Rep. Max Miller’s longtime lawyer accused the ex-husband of Miller’s girlfriend of narcotics crimes and animal cruelty, citing a steroid shot the man gave his own arthritic dog, according to a previously unreported cease-and-desist letter obtained by Mother Jones.
Attorney Larry Zukerman, who has represented the Ohio Republican since at least 2021, sent the letter on behalf of Jaclyn Alatrash, whom it describes as the “significant other” of “Congressman Max Miller.” Mother Jones found no indication that Miller directed the letter.
The recipient was Matthew Kampert, a physician and Alatrash’s ex-husband. The letter demanded that he stop speaking negatively about her and said Alatrash could reopen their divorce to seek spousal support and property. Kampert told Mother Jones that threat felt like an effort to “extort more money” from him. The letter also accused him of “menacing by stalking” and of working with Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, to damage the couple’s reputations, and it raised potential risks to his medical license.
Under a screenshot of a text in which Kampert mentioned giving his dog medication, Zukerman went further.
“I am also aware of your willingness to engage in cruel and criminal behavior, including but not limited to, criminal diversion of narcotics from your place of employment,” Zukerman wrote. Citing Ohio’s animal cruelty law, the letter claimed the injection “may have ultimately resulted in your dog’s death.”
Kampert denies the accusation. He said he gave his 10-year-old dog, Roo, a single steroid shot for arthritis pain in 2021, and that it appeared to help the dog get around. Corticosteroids aren’t classified as controlled substances, and Roo died two years later.
New York University legal ethics professor Stephen Gillers, who reviewed the letter, said the dog screenshot appeared to have “nothing to do with any legitimate claim that the writer has.”
“Without coming to any conclusion here, and depending upon which state’s law applies, that could be seen as extortionate,” Gillers said.
Georgetown Law ethics counsel Michael Frisch said the letter’s warning that disclosing it “may result in additional legal consequences” could be viewed as giving legal advice to an opposing party, which professional conduct rules forbid. Kampert said the letter felt like an effort to “intimidate and threaten my livelihood.”
Alatrash, whom The Rooster has described as a bodybuilder, was indicted this month on grand theft, telecommunications fraud and credit card misuse charges, accused of spending more than $9,000 on Kampert’s credit card after their marriage ended. She is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 23.
Miller is fighting for reelection while facing abuse allegations from Moreno, which he denies, and a House Ethics Committee review. He has refused to quit the race. Before Mother Jones published its July investigation, a Miller spokesman told the reporter that the congressman has “many defamation lawyers.”
Miller, his spokespeople and his lawyers declined to respond to Mother Jones’ questions.