowledge, while unbelievable in my opinion, was irrelevant, as every law firm is required to do a conflicts check.   Partners and associates are imputed knowledge of the work performed by their firm members by operation of our rules of professional responsibility.  And Kirchhoeffer admitted he was married to Mary Fanning, a fact that she has concealed from the public.  Fanning even got on the phone at one point making threats of her own.

After getting those concessions from Kirchhoeffer, I was satisfied that the concerns raised by myself were factually truthful.  I advised both to go ahead and file their lawsuit, but to know that: (1) I would represent myself, (2) that there would be no settlement, (3) that we would go to trial, and (4) I would publicly report on every aspect of the litigation.

Once informed of my position, they immediately back-tracked on their threats.  I have not heard from either since then, though I have heard Fanning has demanded an apology several times on shows she has been on.