CONSUMER ALERT: New FTC Complaints Allege Houston Probate Attorneys Jorge Borunda, Nicholas Abaza, and Michael Trevino Create Fake Online Reviews to Boost Ratings

A new episode in the Damn Lawyers investigation by Dolcefino Media exposes Houston attorneys Jorge Borunda, Nicholas Abaza, and Michael Trevino for allegedly falsifying Google and Yelp reviews to boost ratings and for deleting negative reviews from legitimate clients.

Houston, Texas, Aug. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stop Legal Bullying Now LLC has filed three new complaints with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that glowing online reviews boosting the reputations of Houston probate attorneys Jorge Borunda, Nicholas Abaza, and Michael Trevino were posted by the attorneys' own family members, without disclosure of that relationship, a practice she argues violates FTC regulations.

According to Stop Legal Bullying Now LLC (SLBN), the complaints are among a growing number of consumer actions testing the FTC's Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, enacted in August 2024. SLBN says this law gave the agency explicit authority to penalize businesses for undisclosed reviews written by owners, employees, or immediate family members. The FTC has said businesses that knowingly write or create fake reviews can be held liable, warning as recently as December 2025 that violations could result in civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. SLBN has also raised the issue with the Texas Attorney General's office, Yelp, and Google.

The alleged scheme could also carry implications under Texas law. State Bar Ethics Opinion 685, which specifically addresses online attorney reviews, says lawyers may ask clients for reviews, but may not encourage false or misleading statements, or statements the reviewer has no factual basis for. If a lawyer becomes aware that a favorable review contains misleading claims, reasonable steps should be taken to correct or remove it. Separately, Texas Rule 7.01 bars a lawyer from making or sponsoring any false or misleading communication about their services, and Rule 8.04(a)(3) prohibits conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation more broadly.

SLBN’s filings accompany the latest installment of the Damn Lawyers investigation—a new video titled A Circle of Jerks— by Dolcefino Media, which has been detailing the Allison’s case in a series of videos. In the newest video, A Circle of Jerks, Dolcefino Media highlights not only fake reviews but also shows that Borunda, Abaza, and Trevino delete negative reviews from legitimate clients.

"Filing these complaints wasn't about one bad review. It was about realizing that the ratings people rely on to pick a lawyer can be manufactured, and that most people have no way of knowing it," Caroline Allison of SLBN said. "If it happened to us, it's happening to other families right now who are about to make one of the biggest decisions—and potentially biggest mistake—of their lives."

Wayne Dolcefino, an investigative journalist who has covered the Allison family's broader dispute with their former attorneys, said the findings point to a wider problem. A 2025 industry study found that more than a third of online law-firm reviews are likely AI-generated, and legal-ethics observers have warned that review manipulation is becoming harder for consumers to detect at a moment when reviews carry outsized weight in a decision as high-stakes as hiring an attorney.

Consumer advocates have taken to calling the pattern Borunda, Abaza, and Trevino have allegedly shown 'rating laundering,’ or when real client complaints disappear from view while manufactured or conflicted five-star reviews dilute what's left, until a lawyer's aggregate rating no longer resembles genuine client sentiment.

"How do you ever trust a review of a lawyer again?” Dolcefino said. “We find them liking their buddies, using their families to promote their image. It's all, it's all just a circle of jerks, and consumers need to be warned.”

 
The Allison Case
The Allisons' FTC filings are connected to a larger malpractice dispute in which she and her brother, Richard, allege Borunda, Abaza, and Trevino structured a contingency-fee arrangement that diverted a substantial share of their late father's estate to the attorneys, despite the inheritance having been guaranteed under a trust. The siblings filed a malpractice lawsuit, but the dispute went to arbitration, where the Allisons were ordered to pay the attorneys more than $4 million, an outcome Allison is now challenging in a filing to the Texas Supreme Court, citing undisclosed conflicts of interest involving the arbitrator.

Legislative Reform Agenda
Allison is also pushing the Texas Legislature to adopt a package of reforms she says would address the root of the problem:

• Robin's Law: Would ban contingency-fee arrangements in probate and inheritance disputes, mirroring protections that already exist in divorce and other family-related matters.
• Mandatory malpractice insurance: Would require attorneys to carry malpractice insurance or at least disclose to clients when they don't.
• Texas Attorney Complaint Preservation Act: Would require the State Bar to retain and make public all complaints filed against attorneys, rather than the small number they currently keep on record.
• Arbitration Fairness Act (Family & Probate Edition): Would ban law firms from requiring that clients sign away their right to a jury trial through hidden mandatory arbitration clauses.
• Automatic vacatur upon discovery of fraud: Would void arbitration awards immediately if fraud is discovered, even if that discovery comes after the award was issued.

Media Availability
Caroline Allison is available for media interviews regarding the FTC complaints, the Texas Supreme Court filing, the pending legislative reform agenda, and the broader implications for Texas consumers. Copies of the FTC complaints are also available for review.

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CONTACT: Stop Legal Bullying Now, LLC
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