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Friday, November 28, 2008

EVIDENCE OF CORRUPTION IN THE JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION

State Commission ignores letter offering proof of official misconduct by Judge Lippman and evidence of corruption in their own ranks.

On November 20, William Galison sent this letter to every member of the Judicial Nominating Commission, the state body responsible for selecting the nominees for Chief Judge of New York State. One would expect this would elicit either a threat of libel claims or a demand for evidence, but over the past week, not a peep from a single member of the Commission. Not one member has requested documentation and other evidence offered by Galison, and Judge Lippman remains a nominee for the most powerful position in the Judiciary.


Integrity in the Courts
“To distrust the judiciary marks the beginning of the end of society.” 
- Honoré de Balzac
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” - Martin Luther King

All Members: State of New York
Commission on Judicial Nomination
1133 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036-6710                                                    November 20, 2008
FAX (212) 336-2222

Notice of Improprieties and Negligence by Judge Jonathan Lippman and
Apparent Corrupt Influence on a Member of The Judicial Nomination Commission


Synopsis: My organization has compiled overwhelming evidence of Official Misconduct and other improprieties by Judge Jonathan Lippman. Judge Lippman has also ignored and/or abetted systemic corruption in the First Appellate Division, some committed for the benefit of lawyers with intimate ties to a member of the Judicial Nomination Commission, Gerald B. Lefcourt. Judge Lippman’s improprieties must be investigated before he is nominated. Mr. Lefcourt must be removed from the Commission on the basis of the conflict of interest.

Dear CJN Members:

I am a co-founder of the organization “Integrity in the Courts”, a group composed of victims of judicial corruption, who dedicate their time and efforts to exposing and remediating New York State’s notoriously corrupt judiciary. Our members include a six-year veteran Staff Attorney from the First Departmental Disciplinary Committee who was fired for whistle-blowing and has a Federal suit pending against the DDC and the First Appellate Division. We also have affidavits endorsing our efforts from a sitting Supreme Court Judge and a retired Justice of twenty years on the bench.

The Judicial Nomination Commission has been entrusted with the solemn responsibility of choosing nominees for the highest judicial position in the state. The Chief Judge is not only the final arbiter of judicial matters in the State, he is also ultimately accountable for the behavior of every member of the judiciary that serves beneath him, and his ethics set the standards for the entire Judiciary.

Members of my organization possess overwhelming evidence that one of the nominees selected by the Commission- Judge Jonathan Lippman- falls far short of the ethical standards required by the office of Chief Judge. This letter describes one example of abuse by the First
Department Appellate Division under Judge Lippman’s supervision, but my colleagues and I have documented evidence of many more, some of which are pending in federal complaints.

Justice Lippman has Countenanced Rampant Impropriety by
Unethical Lawyers From a Law Firm Connected to a Member of Your Commission


For the past decade, Attorney Leon Friedman has been fraudulently registered in the Second Department, even though his sole law office is at 148 East 78th street, which puts him unambiguously in the jurisdiction of the First Department DDC. Although this may appear to be a trivial infraction, it has serious ramifications, as will be explained. More importantly, Judge Lippman’s consistent failure to hold Mr. Friedman and the DDC accountable is illustrative of a pattern of bending and breaking rules to allow serious ethical and legal infractions by Friedman and his firm, The Law Offices of Richard Ware Levitt.

In July 2006, I filed a disciplinary complaint against Mr. Friedman with the First Departmental Disciplinary Committee. The claims included destruction of evidence, perjury, conflict of interest and many more serious charges.

In reply, then Chief Counsel Thomas Cahill, wrote me the following: “[Mr. Friedman] does not practice in Manhattan or the Bronx and is, therefore not within our jurisdiction”. This response was so utterly and demonstrably false that the only explanations were corruption or incapacity on the part of Mr. Cahill. It turns out that Cahill based his determination of jurisdiction on Friedman’s fraudulent registration information, rather than the listing of his sole law office address which is found on the internet, phone book, his letterhead and over the door of 148 East 78th street, beside the plaque that reads “Law Offices of Gerald B. Lefcourt, Leon Friedman, Richard Ware Levitt…

When Judge Lippman appointed Allan Friedberg to replace Cahill, he wrote: “Alan W. Friedberg’s …commitment to the highest ethical standards render him extremely well prepared to serve as Chief Counsel.” That sounded hopeful, so my first letter to Mr. Friedberg was to confirm the obvious fact that Mr. Friedman practices in, and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the First Department, in order to re-file my complaint.

Over the past year, I have written twelve letters to Mr. Friedberg, asking simply for confirmation of Friedman’s jurisdiction, be it in the First Department or elsewhere. Mr. Friedberg’s has adamantly refused to confirm or deny Mr. Friedman’s jurisdiction, and has ignored my correspondence.

For three years the DDC has obstructed my complaint against Mr. Friedman by refusing to acknowledge their jurisdiction over Mr. Friedman. Moreover, they have denied me my right of redress by effectively banning me from any communication with the Committee. When, after several months of my letters being ignored, I visited the DDC. I was told that Mr. Friedberg had forbidden the entire DDC staff to discuss anything with me, including the status (or existence) of my complaints. When I asked for an explanation, they threatened to have me thrown out by security, a threat they rescinded when told I was recording the conversation. When I tried to make an appointment to see Mr. Friedberg, I was told, without explanation, that I could not make an appointment in person or by phone, and that I would have to make an appointment by mail. Several weeks ago, I sent a letter requesting an appointment by mail, but unsurprisingly, my request has been ignored. Denying me access to a public agency is a violation of my civil rights. Fortunately, all of my interactions with the DDC have been recorded and transcribed.

Clearly, Mr. Friedman’s fraudulent registration is more than an innocent twelve-year oversight. It is a deliberate strategy to obstruct the proceedings of the DDC, and it is abetted by Mr. Friedberg and Judge Lippman for their own advantage as explained below. I have brought these issues to the attention of DDC Chairman, Roy Reardon, but thus far have received no indication of forthcoming investigation or action.

I have hand delivered seven letters to Judge Lippman, complaining about the abuses of his appointee and the DDC in general. Most of my letters have been ignored, and the only responses have been irrelevant “form” letters, signed by his Clerk John McConnell, generally referring me back to Allan Friedberg, as if he were expected to discipline himself.

Several months ago, I wrote a letter to Judge Lippman, explaining that according to the Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge PART 118. Registration Of Attorneys, he was personally responsible for holding Mr. Friedman to account:

(e) The registration statement shall be on a form provided by the Chief Administrator and shall include the following information, attested to by affirmation: (7) office addresses (including department); [note the plural] Failure by any attorney to comply with the provisions of this section shall result in referral for disciplinary action by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court pursuant to section 90 of the Judiciary Law.

In other words, the Appellate Division (First Department), of which Judge Lippman is the Presiding Justice, is legally and ethically obliged to turn in renegade lawyers like Leon Friedman to the Disciplinary Committee. If Judge Lippman didn’t know the law before I told him, he knows it now, and yet he willfully chooses to break the law for the sole purpose of protecting Mr. Friedman and his friends.

[It should be noted that Mr. Friedman’s use of the false registration address to avoid a Disciplinary complaint puts him in violation of Penal Code § 210.40 “Making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree. A person is guilty of making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree when he commits the crime of making an apparently sworn false statement in the second degree, and when (a) the written instrument involved is one for which an oath is required by law, and (b) the false statement contained therein is made with intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of his official functions, and (c) such false statement is material to the action, proceeding or matter involved. Making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree is a class E felony”].

The above is just one of numerous ways that Judge Lippman is helping Mr. Friedman, his partners and his office mates. Mr. Lippman has also ignored written complaints from my lawyers. Neal Brickman and Associates, regarding various infractions by Mr. Friedman, including lying outright to the Appellate Court judges during oral argument. It would appear that at the very least, Judge Lippman is guilty of numerous counts of Official Misconduct and several judicial ethical violations.

Why Judge Lippman Would Break the Law to Help a Lawyer Like Friedman?

Why would a Chief Justice of the Appellate Division break the law and risk losing his job and reputation (and liberty) just to help a five-attorney law office avoid the consequences of their illegal activities? Could it have to do with the fact that Mr. Friedman and his partner Richard Ware Levitt share their offices, secretary, phone number, fax machine, clients and cases with Mr. Gerald B. Lefcourt, and that Mr. Lefcourt is a member of the very Judicial Nomination Commission in whose hands lies Judge Lippman’s potential future as Chief Judge?

Life would be much easier for Mr. Lefcourt and his friends if they had a friend like Judge Lippman as Chief Judge of New York State who would allow them to break ethical rules with impunity, as he has done up to now. And life would be much easier for Lefcourt’s clients, who include gentlemen named Bonnano, Gambino and Gotti and Gigante, among others. My guess is that Mr. Lefcourt is a big proponent of Judge Lippman for the job of Chief Judge. If I am wrong, the myriad improprieties of Judge Lippman on behalf of Mr. Lefcourt’s friends are still a sound basis for his disqualification.

The fact that Judge Lippman has broken the law for the benefit of select lawyers is grounds enough to have him removed for consideration by the Commission and should be grounds for his arrest. The fact that Mr. Lefcourt’s partners are the beneficiaries of Judge Lippman’s illegal largesse is grounds for Mr. Lefcourt’s immediate disqualification from the commission and an investigation into illicit influence on the Nomination process. Mr. Lefcourt should also be required to explain how it is that he is registered in the First Department while his colleague down the hall is registered in the Second. The excuse that Mr. Friedman teaches at Hofstra does not wash, because the registration applies to law practice only, not teaching offices. In any case, registration of all law office addresses are required by §118. It is Mr. Lefcourt’s ethical obligation under the LCPR to report and rectify this fraud.

Clearly, Judge Lippman is totally unaccountable for the abuses of his own appointees in his own Division. His choice of Allan Friedberg as Chief Counsel to the DDC is a testament either to his appalling judgment or corrupt intentions- or both. It would be foolish to expect that he will serve the public any more honorably as Chief Judge.

I have distributed copies of my evidence among numerous people, including law enforcement officials, elected officials and members of the local and national press. My webmaster is preparing a website that will publish all of the pertinent documents as well as the audio and video recordings of official misconduct by Friedberg and others.

I am hoping that at least some members of your Commission have retained an ember of integrity and interest in the well-being of New York State. I urge you all to respond to this letter with any questions or requests for documentation of the complaints against Judge Lippman by me or the other members of Integrity in the Courts. Your failure to investigate our documented claims against a candidate under your consideration would be an obvious dereliction of your duties as Commission members.

Fortunately, the winds in Washington have changed; improprieties overlooked by Mr. Mukasey will not be tolerated by Mr. Holder. Several members of my group and I have connections high in the administration-elect and we are very encouraged by their concern regarding corruption in the New York Judiciary.

It is your Committee’s responsibility and privilege to help select a Chief Judge that will improve the Judiciary for ALL decent New Yorkers, not only a select few.

I look forwards to answering your questions.

William Galison
Integrity in the Courts
917 517 7344

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Friedman and Lippman will be tied to adjoining stakes in Hell, but they need jail time and disgrace here before they go. The rot that emanates from them corrupts all it touches.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe this. Lippman could not have known what was going on. One of his clerk's has obviously hid this issue from him. That's how it works.

Anonymous said...

i would highly and seriously doubt that the Chief Clerk of the First Dept hid anything from Lippman. absolutely not. Lippman has been "part of the program" for quite a long time and it is more likely that Lippman or others working for him hid something from the Chief Clerk of the First Dept than vice versa.

back around 2004 or so Lippman did a fairly comprehensive study on corruption in the matrimonial courts and family courts but nothing appears to have ever came from it and now the study no longer appears to be on the Unified Court websites. if Lippman knows how that mess was buried and not acted on, he likely knows about Friedman and the answers to the Galison complaint.

Anonymous said...

Lippman knows what is going on and as long as the money keeps floowing to creat the agenda he wants. He wants lawyers/ and law firms to control pollitical and judicial elections.
He wants the rich to win the decisions. He wants landlords to evict people from rent controled appartments wihout cause.
If you are convicted of a crime you are inocent until you are broke.
If you fail as a lawyer but you have enough money you can buy yourself a job as a judge.
As long as Lipmman and his friends
wallowing in money.

Anonymous said...

Hey, if everybody calls themselves "Anonymous" it's hard to reply to a specific comment! Can't we be more creative, and use names like, "nameless", "incognito", or "scared shitless"? With death threats against witnesses, I don't blame you.

In any case, if "Anonymous #2" wasn't being facetious about Lippman's ignorance of this issue (which I expect he was) ; wake up and smell the sewerage.

Lippman doesn't live in a bubble. And if he didn't know about the rampant corruption in his own house before , someone will point him to this article. I'll let you know if I get an apology form Lippman and his clerk gets fired any time soon.

I just got an outrageously illegal UNANIMOUS decision by FIVE Appellate Court Judges granting change of Disciplinary Committee venue to a favored lawyer. It was a "UNPUBLISHED ORDER" but it sure as hell is going to be published on this site.

An "Unpublished Order" is apparently a decision that is so flawed or outright illegal, that it is essentially kept secret, and not accessible by normal legal searches or as precedent to any other case. Too bad Al Gore invented the internet!

People often blame Judges' improprieties on subordinates, but can you imagine how massively punished a clerk would be for misrepresenting or manufacturing a Judge's decision, if the judge found out?

If any judges are being fooled by their clerks, this blog should put an end to that quick. We know that many judges read this blog assiduously.

In my experience, most judges are pompous, stupid and corrupt enough to make their own illegal decisions, without help from their clerks.

signed,

-Anonymous

Anonymous said...

One more point:

It has now been two weeks since I sent the above letter to the Judicial Nominating Commission, revealing that the firm of a member of their own committee is the recipient of illegal favors by Judge Lippman, and offering hard documented evidence to back it up.

There are twelve members of the JNC and four "Counselors" to the JNC. How many questions or requests for evidence did I get?

ZERO. The JNC is not interested, because they are complicit. Hand picked stooges like Friedberg and Reardon. Where do they find these people?

Mr. Fred Brewington....any questions???? We thought you were different.

Governor Paterson's selection of Chief Judge will be the bell weather of whether he is on the side of the people or the mob. If he chooses Lippman, we are... fucked.

Anonymously,


Will Galison

Anonymous said...

I have posted messages on this Website before regarding the matter I will report again. I file as Anonymous because I really don’t want to chance writing out a message and to lose it if I don’t select the correct box to check off. Filing as ANONYMOUS has gotten my messages posted before, and that is why I continue to post that way.

You may call me PETEF.

I, too, filed a complaint against a Suffolk County Judge with the CJC and got nowhere.

I charged the judge with three improprieties in the case I am concerned with:

(1).The Judge had been intricately involved with this case for two years before it was brought to trial. I maintained that he was so joined at the hip with the District Attorney that he couldn’t possibly conduct a fair trial for the accused. The witness pled out to and admitted to thirty-eight violent felonies, including: high end burglaries, home invasions with torture and injuries, not of other criminals, but of honest civilians that owned area Chinese Restaurants. The witness also admitted to committing for a hire the arson of an occupied building in Yonkers, NY. In addition, the witness flat out lied to him when he said the defendant-to-be was involved in an armed robbery with him on July 25, 2000. At trial, that crime was proven beyond any doubt to be a lie. The defendant was conclusively been proven to be in Spain at the time.

It is a fact that when the witness was excused from the stand and at a recess the judge told the defense attorney: “Well, that isn’t the first time the DA sold me a false bill of goods.” I don’t expect the judge will own up to that remark.

In that plea agreement, the Judge urged the witness to do “patriotic things”, and to be judged not on the ‘homage of his words, but the homage of his deeds.” (President T.Roosevelt) He then allowed the witness to go free without any bail restrictions so he could return to Boca Raton, Florida to conduct his mortgage and bank fraud enterprises.

(2) I charged that the Judge did not inform the appropriate investigating agency that the attorney for the witness had a serious conflict of interest by representing two clients, one against the interests of the other.
The Judicial Canons of Ethics require a Judge that receives information of wrongdoing by a member of the bar is obligated to pass that information on to the Grievance Committee if he finds the charges to be ‘credible.’ I took that upon my own to file charges with the Grievance Committee. Those charges of attorney misconduct were filed with The NYS Grievance Committee for the 10th. Judicial District. Those charges were received and rejected by the 10th.Judicial District, the same jurisdiction where the concerned district attorney and Judge sit. After complaining to Chief Judge Judith Kaye, the matter was moved to the 9th Judicial Committee for investigation. It has remained at the 9th, since about August of 2007, with no conclusion at this writing. The very fact that the 9th Judicial District has been investigating this matter for more than seventeen months tells me that my charges are at least ‘credible’ to the extent they are being investigated.

(3) I charged the Judge with altering the trial record in a most significant manner. The Judge warned the prosecutor that if he continued his line of questioning to elicit a prejudicial utterance by a defense witness, that he would call a mistrial. That the prosecutor told him that he understood the instructions that he was going to do it anyway – and that is exactly what he did.

The response I received from the CJC was a short letter and a phone call by a female named “Jamie”. Jamie wanted me to forward any correspondence I may have had with the Judge concerning charge (2). The other two charges were never discussed. That was the extent of knowing who in the CJC I was communicating with: No last name, no title, and no phone numbers.

A couple of months ago I received a letter from the CJC advising me that the Judge committed no wrongdoing. End of story.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK IN EXPOSING CORRUPTION IN THE COURTS. YOU HAVE PLENTY OF MATERIAL TO KEEP YOU GOING INTO THE 22ST CENTURY.

Anonymous said...

Johnnie doesn't know about all these horrible lies you are speaking about on this blog.
If my Johnnie goes to jail and something happens to me, who will know to dig up the yard for the metal box?
That metal box has been sacred to Johnnie for all the years he has been a big shot JUDGE, at OCA..and Judy Kaye asks about it often! It must be important to judicial justice for these two to be so concerned with it's safety.
I got your back Johnnie....now that I have read this awful stuff about you on here, I will dig up the box and give it to your clerk for safe keeping and protection. The clerk assured me, you wouldn't even know what was in it...what a nice worker you have at the courts...are all the workers for the courts, this caring? If so, I can;t imagine why your being chief judge would be so awful, since your choice of those you work so close with, display such trust and concern in such abundance... and this only fortifies how I raised you...darling!
Let me know who I can write to so I can influence their choice for my sweetheart baby boy...I am in it for you till we open the box together!

Anonymous said...

http://www.judgewatch.org/judicial-selection/kaye-2007/2-9-07-sjc.pdf

Anonymous said...

http://www.judicialaccountability.org/patronage.htm

Anonymous said...

Links above...

I would like to know if there was opposition to Judge Jones and what the reason was..

Anonymous said...

yes, here we are in the swamp known as the New York State Judicial System. A might fine letter from William Galison that will fall on deaf ears, sadly. But then again this is a part of the problem, the rulers don't care. They have the power to jail you, trash your life, do whatever they want and the average citizen can do nothing! And the worst part is it's all our money! These dirtbags will never give up anything, we have to fire them all and stop the corruption, then setup a new Justice System free of corruption to serve us, one that will not screw US!
The quote at the start of this artile is correct "To distrust the judiciary marks the beginning of the end of society" Fred Brewington, lier for hire is the lowlife skel that was selling Christine Anderson done the river. What Judge told him to do that? What was his price? He should be disbarred!

Anonymous said...

The power for the people (taxpayer) is in the numbers. The firing of the scum is in the information....you all must gather both quickly and effeciently!
This is the only way you can take apart a 2 billion dollar government legal entity, that has all the legal power given to it by this nation.
It is not impossible at all, but it takes time, planning and lots of citizen supporters.
Put a knife in it's heart...keep talking to all those you know about the NY courts being brutally corrupt and show them this blog.
I beleive from experience and knowledge, that this year will be very impactful...wait and hope!

Anonymous said...

galison is on the right track. the leon friedman corruption connection goes way back. keep your eye on the name richard emery. check what committees he is on and how he got there. These are dangerous but careless men.

Anonymous said...

I bet every member of that Commission has his own "Pet judge" who does tricks for him in exchange for nomination. What a bunch of creeps! Lock them up!!!!

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