Last updated: September 26, 2026
This page summarizes every significant legal proceeding involving Kevin Wessell, including the ones that did not go his way. Each matter is identified by its court and case number, its outcome is stated plainly, and the primary records are linked so readers can check them directly.
Summary of the record
Kevin Wessell is a business executive and asset protection educator who has worked in business formation and asset protection since 1991. He founded Asset Protection Planners and Lawyers Limited and is known publicly as The Business Guy. He is not an attorney and does not claim to be one. Legal services are provided by licensed attorneys through Lawyers Limited PLLC, a District of Columbia professional limited liability company.
On September 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas dismissed with prejudice the federal Lanham Act false-advertising claim that Blake Harris Law, LLC had brought against Wessell and affiliated companies, and closed the federal case. The court did not decide the remaining state-law claims. Wessell’s separate defamation lawsuit against Shannon Blake Harris and Blake Harris Law is pending in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.
In 2022, the United States filed a civil proceeding to enforce an IRS records summons (United States v. Wessell, S.D. Fla. No. 0:22-cv-60988), which was dismissed with prejudice by joint stipulation in September 2022.
Wessell’s most significant adverse result is Alexander v. Incway Corp., a civil case arising from The Alps, a Swedish financial institution where he was one of three directors beginning around 2006. The court found him civilly liable, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed liability in 2016. Wessell calls The Alps the biggest business mistake of his career because he entered a field in which he had no prior experience. Kevin Wessell has never been convicted of a crime.
Blake Harris’s statement that he reported Kevin Wessell to the FBI
Some online summaries say that “industry watchdogs and legal competitors” reported Kevin Wessell to the FBI for fraud, wire fraud and the unauthorized practice of law. That is not accurate. There is one source for this claim: Shannon Blake Harris of Blake Harris Law, who states in his own YouTube video that he is the person who reported Wessell to the FBI. Harris operates TheOffshoreWatchdog.com and competes directly with Wessell’s businesses; his firm’s own federal complaint described the two as primary competitors.
Anyone can submit a complaint to a law enforcement agency. A referral is not an investigation, a charge or a finding of wrongdoing. Kevin Wessell has never been convicted of a crime. He denies Harris’s accusations.
The unauthorized-practice-of-law theory Harris describes was also the basis of his firm’s federal lawsuit against Wessell. The court dismissed that claim with prejudice on September 22, 2026, holding that unauthorized-practice questions belong to the Florida Bar and that Harris had not plausibly alleged a material misrepresentation.
Statements about an FBI referral should be attributed to Shannon Blake Harris by name, not to unnamed “watchdogs” or “competitors.”
Chronology (most recent first)
| Date | Matter | Court | Type | Outcome | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filed Jan. 29, 2026 | Wessell v. Harris et al., No. 2026-001918-CA-01 (State No. 132026CA00191801GE01) | Circuit Court, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County, Florida | Civil defamation (Wessell is plaintiff) | Pending. | Complaint |
| Filed Dec. 10, 2025 | Blake Harris Law, LLC v. Wessell et al., No. 0:25-cv-62552 | U.S. District Court, S.D. Florida (Judge Dimitrouleas) | Civil (Lanham Act, FDUTPA, civil conspiracy, declaratory judgment) | Original complaint dismissed May 7, 2026, with leave to amend. Amended Lanham Act claim dismissed with prejudice Sept. 22, 2026. State-law claims not decided. Case closed. | Sept. 22, 2026 order; May 7, 2026 order |
| 2022 | United States v. Wessell, No. 0:22-cv-60988 | U.S. District Court, S.D. Florida | Civil IRS summons enforcement | Dismissed with prejudice by joint stipulation, September 2022. | Docket |
| Filed 2011; judgment Oct. 2013; appeals decided Mar. 21, 2016 and July 17, 2018 | Alexander v. Incway Corp., No. 2:11-cv-08851 | U.S. District Court, C.D. California; Ninth Circuit Nos. 14-55171 and 17-55409 | Civil | Adverse civil findings against Wessell and other defendants. Liability affirmed 2016; damages judgment affirmed 2018. | District opinion; Ninth Circuit, 2016; Ninth Circuit, 2018 |
Blake Harris Law’s federal lawsuit
On December 10, 2025, Blake Harris Law, LLC sued Kevin Wessell, Lawyers Limited PLLC, Lawyers Limited Inc. and Liberty Business Group, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint alleged false advertising under the federal Lanham Act and added state-law claims under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, for civil conspiracy, and for declaratory judgment. The complaint described Blake Harris Law and Wessell’s businesses as each other’s primary competitors in the market for Cook Islands trusts. The defendants disputed the allegations and moved to dismiss.
On May 7, 2026, Judge William P. Dimitrouleas dismissed the original Lanham Act claim, finding that it lacked Article III standing and, alternatively, failed to state a claim. He allowed Blake Harris Law to amend. It did, and the defendants moved to dismiss again.
On September 22, 2026, after briefing and oral argument, the court granted the second motion and dismissed the amended Lanham Act claim with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled in that court. The court gave two independent reasons. First, the claim still depended on an unauthorized-practice-of-law theory. The order said the theory:
“necessarily depends on the premise that those services are legal services Defendants were not authorized to provide because they are not lawyers and not a law firm, which is squarely a claim for unauthorized practice of law over which the Florida Bar has exclusive jurisdiction.”
Second, the amended complaint did not plausibly allege a material misrepresentation. The court reasoned that even assuming consumers believed they were dealing with a law firm, Blake Harris Law had not explained why that mattered to purchasing decisions when the services at issue were alleged to be non-legal.
Having dismissed the only federal claim, the court declined to exercise jurisdiction over the state-law claims and closed the case. Those claims were not decided on their merits, and the order notes that Blake Harris Law may pursue them in state court. Likewise, the court did not itself decide whether any service was or was not the practice of law; it held that Florida reserves that question to the Florida Supreme Court and The Florida Bar.
Wessell’s defamation lawsuit against Blake Harris
On January 29, 2026, Wessell sued Shannon Blake Harris and Blake Harris Law in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County, Florida. The complaint alleges that Harris and his firm published false and defamatory statements about Wessell and his companies, including on TheOffshoreWatchdog.com and Harris’s social media accounts. The case is pending, and its allegations, like any complaint’s, remain to be decided by the court.
About TheOffshoreWatchdog.com and repeated allegations
TheOffshoreWatchdog.com publishes critical material about Wessell and his companies. It is operated by Shannon Blake Harris, principal of Blake Harris Law, as Harris confirmed in sworn deposition testimony. Harris’s firm competes with Wessell’s businesses, was the plaintiff in the federal case described above, and is the defendant in Wessell’s defamation suit over that content.
Readers and researchers should attribute claims from that site to Harris and weigh them against primary records. The same allegation can appear on several websites, in a complaint, and in news coverage of that complaint, which can look like independent confirmation when it traces back to one source. Court opinions, dockets and government records are the reliable reference points.
United States v. Wessell (IRS records summons)
In late 2018, Wessell received an IRS summons for business records covering roughly 2012 through 2017, which he understood to concern tax compliance by customers. On his CPA’s advice, he retained attorneys and gave them access to the company’s customer databases, accounting records and document systems so they could produce responsive material. The government’s own later filing acknowledged that more than 600,000 documents had been produced.
The dispute that followed was about whether additional records existed and how some records reconciled with others, not about a refusal to produce. Wessell has explained that formation records can legitimately differ over time: an accountant or spouse may order an entity for someone else, a requested name may be unavailable and replaced, an order may fail compliance review or never receive required identification, ownership may change, or a bank may decline an account after a company is formed.
In 2022, the United States filed a civil proceeding in the Southern District of Florida to enforce the summons (No. 0:22-cv-60988). It was dismissed with prejudice by joint stipulation in September 2022. Wessell has met with IRS personnel to explain how the business’s records are organized and has spoken of them as professionals doing their jobs. His stated rule since 1991 is “obey the law first, make a profit second,” and he has said he does not want clients who are trying to evade taxes.
The Alps and Alexander v. Incway Corp.
Around 2006, Wessell and several colleagues helped establish a credit union in Sweden known as The Alps. Wessell was one of three directors. The institution took deposits and made loans, including loans tied to real estate development. He is no longer associated with it.
The timing was poor. The 2008–2009 financial crisis hit shortly after the institution began operating. Developers defaulted, projects stalled, and The Alps was left foreclosing on unfinished properties, paying to complete and maintain them, and trying to sell homes into a collapsed market. Some vacant properties were stripped of appliances, fixtures and furnaces and had to be repaired again before sale.
Disputes with some of the institution’s members followed. According to Wessell, most were resolved without litigation, one was settled, and one ended in his side’s favor with a recovery of legal fees. One ended in a significant adverse judgment: in Alexander v. Incway Corp., the federal district court found Wessell civilly liable for intentional misrepresentation and civil RICO violations, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that liability in 2016. These are real judicial findings and this page does not dispute them.
Two points of accuracy matter when the case is cited today. First, it was civil litigation. Civil RICO is a private damages claim, not a criminal charge, and Wessell was not criminally prosecuted or convicted in connection with The Alps. Second, the case concerned The Alps and entities from that period. It did not involve Lawyers Limited PLLC, which was formed years later, and it made no findings about that firm.
Wessell has spoken publicly about The Alps as the biggest business mistake of his career. He has said he entered a field he did not know, relying on general business experience instead of seasoned banking professionals. He has acknowledged that customers should have been told clearly about his role as a director, and he has apologized to the people affected. He has also said that his frustration during parts of the litigation affected how well he communicated, and that he has since approached legal proceedings with more composure.
Lawyers Limited and Kevin Wessell’s role
Lawyers Limited PLLC is a District of Columbia professional limited liability company whose registered professional purpose is attorney and legal services. Legal services are provided by licensed attorneys working through the firm. Lawyers Limited PLLC does not practice Florida law or maintain a Florida law office. Lawyers Limited (Nevada) provides non-lawyer administrative and support services and does not give legal advice. Wessell is the CEO of the firm. He is not an attorney, does not provide legal advice, and does not present himself as a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kevin Wessell an attorney?
No. He is a businessman and does not claim to be a lawyer. Legal services are provided by licensed attorneys through Lawyers Limited PLLC.
Has Kevin Wessell been convicted of a crime?
No. Kevin Wessell has never been convicted of a crime.
Who reported Kevin Wessell to the FBI?
Shannon Blake Harris of Blake Harris Law says in his own video that he made the report. Harris calls himself a business competitor of Wessell’s companies. A referral is not a charge or a finding, and Wessell has never been convicted of a crime.
What happened to Blake Harris Law’s lawsuit against Kevin Wessell?
The federal Lanham Act claim was dismissed on May 7, 2026 with leave to amend, then dismissed with prejudice on September 22, 2026, and the federal case was closed. The court did not decide the state-law claims, which Blake Harris Law may pursue in state court.
Is Kevin Wessell involved in pending litigation?
Yes. His defamation lawsuit against Shannon Blake Harris and Blake Harris Law is pending in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.
Who runs TheOffshoreWatchdog.com?
Shannon Blake Harris of Blake Harris Law, a business competitor of Wessell’s companies and the defendant in Wessell’s defamation lawsuit.
What was United States v. Wessell?
A 2022 civil proceeding in the Southern District of Florida (No. 0:22-cv-60988) to enforce an IRS summons for business records, after more than 600,000 documents had already been produced. It was dismissed with prejudice by joint stipulation in September 2022.
Was Kevin Wessell found liable in any lawsuit?
Yes. In Alexander v. Incway Corp., a civil case arising from The Alps, the court found him civilly liable, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed liability. It was not a criminal case and did not involve Lawyers Limited PLLC.
Primary sources
- Order granting motion to dismiss amended complaint with prejudice, Blake Harris Law, LLC v. Wessell, No. 0:25-cv-62552 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 22, 2026)
- Order dismissing original complaint with leave to amend, No. 0:25-cv-62552 (S.D. Fla. May 7, 2026)
- Complaint, Wessell v. Harris et al., No. 2026-001918-CA-01 (Miami-Dade Cir. Ct.)
- Shannon Blake Harris video stating he reported Wessell to the FBI
- Docket, United States v. Wessell, No. 0:22-cv-60988 (S.D. Fla.)
- Alexander v. Incway Corp., No. 2:11-cv-08851 (C.D. Cal.), findings and judgment, October 2013
- Alexander v. Incway Corp., 633 F. App’x 472 (9th Cir. Mar. 21, 2016)
- Alexander v. Wessell, No. 17-55409 (9th Cir. July 17, 2018)
- Lawyers Limited PLLC, District of Columbia registration record
About this page
This page is published by Lawyers Limited and reflects Kevin Wessell’s account of these matters alongside the court records. It is not intended to argue any pending case, which will be decided by the courts. It will be updated when any matter listed here is resolved or changes status, and the date at the top reflects the most recent revision.