Tony Buzbee Sued by Former Client for Holding Huge Chunk of Settlement

Jay-Z isn't the only one targeting attorney Tony Buzbee in court -- a former client claims Buzbee acted more like his loan shark than his lawyer in a personal injury case.

Directly on the heels of Jay-Z's scorching attack on Buzbee, Matthew Ray Thompson Jr. is now unloading on him ... filing a federal lawsuit Monday against his ex-attorney. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Thompson says he was injured in July 2023 while working as a deckhand on a vessel that struck a barge in the Houston Ship Channel.

He says he retained Buzbee, who filed a lawsuit on his behalf in November 2023, which triggered automatic payments to Thompson -- from his employer -- while his lawsuit was pending.

But in the suit, Thompson claims those payments were delivered directly to Buzbee's firm, and then Buzbee gave him disbursements ... with one very expensive catch.

Thompson alleges Buzbee loaned him his own funds, and to add insult to injury, also charged him a high interest rate. He claims Buzbee held back more than 60% of the money he was owed -- and he alleges Buzbee has a rep for pulling this move with other clients, as well.

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

While Buzbee's former client doesn't make reference to Diddy or Jay-Z by name, Thompson does paint a picture of Buzbee that's similar to the claims Jay made Sunday in his scathing statement.

Thompson says, "Buzbee has become rich by milking settlements with threats of negative attention from people who rely on their public reputations for livelihood."

We've reached out to Buzbee for comment, but no word back yet.