Peet Viljoen offers online consultations despite the Legal Practice Council disbarring him in 2011. His disbarment has not been lifted.
The Legal Practice Council is investigating Peet Viljoen of Tammy Taylor-fame for practising as an attorney again despite being disbarred.
Viljoen was disbarred in 2011 and is not allowed to practice law in South Africa. However, this did not stop him from starting a website with a South African website address where he says he is a South African lawyer with over 20 years’ experience, “known for landmark Supreme Court victories, celebrity divorce cases and high-profile negotiations”.
For R5 000 you can book an hour-long consultation with him on Zoom. He advertises himself on his wife, Melany’s podcast, where he calls himself a smart lawyer and describes himself on X as a “law broker” who helps people to find “the right lawyer”.
He describes his core expertise as:
- Supreme Court litigation and precedent-setting cases
- Celebrity and high-net-worth divorces
- Crisis negotiation and tactical empathy (Black Swan Method)
- Reputation protection under media scrutiny.
He also states that “Viljoen is recognised as a celebrity lawyer who combines legal mastery with negotiation science, offering results at the highest level of the South African legal system”.
In one of the podcast videos, he walks next to a canal in casual clothes, saying, “I am coming out of my second consultation this morning, saving people millions.
“There are a lot of stupid attorneys out there. Two judges recently found that I am the best attorney, the most honest attorney, and I think the strongest attorney ever to come out of Pretoria.”
ALSO READ: Tammy Taylor Global Franchising gets a big hiding in South African high court
Illegal to advertise services as an attorney … even if you are the best, strongest and most honest
However, Kabelo Letebele, senior manager for communications and engagements at the Legal Practice Council, says it is illegal for him to advertise his services while he is disbarred, as he is essentially misrepresenting himself as a legal practitioner when he has been struck off the roll of legal practitioners.
Letebele says the matter will be referred to the relevant provincial office for consideration.
About Viljoen saying he is a law broker, Letebele says the Legal Practice Act does not make any provision for anyone to practice as a law broker.
“Mr Viljoen still very much relies on his history as a legal professional, misleading the public when he has been struck off the roll.”
He says it also does not matter that Viljoen is now living in Miami because it still does not give him any permission to practice or hold himself out as a legal practitioner and/or a lawyer.
Letebele says it is important for members of the public to always check that the person they are dealing with is a duly admitted legal practitioner, and where there will be financial transactions, the legal practitioner must have a valid Fidelity Fund Certificate for that year.
The website does not make any mention of a Fidelity Fund Certificate.
Members of the public can check that the practitioner is duly authorised by checking on the website under List of Legal Practitioners or contacting its national office or provincial offices on 010 001 8500.
ALSO READ: No, Peet Viljoen of Tammy Taylor fame did not start a bank in SA as he claims
Peet Viljoen stops being founder of Finbond Bank
In an earlier version of the website, Viljoen said he was the “founder of Finbond Bank”. The Citizen asked Dr Willem van Aardt, founder and CEO of Finbond Group, if it is true that Viljoen started the bank or had anything at all to do with it and its founding.
Ben Bredenkamp, the chief corporate officer, quickly came back and said: “Viljoen’s claims regarding his involvement in the founding of Finbond are blatantly false and misleading.”
Viljoen has now removed this claim from his website and then gave a long explanation on their podcast about what actually happened.
Shortly after this, Peet took his Facebook page down, and in the process, all his nasty comments in answer to negative comments on their posts disappeared.
In one of the podcasts, Peet also brags that Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya was only suspended a week after he “dropped the bomb” in another podcast and that it was thanks to him that it happened.
The Viljoens promised to “spill the tea”, “tell the truth”, and “bring the receipts” in Melany’s podcast, but apart from a lot of talking, the Viljoens have not included any evidence so far.
ALSO READ: US court rules Viljoens must pay real Tammy Taylor R71 million
Melany on TV in the US or just a quick vox pop?
Melany Viljoen made it onto Newsmax in the US, seemingly offering her opinion in a vox pop about US President Donald Trump’s new requirements to be able to vote. (She cannot vote in the US.)
In the trailer for her podcast, she tells the audience she is a “reality show personality” and owns many salons “all over Africa”.
They do their best to slam South Africa and are huge Trump fans, singing his praises.
The Hawks also confirmed that they are investigating the Viljoens for fraud regarding the Tammy Taylor nail franchises they sold. Some franchisees paid thousands of rands, only to claim they never received their salons. A few of them sued and won their cases, but not everybody got their money back.
NOW READ: Viljoens suing Tammy Taylor for $200m in trademark dispute
