URGENT! Please help me raise legal fees

Thank you for taking the time to read this to the end.

I am a single mom to a lovely 7 year old daughter, who aspires to be a singer, gamer & fashion designer amongst a myriad of things😅. I am also an entrepreneur, writer and content developer and have dabbled in many income generating ventures over the years, to put bread on the table..

In 2018, I went into business with a former friend and two other business partners. Unbeknown to me, this friend is/was a con artist, who I came to find out too late, had a long history of defrauding unsuspecting people of their hard earned monies. I learned too late that this was a habit spanning over a decade. In 2018, he invited me to a meeting to pitch his business idea and convinced me to help him launch a new business in the financial industry. This decision ended up being one of the worst business decisions I have made as an adult. Within 6 months of launching our new business, I discovered to my dismay that my (former) friend ended up defrauding our company over $200,000; the bulk of this money included my life savings and funds invested by our past clients.

What followed this loss of funds, was the beginning of a long and unending nightmare. Overnight, I found myself in massive personal and business debt, debt I had never envisioned having; dealing with death threats, and a corrupt system that resulted in my health taking a serious toll in 2019 - not forgetting having to simultaneously begin a long drawn court battle, which has been emotionally draining.

No doubt. The last 4 years have been extremely difficult. I have faced home eviction twice with auctioneers on my back. I have had to alternate, living with friends and extended family members, because I could not afford to pay rent; currently despite starting up an online business early this year to try and make ends meet, being a startup, I am still yet to grow a sustainable income that adequately supports my child’s basic upkeep, schools fees, etc. like before.

Additionally…Right now together with my past business partners, I am in a court battle. Our business partner, who stole the $200k has bribed his way out of getting to appear in court to face charges and it appears he wants us to take the fall for his actions.

My plea is simple. I need help raising money URGENTLY to retain a lawyer and help throw our case out of court, facilitate a forensic audit of our past company records, pay for professional mediation with aggrieved parties and in turn pursue a civil suit against our former business partner. Our next court hearing is in the first week of March 2022. By which time we should have completed our forensic audit and paid facilitation fees for the same, including getting our lawyer fees (local court, constitutional court and arbitration court) and forensic auditor fees taken care of.

My friends and family will tell you that I am an honest and hard working mom. For the past 7 years I have worked hard to raise my daughter, keep a roof over her head, provide her with the basic needs and keep her in school. I have fought hard to give her the best in life. However, I am now at financial crossroads and this is an official cry for help. With unstable income, extreme mental & emotional health challenges and a stressful ongoing court case it has become very difficult to adequately provide, be a functioning mom to my little girl, whilst at the same time raise the legal fees required to fight the case to its end.

I know there’s willing and kind hearts out here. Wherever you are, Please help me raise legal fees.🙏🏿