Meet senior Sydney lawyers Justin Carroll and Yianni van Gelder.
Remember to never use them as lawyers.
A slew of horrifying anti-Semitic slurs and bizarre conspiracy theories exchanged between two senior lawyers as they plot to leave a prominent Sydney defamation law firm and start their own rival practice has been exposed in a cache of WhatsApp messages.
Messages obtained by The Australian reveal former BlackBay Lawyers partner Justin Carroll and his colleague Yianni van Gelder railing against “more Jew confected antisemitism”; laughing at the ‘Holohoax’ and the ‘Schlomo-caust’; claiming a client will “try to ‘jew’ me” by negotiating better rates; and toying with not using OpenAI because CEO Sam Altman “is a Jew … that can only mean trouble”.
The disturbing messages reveal a predilection by the two lawyers for popcorn nights watching videos by notorious American alt-right anti-Semite Stew Peters who refers to Judaism as a “death cult built on the blood of murdered babies” and says he wants a “final solution” to remove Jews from the United States.
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As a Senate inquiry into anti-Semitism got underway in September last year, Mr van Gelder observed: “The Jews pull a few puppet strings and they get their own senate inquiry.”
After watching an Al Jazeera documentary on Gaza Mr Carroll declares: “Watch this documentary and tell me that Israel is not an utterly depraved society.”
In one conversation about a client, Mr van Gelder asks: “Have you responded to the Jew? He’s probably going to try to negotiate the rates.”
Mr Carroll responds: “You mean … he will try to “jew” me?
Mr van Gelder replies: “Yes that is the correct application of the verb.”
In another message Mr Carroll says: “Zionists are without question the closest thing we have to Nazis”.
Mr van Gelder responds: “Their religion basically tells them to harm children.”
Mr Carroll tells his colleague that “Jews fabricate most cases of antisemitism”, sharing a video claiming Jews are responsible for perpetrating the attacks. A picture of a stereotyped Jew spray-painting a swastika on a synagogue, with the words ‘Hey Rabbi … watcha doin?!’
When Mr van Gelder discovers Open AI CEO Sam Altman is a Jew he declares: “Don’t think we should use it anymore … it was created by a Jew. That can only mean trouble.”
One evening they decide to watch Occupied, a ‘documentary’ in which US extreme right wing broadcaster Stew Peters declares that the US is ‘occupied’ by Jews and that “for a century our country has been living under the yoke of the international Jew wrapped around its neck … a worldwide Jewish plague.”
Other must-watch views for the pair are a video claiming Israel was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre), a clip of a Vietnamese shop owner refusing to serve Israelis and a video in which a US soldiers becomes disgusted with gay people and changes sides to become a Nazi, ending on a screenshot stating: HITLER WAS RIGHT.
Let’s just stop there for a second. Besides the antisemitism, anyone who takes “Stupider” Stew Peters seriously has no business representing anyone as a lawyer. It speaks to an inability to engage in critical thinking.
Naturally, Batman and Robin Batshit Crazy and Robbing over here were planning on doing something highly unethical:
The trove of incriminating messages reveals that for months before leaving BlackBay, Mr Carroll, 54, and Mr van Gelder, 28, were planning to set up a rival firm, allegedly taking clients and confidential information with them.
By September last year the pair were already happily discussing what Mr Carroll referred to as “our Operation Barbarossa”, apparently unaware it was the codename for Nazi Germany’s disastrous invasion of the Soviet Union.
In one exchange, on 30 January 2025, Mr van Gelder writes: “Will start extracting data, templates and precedent letters from BlackBay this weekend too”, to which Mr Carroll responds: “Yeah, me too.”
“Yeah, just make sure you copy the files properly, onto a portable hard drive”, Mr van Gelder cautions, before advising his colleague to “avoid leaving an email paper trail”.
Both men were terminated on 16 February 2025 for alleged “serious misconduct”, although at that point the firm was not aware of the anti-Semitic exchanges between the pair.
BlackBay has now launched legal action against Mr Carroll and Mr van Gelder in the NSW Supreme Court for the return of confidential information and delivery of computers, phones and electronic devices for forensic analysis.
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In early February Mr van Gelder told Ms Otavski that he was starting his own firm with Mr Carroll but pledged not to work with any of BlackBay’s clients.
Not long after, the firm became aware that the pair had been working on their proposed practice, Carroll van Gelder Lawyers, for some time.
In a WhatsApp message on 16 December, Mr van Gelder says: “We’re going to cream them. The best revenge is success.”
Mr Carroll responds: “And a dish best served cold.”
Later Mr Carroll says: “It would be good if our spies inside BlackBay could let us know whether or not Victoria is planning any litigation against us.”
Meanwhile, Van Gelder really does seem to be trying to emulate his hero Stew Peters:
Mr van Gelder is separately set to defend five domestic violence charges on 16 May including choking and assault causing actual bodily harm, with an application by police for an apprehended domestic violence order for mention on the same day. Conditions were placed on his practising certificate banning him from taking on criminal law matters until the charges are dealt with.
Looks like they may have cooked their goose. But unless they are outright banned from the legal profession, I fear they might find work elsewhere, with at least one Sydney law firm a possible great fit for them.
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