The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida paid more than $10 million to its former law firm and has the checks to prove it, The Miami Herald reports.

As part of a malpractice lawsuit, the tribe filed about 400 checks sent to Guy Lewis, a former U.S. Attorney, and Michael Tein, another former federal prosecutor. The lawsuit accuses the two attorneys of charging excessive fees to the tribe and its members.

“They have no work to justify the fees, because this was a kickback scheme and now we’re calling their bluff,” Bernardo Roman III, the tribe's attorney, said in court earlier this month, the Herald reported.

The tribe "was lured into unnecessarily paying millions of dollars in legal fees that were excessive and unreasonable, for work that was fictitious, improperly created, unsubstantiated and which did not achieve any reasonable benefit," according to the complaint that was filed in state court.

Lewis and Tein are currently representing two tribal members who were ordered to pay $3.2 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. The opposing counsel has produced documents that indicate the tribe itself paid for the work by Lewis and Tein.

Get the Story:
Miccosukee Indians detail $10 million in checks to tribe’s former lawyers in Miami (The Miami Herald 9/25)

Related Stories:
Miccosukee Tribe accuses ex-chair, Billy Cypress, of stealing $26M (7/5) Court won't remove judge from Miccosukee wrongful death case (6/21)
Attorneys for Miccosukee Tribe facing ethics investigations (04/06)
Miccosukee Tribe accuses another law firm of taking millions (4/3)
Judge accused of bias after making 'peace pipe' comments (03/27)
Miccosukee Tribe puts dollar figure on per capita back taxes (2/13)
Lawyers try to collect $3.2M from Miccosukee defendants (10/28)