The newest Zoom superstar this week was the CAT LAWYER . . . if you didn’t see it, he’s the lawyer in Texas who couldn’t figure out how to turn off a cat filter during his Zoom call so he had to argue his case as a cat.

But like most people who get unexpected viral fame, it turns out he’s got a much less adorable past.

After the cat lawyer, Rod Ponton, started going viral, a reporter from “Business Insider” named Anthony Fisher shared a story he did on Ponton back in 2014.

Back then, Ponton was a small town district attorney in Alpine, Texas.  And he ordered a massive SWAT raid on a tiny head shop for allegedly selling synthetic marijuana.

The owner was cuffed and thrown in a police van, and the local cops and federal agents repeatedly went after her after that as they kept trying to bust her.  They never found any synthetic marijuana or other drugs, but the whole thing basically ruined her life.

And it turns out the reason Ponton went after her so hard was he had a brief SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP with her when she was 18 and had just moved to town for college . . . and he held a vendetta against her since their relationship ended.

So that’s the backstory to ruin the cat lawyer video for ya