In this file image, ex-Portsmouth attorney Justin Nadeau, a friend of former city police sergeant Aaron Goodwin, testifies in the Webber Revocable Living Trust hearing at the 7th Circuit-Probate Division-Dover, NH. (Courtesy of Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline)
Disbarred ex-Portsmouth lawyer Justin Nadeau has been arrested on allegations he received hundreds of thousands of dollars under false pretenses from a client who’d suffered a traumatic brain injury, then tried to hide his alleged wrongdoings and submitted false documents to investigators.
The arrest of the 51-year-old Nadeau, who 20 years ago ran for U.S. Congress, was announced by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella Wednesday afternoon. Nadeau is charged with theft by deception, forgery, multiple counts of falsifying physical evidence, and financial exploitation of an elderly, disabled, or impaired adult, according to the attorney general.
The arrest stems from Nadeau’s alleged actions during his prior representation of former client Shawn Fahey, who’d been hospitalized previously with a traumatic brain injury due to a head-on crash with an intoxicated driver, per an affidavit in the case. Fahey sued Nadeau in 2019.
The New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office concluded an investigation into Nadeau, which led to the New Hampshire Supreme Court disbarring him in April.
Investigator details Nadeau’s alleged crimes and attempts to hide them
The affidavit in Nadeau’s case was filed by Scott Gilbert, an investigator in the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, on Wednesday, July 24.
According to Gilbert’s affidavit, Nadeau and Fahey were introduced by a mutual acquaintance in July 2018, when Nadeau was facing “financial pressures.”
“Shortly after meeting Fahey, Nadeau became aware that Fahey had made millions in a whistleblower action, and was a plaintiff in an ongoing, high-dollar personal injury case related to her accident. Fahey testified during the (Attorney Discipline Office) hearing that she spoke with Nadeau about her personal injury case in early August 2018,” Gilbert wrote.
The investigator alleged that between July 28, 2018 and Aug. 17, 2018, Nadeau and Fahey shared 783 text messages and over 600 minutes of phone calls.
The state alleges Nadeau sought and received $281,500 worth of loans from Fahey under false pretenses. In the first alleged installment of loans, Nadeau allegedly told Fahey he needed $275,000 so he and his wife could use it as a down payment to purchase a home they’d been renting in Hampton or they’d have to move out, the affidavit states. Fahey loaned an additional $6,500 to Nadeau in December 2018 after he told her he needed the money to “pay bills,” according the allegations.
The state Attorney Discipline Office opened its investigation into Nadeau in April 2019, which was followed by the closure of his Portsmouth law office two months afterward.
“Despite twice agreeing to preserve electronic data relating to Fahey’s representation, Nadeau testified to the (Attorney Discipline Office) that he disposed of his computer and hard drive sometime in the fall of 2020,” Gilbert wrote in the affidavit. The investigator alleged Nadeau later turned over his former paralegal’s computer to the Attorney Discipline Office “which he had been using since her departure.”
he Attorney Discipline Office deemed Nadeau altered electronic file metadata throughout the course of the agency’s investigation into him and submitted falsified documents with doctored dates as part of the probe. Five documents produced by Nadeau were found to be disputed, per the affidavit.
In 2021, according to the affidavit, Nadeau allegedly searched on Google “What’s a file’s metadata and how to edit it in Windows?”
“Forensic evidence revealed several attempts to manipulate the disputed documents and multiple rejected versions, as well as working back and forth between Nadeau’s computer (the one he claimed was disposed of the previous fall) and the paralegal computer,” the affidavit adds.
Why Nadeau was disbarred by NH Supreme Court
Nadeau was disbarred from practicing by the state Supreme Court this spring due to alleged “conduct code violations” he committed during his representation of Fahey, according to the high court’s order.
In the order, the Supreme Court wrote that Nadeau had been found to have “downloaded, installed, ran, and later deleted two applications whose specific purpose is to alter metadata,” among other discoveries by investigators.
“Based upon this evidence and upon the fact that there are no references in any of the thousands of text messages exchanged between the respondent and Fahey to any of the five disputed documents, the hearing panel found that the respondent had repeatedly produced false documents to the (Attorney Discipline Office) and engaged in a deliberate, multi-year effort to deceive the disciplinary authority,” the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s April disbarment order for Nadeau reads in part.
The findings from the Attorney Discipline Office were also sent to the New Hampshire Department of Justice for criminal investigation, the precursor to the charges against Nadeau announced Wednesday.
What’s next in Nadeau’s case
Nadeau is likely scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 9 at Portsmouth District Court, according to Formella. The New Hampshire Department of Justice continues to investigate his case, which will be prosecuted by state Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles and Attorney Alexander J. Kellermann.
No court records were filed in Nadeau’s case as of Wednesday afternoon. It was not immediately clear if Nadeau has an attorney.
An attempt to contact Nadeau Wednesday afternoon was not successful.
Nadeau ran unsuccessfully in 2004 for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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