American author Nicholas Kaufmann went viral after Filipinos mistakenly thought he was Nicholas Kaufman, the lead counsel of former President Duterte in the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a result, he appealed to netizens to stop sending him messages online.
In a post on Facebook on March 21, Kaufmann clarified that he is not Duterte's lawyer and asked Filipinos to stop sending messages to his inbox. “People of the Philippines, I am not the ICC lawyer Nicholas Kaufman who is representing [former] president Duterte! Please stop messaging me!” Kaufmann said in his post, which has already garnered more than 5,000 reactions, most of which are Haha reactions.
Kaufmann continued in a post on April 1, where he said he was constantly being sidelined by Filipinos who still don't believe he is not Duterte's lawyer. "Our names aren't even spelled the same (he's Kaufman with one N). It's insane!" he added.
While Kaufmann's friends were commenting on the fun, he was met with reactions mixed with jokes. One of them commented, “That’s exactly what we’d expect you to say!” to which Kaufmann replied, “I’d be making a lot more money if I were a criminal defense lawyer!” Another joked, “Lean into it and you’d get a free trip to Holland. I hear the strudel is great,” to which Kaufmann replied, “Maybe I can apply for asylum while I'm there!”
Kaufmann is a well-known American author of horror and fiction novels such as General Slocum’s Gold and Chasing the Dragon. Meanwhile, Kaufman, Duterte’s real lawyer, is a British-Israeli lawyer with more than three decades of experience in international criminal law. He led Duterte's defense at the ICC.
Duterte faced an arrest warrant on March 11, after he was charged with crimes against humanity, including involvement in extra-judicial killings of suspected drug pushers and criminals under his administration.
