“Chris Must List” fires lawyers after $US50k fee

  • Aug, Thu, 2024

Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Canadian Youtuber Christopher Hughes will now be defending himself against a seditious charge after firing his attorneys of a $US 50,000 invoice.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday night, Hughes said as a new Youtuber he did not have the means to afford the fees. Hughes has had four attorneys since he was charged in May. His attorneys included senior counsels Anand Ramlogan, Pamela Elder, Criston Williams, his first attorney, and Russell Warner, who works with Elder.

Hughes was formally charged by Sgt Lee of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) with publishing a statement with a seditious intention.
Hughes captioned his minute long video saying freedom is not free in Trinidad.

The caption read: “Freedom is not free in Trinidad! I will be fighting my charge of sedition alone.

To imagine my invoice for two 10-minute virtual bail hearings was US$50,000, which is extortion in my eyes, especially when I was given no mention of such a price for so little work. The new estimate for senior lawyer fees could easily be over US $500,000 by the time this goes to trial, which I cannot afford. Court is Friday morning, and I’ll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for the love and support.”

The 45-year-old father of three, who pleaded not guilty to the offence and is currently on $100,000 bail, faces a $3,000 fine or two years imprisonment. He will reappear in court on Friday.

In his video, Hughes defended his decision to represent himself.
“I have fired my criminal lawyers, and I have decided I’m going to take on this charge myself. I’m going to defend myself, that’s right! Some people might say, Chris now you’ve proven that you are a crazy guy, and the truth is court thus far, two appearances by my criminal lawyer, they invoiced me $US 50,000.”

Hughes said he cannot afford to pay that kind of money as he is a “fairly new” Youtuber and will be “going about it myself.”

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