Deal fell through due to fraud. Attorney issues with payment
Kind of in a weird predicament here. We entered into an agreement to purchase a few buildings from a seller. The seller was very slow in returning docs and filings. The attorney did send e-mails, but all the docs were obtained by RE agent. Upon reviewing all the financials and the "new" rent rolls, they were drastically overstated. The units were described as 2 and 3 bedroom units (even in the contract), the "new" rent rolls which were signed off stated 1 bedrooms and a few studios. We gave the attorney 2.5k in a deposit and he actually invoiced us another 1.5k in "fees". He didn't write the contract, it was the sellers. He didn't do any of the negotiations, it was done by the REA. I requested some considerations, he declined them and thought he was being generous in "only" invoicing me an additional 1.5k.
What do I do here? Never been in this predicament. I've had deals fall through, and usually the attorney works with us on the fees. However, this one wouldn't do jack.