Battle over cash erupts as Ashli Babbitt legal fundraising effort falls apart
The high profile case of Ashli Babbitt, whose death on Jan. 6 became a rallying point for conservatives, has since lost the limelight and her wrongful death lawsuit is still up in the air.
A new report by local news outlet ABC8 San Diego detailed a battle that has erupted over money that was intended to be used to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
The lawsuit was supposed to be funded by an online crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly a half million dollars, $462,735 to be exact. The goal was $500,000.
Gerhardt Fox spearheaded the fundraising campaign. But a disagreement between Fox and one of the other campaign organizers led to a separation, which has led to the case stalling.
IN OTHER NEWS: 'A meltdown': Lawsuit reveals the inner turmoil at Fox News
According to Fox, other organizers were seeing the opportunity as a money grab and didn't have Babbitt's memory as their top priority.
It has been exactly a year since the law firm behind the successful crowdfunding campaign withdrew itself from the case, according to state court records. The law firm is Roberts and Wood.
The prior communication between the law firm and Babbitt's widower has been publicly documented.
Two months after Roberts and Wood withdrew their firm from the case, firm owner Terry Roberts wrote a letter to her widower, Aaron Babbitt, stating, "if you have not retained a lawyer by May 30, 2022, I will take for granted that a lawsuit is not going to (be) filed, and I will refund the crowd-funding money back to the donors."
Aaron Babbitt then hired a new attorney and filed a petition to transfer the money to Ashli Babbitt's estate in May 2022. However, in June 2022, a probate judge denied the petition, leaving the half million dollars in a state of uncertainty.
The crowdfunding site still shows all funds present.
Babbitt was shot after being on the scene of the Jan. 6 insurrection as she broke through a window. Babbitt was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
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