Tampa, Florida– Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that a federal jury has found Wayne St. Aubyn Smith (50, Parrish), a/k/a Wayne Smith El-Bey, guilty of attempting to file a false lien against a federal judge. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
Smith was indicted on March 14, 2017.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in May 2015, Smith filed a lawsuit against several New Jersey officials in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, claiming that his constitutional rights had been violated. However, Smith failed to pay the fee required to file a lawsuit in federal court. United States District Judge Jose L. Linares was assigned to the case. Judge Linares issued an order instructing Smith on how to file for indigent status to waive his filing fee and dismissed his lawsuit without prejudice. After several rounds of filings involving Smith claiming that Judge Linares was violating his constitutional rights, Judge Linares denied Smith’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis. Smith and Judge Linares never met in person and had no relationship outside of the court case.
On December 21, 2016, Smith attempted to record three separate liens against several individuals at the Manatee County Clerk’s Office. One of the documents claimed that Judge Linares owed Smith $750,000 for violating his constitutional rights. Furthermore, Smith claimed an interest in all of Judge Linares’s real and personal property and his checking and savings accounts up to the amount of $750,000. The other two documents were liens totaling more than $1 million against the State of Florida and several New Jersey government officials, including Governor Chris Christie. The deputy clerks refused to record the documents.
