Tom Mesereau gives up his appeal on sanctions in Danny Masterson Scientology leak scandal

[Attorneys Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum]

On June 7, Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that Danny Masterson’s defense attorneys who had handled his 2021 preliminary hearing, Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, had leaked sensitive DA’s evidence in the case to the Church of Scientology.

Scientology’s attorney Vicki Podberesky then used that material to try and get Deputy DAs Reinhold Mueller and Ariel Anson in trouble with their bosses, and also to convince the LAPD to open internal affairs investigations against the LAPD detectives on the case.

Judge Olmedo and the DA’s office made it clear they thought this was a shocking breach of confidentiality, and she fined Mesereau and Appelbaum $900 each.

Both vowed to appeal her ruling.

For some reason, however, Tom Mesereau has had second thoughts about that. The docket at the 2nd Appellate District indicates that Mesereau has now withdrawn his appeal, and we don’t know yet what reasons he might have given.

As far as we can tell, Appelbaum’s appeal is still proceeding.

Tomorrow, Masterson himself will be sentenced in Judge Olmedo’s court after he was found guilty of two counts of forcible rape on May 31. We will have correspondents on the scene.

UPDATE: We confirmed with the court that Mesereau had dropped his appeal. And they said that Appelbaum’s was also dismissed for “non-payment of filing fees.”

So both are now on the hook for the sanctions that Judge Olmedo leveled against them.

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