When Lies in the Legal System Become a House of Cards: The Imperative of Truth in Justice

(L) Legal House of Cards - Built on a foundation of falsehoods. (R) Persian King Cambyses II (Corrupt Judge Skin) Chair.

Legal House of Cards - The Dangers of Falsehoods on Record

In the realm of law, every sworn statement, every legal instrument, and every court judgment rests on a single, fragile foundation: trust.

When officers of the court, be they lawyers, judges, or any judicial officials, take an oath, they swear to uphold honesty and integrity. This is not ceremonial triviality; it is the backbone of justice itself.

The reason is simple, yet profound: a single material lie, once embedded in the legal record, can ripple outward and cause immense harm. It’s the first crack in a dam that, if left unchecked, can lead to a flood of injustice.

A false entry in a court document or judgment, such as a fictitious contract that never existed, can take on a life of its own. It becomes the cornerstone of a whole structure of falsehoods that distort reality, corrupt the administration of justice, and infect every proceeding it touches.

That lie travels from one legal setting to the next, influencing decisions at every stage, from costs assessments to District Court hearings and to the Court of Appeal. By the time the process is over, the falsehood may be so deeply cemented into the official narrative that it can even lead to declaring someone “unfit” to practise law, without ever affording them proper due process.

Lived Experience: When A Lie Becomes A Record

In our experience, we’ve seen exactly how dangerous this can be. A fabricated contract began as a single false claim by Credit Corp Services Pty Limited / Credit Corp Group ("CCS"), its Statement of Claim signed by Mr Carlos Toda of their incorporated law firm, Certus Partners, and later amended by Ms Anne Freeman and Mr Florian Ammer of Piper Alderman.

Without any evidence at the hearing, Magistrate Sharon Freund recorded in her judgment, approximately 75 times, that a contract existed. She exonerated Credit Corp and its lawyers from proving their case under their pleaded alleged contract. Then, at the final hearing, Mr Nicolas Ford and Mr Thomas Glynn of Glynns Lawyers hijacked their own client’s case. Rather than dispute the real issue their client had always raised, that there was no contract, they colluded with Credit Corp and its counsel, Mr Sebastian Hartford Davis of Banco Chambers. Mr Ford simply stated at the bar table that his client had “received a contract.” No document was tendered. No evidence supported that representation. Yet, Magistrate Freund materially relied on Mr Ford's bare statement to refer to a contract (which she had no evidence before her), repeatedly making unsubstantiated references to it in her judgment to falsely convey that its existence was beyond doubt.

From that day onwards, the lie recorded in Magistrate Freund’s judgment morphed into an entire series of lies. It was relied upon and further embellished in other legal processes and instruments, the Supreme Court costs assessment process, the District Court, the NSW Court of Appeal, and ultimately in the Law Society of NSW’s Section 45 decision to refuse two innocent lawyers their lawful right to continue to practise law.

At every stage, the original lie was accepted, repeated, and expanded upon by officers of the court who had sworn to uphold the law, despite repeated notices being given about the fabricated contract and falsehoods recorded on legal instruments before them. Over time, those lies hardened into distorted “truths” for those who never questioned them, resulting in unjust outcomes and the denial of due process.

And here is where history offers a stark warning.

Persian King Cambyses II - A Flayed Warning to Corrupt Judges

Herodotus known as the "Father of History" referred to the story of the Ancient Persian King Cambyses II, who discovered a royal judge, Sisamnes, had accepted a bribe and delivered a corrupt judgment. Furious at the betrayal of justice, the king ordered the judge executed and had him flayed alive.

The corrupt judges' skin was cut into leather strips to upholster a judicial chair. The king then appointed Sisamnes' son, Otanes, as his father's judicial successor, to sit on the chair as a reminder to him of what happens to corrupt judges and the importance of judicial integrity.

Future judges were forced to sit on that chair, quite literally, as a reminder of the fate awaiting those who dared to corrupt the law. The message was brutal, but unmistakable: when you pervert justice, you undermine the kingdom itself.

Persian King Cambyses II (Corrupt Judge Skin) Chair

That ancient lesson still speaks to us today. The integrity of the legal system must be guarded with absolute seriousness. When a false record is created, it is not merely a “mistake”; it is fraud. It is a perversion of the course of justice. If we fail to call it out, we risk letting these deceptions multiply, corroding the entire structure of justice and the rule of law.

As Robert Greene and other historians have noted, an unchallenged lie can become the seed from which a whole forest of corruption grows.

Why Our Story Should Be Told

That is why our story matters. It is a reminder that every person who stands up and speaks the truth helps to dismantle that house of cards. Courage in this context is not the absence of fear, it is the decision to act despite fear. It is the refusal to remain silent when the stakes are too high.

So let this be a call to action: truth matters. Honesty in the legal system is not a formality, it is the bedrock that keeps society from sliding into chaos, into a Gotham City. We must be willing to call out fraud for what it is and demand accountability. Only then can we ensure that justice is not just a word or lip service, but a reality worthy of the public’s trust, one that safeguards a safe and fair society for all.

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