LOS ANGELES — Two law firms behind the bulk of claims in L.A. County's $4-billion sex abuse settlement have had their payouts delayed pending probes, leaving many clients who expected life-changing sums stuck in limbo.

The first checks from the settlement — the largest of its kind in U.S. history — were supposed to start going out this summer after a judge rejected Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman's request to freeze the funds over fraud concerns. Many claims are thought to be legitimate and no plaintiffs in the settlement have been charged with wrongdoing.

But Slater Slater Schulman, which represents roughly 3,700 people in the case, emailed clients two weeks ago that the firm has "temporarily paused" payments due to an unanticipated audit of their cases.

Clifford Robert, outside counsel representing Slater, told The Times that the firm "is working with the county and the claims administrator to ensure the prompt payment of their clients' claims."

"The scale of this litigation presents extraordinarily complex challenges for the victims, for the county, and for the attorneys on both sides," he said in a statement.

Downtown LA Law Group, which represents more than 2,700 plaintiffs, has yet to receive money to dole out payments, according to county officials.

The firm is currently under investigation by L.A. County's district attorney and the State Bar after The Times reported last fall that some of its clients said they'd been paid to sue, and, in some cases, fabricate their claims against the county. The firm, known as DTLA, has denied all wrongdoing.

A DTLA spokesperson said the firm believes its clients' cases are on track to proceed, with a judge currently deciding how much each case is worth.

"Nothing is more important to us than our clients. We recognize and appreciate that they selected our firm to represent them in one of, if not the most challenging period in their life," the firm said in a statement. "We take that responsibility seriously."

County officials said they handed over roughly $571 million to be distributed to victims in the first tranche of payouts, but have yet to provide the money meant for DTLA's clients. A spokesperson for DTLA said the firm has not been told about any delays in payments.

On Monday, the State Bar dropped charges against DTLA's founding partners for signing up clients in states where they don't have a license to practice. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled, and was not the result of a settlement, Bloomberg Law reported. The State Bar did not disclose why the charges were dropped, and its reasoning for doing so remains under seal.

A separate State Bar investigation into the firm's alleged misconduct in the sex abuse litigation remains pending. On Monday, a judge ordered the county to give the bar confidential case documents for DTLA clients to aid with the probe — a move DTLA had blasted as an invasion of clients' privacy.

The investigations and resulting delays have spurred mass confusion and anger among many clients of DTLA and Slater, who say legitimate survivors of sexual abuse in government-run facilities cannot get a clear answer on what is happening with their cases.

"It's just in limbo," said Edward Robinson, who has a lawsuit with DTLA alleging abuse at a detention camp in Malibu. "Well, the D.A. isn't holding it up. So what's the holdup?"

DTLA said in a statement that it is devoted to ensuring its clients get the "highest level of excellence and service possible."

James Turpin, who sued the county with Slater for abuse at a juvenile hall in Downey, said he's starting to believe that he's "not going to be seeing any money anytime soon."

Turpin, 59, said he was sexually abused by a guard after he was sent to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall as a kid for stealing. The scale of the abuse in these facilities, he said, has been compared to the Boy Scouts or the Catholic Church.

And yet the L.A. County settlement is the only one marred by fraud allegations.

"Ask your average Joe on the street about those cases, [it's] 'Oh yeah, poor kids," Turpin said. "You mention our case, they're going to say the first word that comes to mind is 'fraudsters.' It really pisses me off."

On Aug. 19, Turpin got an email from a Slater attorney, informing him that the claims administrator had launched an audit of some of the firm's lawsuits.

"Although these events and any resulting delays are unfortunate, they will not deter the firm from continuing to advocate on your behalf," the email stated, without offering further explanation.

Louis Meisinger, the judge overseeing the disbursement of the $4-billion payout, declined to comment on the reason for the audit.

Robert, the attorney for Slater, did not explain in a statement why the audit had been launched.

Robert previously represented President Donald Trump in the civil fraud case brought by New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James. He also represents Slater in issues arising from the firm's representation of thousands of Boy Scout abuse victims.

Last year, retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Houser, who oversees the $2.4-billion trust for Boy Scouts of America sex abuse victims, asked for an "independent third party" to audit Slater's claims after noticing a pattern of "irregularities" and "procedural and factual problems." The firm represented roughly 14,000 victims in the Boy Scouts case.

Robert said at the time that Slater's priority "has been and always will be securing justice on behalf of sexual abuse victims."

Lawrence Friedman, a former Department of Justice attorney who used to lead the federal watchdog office for the bankruptcy system, said he was not surprised to see issues arising in the firm's caseload against L.A. County.

Friedman, who has spoken out about alleged misconduct by mass tort attorneys in bankruptcy cases, has sought to push Slater out of the Boy Scouts case, alleging the New York-based firm had "run amok" and "dangled the prospect of lottery sized payouts" in front of clients without vetting them.

"This is what happens when you take on more work than you are able to provide appropriate legal representation for and you get errors," Friedman said. "And we have seen lots of errors in this case, and I'm sure what you're about to find there is lots of errors."

Robert said in a statement that Slater "has vigorously pursued justice on behalf of its clients and continues to do so."

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