ENTER ANDY: Cuomo Subpoenas Public Administrator of Estates

Cuomo subpoenas documents tied to Broderick’s family dealings
The Buffalo News by Thomas J. Prohaska - July 25, 2009

LOCKPORT, NY — The state attorney general’s office has subpoenaed records relating to Niagara County Treasurer David S. Broderick’s activities as public administrator of estates. The attorney general’s Public Integrity Bureau appears interested in the work done on estates Broderick controlled by his wife Jane, a real estate agent, and his brother William, an attorney.  The subpoena, released Friday by the county attorney’s office, called on Broderick to produce all documents relating to estates for which Jane and William Broderick performed services since June 16, 2003. That cutoff date matches the six-year statute of limitations for a criminal prosecution. However, County Attorney Claude A. Joerg said, “I got no indication that it’s a criminal investigation.” “We don’t comment on subpoenas,” said John Milgrim, spokesman for Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. Teresa M. Snyder, an Amherst attorney who objected to Broderick’s handling of her late mother’s estate, has charged that it was improper for the treasurer to assign his wife to sell the mother’s house last year. She did not return a call to comment Friday. Neither did Broderick, but his attorney, George V. C. Muscato, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the matter never progresses beyond the investigation stage. “I would emphasize that David has done absolutely nothing wrong,” Muscato said. “By the time all this is done, he will be the most certified-to-have-done-nothing-wrong person in Niagara County.”

As The Buffalo News disclosed in a series of articles that began in February, Niagara County Surrogate’s Court files and real estate sources show that Jane Broderick has listed at least eight houses for sale since 2000 from estates her husband controlled. Commissions to her agency, Realty USA, on those sales totaled more than $30,000. About 25 percent of that is believed to have gone to Jane Broderick. Also, William D. Broderick, the treasurer’s brother, handled legal work on three estates administered by David Broderick since 2003, and collected more than $17,000 in fees. Muscato said the same files the attorney general’s office sought were previously provided to two other state agencies, the Office of Court Administration and the comptroller’s office. The latter is auditing Broderick at the request of the two County Court judges. An Office of Court Administration spokesman earlier this year cited a regulation that bars public administrators from using their relatives for estate work. Muscato and attorneys for the county have insisted that regulation was never properly published and has no legal force. tprohaska@buffnews.com