FL FL - Steven Cozzi, lawyer, Largo, 21 March 2023 *plastic surgeon arrested*

[megs1477]

Same here... I can't imagine how this happened! A large part of the puzzle must be missing.

Motive has been a big question for me. I have been reading through the filings in the court case and it is a mess. The Dr's attny dropped him and he proceeded pro se. Another lawsuit was just settled out of court.
It looks like he was not fairing very well in the case. They were headed to arbitration. However, there was a recent filing by JB that had a couple interesting things. I will clip below or you can read the whole document here.

Dr filed a motion to have Cozzi removed from the case:

JB filed a Motion for Sanctions, saying Kosowski's case was not based on material facts. Meaning it should be dropped and Kosowski responsible for attny fees. Looking at the length of the case and number of filings, I would expect them to be substantial.

This was a letter Cozzi sent to Kosowski in mid-January. Motion for Sanctions above was filed a month later. This is likely what triggered him. He probably realized he was going to lose, be out the $50,000 he was seeking in relief from the lawsuit, have to pay his own attorneys fees and have to pay the opposing attorneys fees.

 

[Marysmith]

So senseless… Steven’s loved ones must be devastated. He was just doing his job!

 

[megs1477]

So senseless… Steven’s loved ones must be devastated. He was just doing his job!

and doing it very well by the looks of things

 

[ch_13]

Motive has been a big question for me. I have been reading through the filings in the court case and it is a mess. The Dr's attny dropped him and he proceeded pro se. Another lawsuit was just settled out of court.
It looks like he was not fairing very well in the case. They were headed to arbitration. However, there was a recent filing by JB that had a couple interesting things. I will clip below or you can read the whole document here.

Dr filed a motion to have Cozzi removed from the case:
View attachment 411352
JB filed a Motion for Sanctions, saying Kosowski's case was not based on material facts. Meaning it should be dropped and Kosowski responsible for attny fees. Looking at the length of the case and number of filings, I would expect them to be substantial.
View attachment 411355
This was a letter Cozzi sent to Kosowski in mid-January. Motion for Sanctions above was filed a month later. This is likely what triggered him. He probably realized he was going to lose, be out the $50,000 he was seeking in relief from the lawsuit, have to pay his own attorneys fees and have to pay the opposing attorneys fees.
View attachment 411357

<modsnip - generalization>

I suspect that Kosowski became frustrated because he thought that he could easily act as his own lawyer, but found himself inadequate to the task. As the realization started to sink in that he was going to lose his case and be on the hook for substantial costs, he likely blamed Cozzi for the problems that he brought onto himself.

 

[Spider92]

I hate these cases where they can't find the body. It's so unfair to the families. And I know its possible to get a conviction but it just creates an ongoing layer of uncertainty that the defendant can leverage to his advantage.

 

[SeesSeas]

Kosowski filed a motion in the Pinellas County court system on Friday, March 24.

https://ccmspa.pinellascounty.org/PublicAccess/default.aspx

Filing # 169583323 E-Filed 03/24/2023 01:18:51 PM
***ELECTRONICALLY FILED 03/24/2023 01:18:51 PM: KEN BURKE, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT, PINELLAS COUNTY***

Florida plastic surgeon accused of murdering lawyer

A Tarpon Springs plastic surgeon was arrested for first-degree murder, accused of killing a local lawyer.

lawandcrime.com

[...]
In several court filings, Cozzi is listed as a legal representative of the defendants in the case.

This is a screenshot from one of the court filings in which Dr. Kosowski is suing his former employer. Cozzi, the murder victim, is filed as a legal representative in the case.
[...]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Cozzi’s body has yet to be found, but pools of blood were uncovered in a bathroom at work, according to authorities.

A suspicious person and car were seen around the law office, and a search of Kosowski’s Tarpon Springs home found evidence that linked him to the murder, police said, though further information was not yet disclosed.

Blanchard Law has been representing Kosowski’s former employer, the Laufer Institute for Plastic Surgery, and co-workers in a lawsuit he lodged against them four years ago and is still dragging on.

The 2019 lawsuit claims the woman who was assigned by the plastic surgery group to handle Kosowski’s insurance billing didn’t file claims and lied to his patients — costing the surgeon tens of thousands of dollars and leading to negative reviews online.

“Dr. K’s promising young career has essentially been obliterated” by the woman’s actions, Kosowski’s lawsuit contends. “Through no fault of his own, his career was put directly in jeopardy and his reputation has been deeply tarnished.”

He began with the Laufer Institute in 2016 before leaving in 2018 and starting his own practice.

Florida plastic surgeon accused of killing lawyer last seen taking bathroom break at work

Cozzi’s body has yet to be found, but pools of blood were uncovered in a bathroom at work, according to authorities.

nypost.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Michael Montgomery, who says he is Cozzi's husband, posted a message on Facebook Sunday, saying Cozzi was "stolen" from us.

"Today, our greatest fears were realized," he wrote. "My husband and best friend was stolen from us."

In a subsequent post, Montgomery wrote: "We are going to get Justice."

The St. Petersburg Bar Association also posted on Facebook about Cozzi.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with those close to Steve — both personally and professionally," they wrote.

Florida plastic surgeon charged with murder after attorney goes missing: "Our greatest fears were realized"

Police said that Steve Cozzi's body has not been found, but they have evidence that he was killed by Dr. Tomasz Kosowski.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[PayrollNerd]

Kosowski filed a motion in the Pinellas County court system on Friday, March 24.

https://ccmspa.pinellascounty.org/PublicAccess/default.aspx

Filing # 169583323 E-Filed 03/24/2023 01:18:51 PM
***ELECTRONICALLY FILED 03/24/2023 01:18:51 PM: KEN BURKE, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT, PINELLAS COUNTY***

Florida plastic surgeon accused of murdering lawyer

A Tarpon Springs plastic surgeon was arrested for first-degree murder, accused of killing a local lawyer.

lawandcrime.com

[...]
In several court filings, Cozzi is listed as a legal representative of the defendants in the case.

This is a screenshot from one of the court filings in which Dr. Kosowski is suing his former employer. Cozzi, the murder victim, is filed as a legal representative in the case.
[...]

He seriously filed that while sitting in jail and addressed it to the man he murdered???? That's disgusting. What a piece of less than human poop he is.

 

[Jemma]

He seriously filed that while sitting in jail and addressed it to the man he murdered???? That's disgusting. What a piece of less than human poop he is.

he was arrested 3/26, but it was done after the attorney went missing.

 

[Nikynoo]

If anyone wants to looks around the location of the law office, streetview is really up to date (Feb 23) Google Maps

 

[Pretty Potato]

If anyone wants to looks around the location of the law office, streetview is really up to date (Feb 23) Google Maps

Interesting... I guess I've watched too much Better Call Saul, because I was picturing a giant office building with a huge lobby and tons of potential witnesses. Nope. This is a pretty small single-story office with a lot of shrubbery around, in what looks like an area with very little foot traffic, and a high fence separating the parking lot from the adjacent homes. Also, there are cars parked directly against the building.

Hypothetically, it would not be extraordinarily difficult for a person to move something large out a back door and directly into a waiting vehicle. It's still incredibly brazen that he would murder someone in this location and think to get away with it. So disturbing that he would not even be safe surrounded by coworkers...
Does anyone know what day of the week or time the murder happened?

 

[Corrupted1967]

Like holy heck I'm trying to figure if this was preplanned or spur of the moment. I'm leaning towards preplanned, between injuring him cleaning the crime scene and leaving with him and no one seeing him leave the scene with SC. I really hope they can find SC for his partner and families sake jmoo

 

[Kristin Esq.]

Thank you all for your posts and catching me up on this case.

Looks like he has a hearing today. Does anyone know what time?

 

[Betamax]

I spent some time reading through some of the 100s of pages of court documents related to TK's lawsuit against his former employer (defendants). The depositions are very long, but paints the picture of what TK's understanding was about the billing issues vs. the defendant's. TK's understanding was that Medicare would pay for reconstructive surgery for a cancer related mastectomy. I don't know how medical claims work, but the procedures were denied by Medicare. It appears that a doctor or facility needs to be pre-approved or registered to do Medicare re-imbursed surgery. This is where the problem seems to start, and it snowballs from there. After TK realized that he was not getting paid what he was expecting, he blamed the defendants for "hiring" an "incompetent" person to do the billing. This person (Biller) was actually on outside contractor and TK was responsible for the billing arrangement. Biller worked for a 5% cut of the re-imbursed amount, so it was in her best interest to recover as much as possible. To make matters worse, one patient (P1) who had already had 4 surgeries with TK ran into a roadblock on her 5th surgery due to this billing/reimbursement issue. P1 then showed up at TK's office and made a scene, showing pictures to other patients. This obviously was not good for TK and again he blamed everything on the defendants. However, it didn't look like TK had a leg to stand on as it was up to him to make sure the billing was taken care of. The defendants are primarily a cash based business and only used Biller in certain circumstances. After TK's attorney dropped him, TK doubled down, acting as his own attorney and just dug a deeper hole of legal expenses. It does look like he was likely going to get hit with heavy legal fees. Unfortunately, SC was the person that had to deal with TK, SC was in all the lengthy depositions and interactions with TK. This wasn't a case of mistaken identity, TK knew SC very well.

 

[Kristin Esq.]

Like holy heck I'm trying to figure if this was preplanned or spur of the moment. I'm leaning towards preplanned, between injuring him cleaning the crime scene and leaving with him and no one seeing him leave the scene with SC. I really hope they can find SC for his partner and families sake jmoo

They've charged him with first degree murder,which usually means it was premeditated or at least they think it was premeditated.

 

[SeesSeas]

Thank you all for your posts and catching me up on this case.

Looks like he has a hearing today. Does anyone know what time?

1:30 PM

https://ccmspa.pinellascounty.org/PublicAccess/default.aspx

Charges: KOSOWSKI, TOMASZ ROMAN		Statute	Level	Date
1.	MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE		782.04(1)(A)	FELONY - CAPITAL	03/21/2023

Events & Orders of the Court

			OTHER EVENTS AND HEARINGS
03/27/2023			ADVISORY - MALE, FELONY (1:30 PM) (Judicial Officer ZUROWESTE, ELIZABETH) SPN/PersonID: 312109281 Case Number: 23-02935-CF Name: KOSOWSKI, TOMASZ Booking Number: SO1925237

 

[LaineyJ]

I spent some time reading through some of the 100s of pages of court documents related to TK's lawsuit against his former employer (defendants). The depositions are very long, but paints the picture of what TK's understanding was about the billing issues vs. the defendant's. TK's understanding was that Medicare would pay for reconstructive surgery for a cancer related mastectomy. I don't know how medical claims work, but the procedures were denied by Medicare. It appears that a doctor or facility needs to be pre-approved or registered to do Medicare re-imbursed surgery. This is where the problem seems to start, and it snowballs from there. After TK realized that he was not getting paid what he was expecting, he blamed the defendants for "hiring" an "incompetent" person to do the billing. This person (Biller) was actually on outside contractor and TK was responsible for the billing arrangement. Biller worked for a 5% cut of the re-imbursed amount, so it was in her best interest to recover as much as possible. To make matters worse, one patient (P1) who had already had 4 surgeries with TK ran into a roadblock on her 5th surgery due to this billing/reimbursement issue. P1 then showed up at TK's office and made a scene, showing pictures to other patients. This obviously was not good for TK and again he blamed everything on the defendants. However, it didn't look like TK had a leg to stand on as it was up to him to make sure the billing was taken care of. The defendants are primarily a cash based business and only used Biller in certain circumstances. After TK's attorney dropped him, TK doubled down, acting as his own attorney and just dug a deeper hole of legal expenses. It does look like he was likely going to get hit with heavy legal fees. Unfortunately, SC was the person that had to deal with TK, SC was in all the lengthy depositions and interactions with TK. This wasn't a case of mistaken identity, TK knew SC very well.

Thank you for this. I’m still confused - did P1 complain because of the work he had done? As in, the results were bad?

If so, how does him doing bad work relate to the people he’s suing? Not sure how that ties in with reimbursement…

Why wouldn’t he know he needs a prior authorization anyway… odd…

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The only unsecured entrance to the building was through the main lobby doors, which is monitored by surveillance video, investigators found.

Surveillance from the main entrance showed a gray Toyota Tundra arriving at the building at 8:32 a.m., according to the affidavit. Two minutes later, an “unidentified” white man entered the building wearing a backpack and gloves and carrying a large box.

At 8:37 a.m., Cozzi arrived at the building. He was wearing a red sweater, police found while reviewing the surveillance footage.

At 10:22 a.m., the surveillance showed a man with a similar build to the first subject leaving the building and wearing the same backpack, though he appeared to have changed clothes.

The man pulled a large cart containing what appeared to be a red bag or blanket, police said. The man appeared to struggle with the weight of the cart as he pulled it to the Toyota Tundra, according to the affidavit.

Video shows man exiting law office with ‘large cart’ where Pinellas attorney went missing

Tomasz Roman Kosowski, 44, was arrested early Sunday morning on a first-degree murder charge in the death of missing attorney Steven Cozzi.

www.tampabay.com

 

[citizen_sleuth]

The only unsecured entrance to the building was through the main lobby doors, which is monitored by surveillance video, investigators found.

Surveillance from the main entrance showed a gray Toyota Tundra arriving at the building at 8:32 a.m., according to the affidavit. Two minutes later, an “unidentified” white man entered the building wearing a backpack and gloves and carrying a large box.

At 8:37 a.m., Cozzi arrived at the building. He was wearing a red sweater, police found while reviewing the surveillance footage.

At 10:22 a.m., the surveillance showed a man with a similar build to the first subject leaving the building and wearing the same backpack, though he appeared to have changed clothes.

The man pulled a large cart containing what appeared to be a red bag or blanket, police said. The man appeared to struggle with the weight of the cart as he pulled it to the Toyota Tundra, according to the affidavit.

Video shows man exiting law office with ‘large cart’ where Pinellas attorney went missing

Tomasz Roman Kosowski, 44, was arrested early Sunday morning on a first-degree murder charge in the death of missing attorney Steven Cozzi.

www.tampabay.com

Wow, that's incredibly disturbing. It sounds like Kosowski went to the office with the intention of killing someone (I'm still unclear as to whether JB or Cozzi was the intended target) -- I can't think of any other legitimate reason why he would carry a backpack with a change of clothes, a large box, and gloves to a law office.

I hope LE has searched any medical offices/hospitals/clinics Kosowski had access to in case he disposed of the remains there.

This is just an all-around tragedy - I hope Cozzi's husband, friends, and family are able to find closure. What was Kosowski's end game here? Did he think if he killed his lawyer(s) that the lawsuit would just vanish?