Governor Cuomo's Big Gift- Lippman's FBI Inquiry

Cuomo's Big Gift- Lippman's FBI Inquiry

The Committee on Public Integrity has formally asked Janice K. Fedarcyk, FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office, to personally intervene in the investigation of New York's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. The correspondence will be posted here at 9am on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. The Committee on Public Integrity, by copy of the correspondence to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and all members of New York's Assembly and Senate, also asks the state's leaders to review the pending FBI inquiry.

NY's Financial Crisis Requires Appropriate Leadership of $3 billion Judicial Enterprise

Governor Cuomo has been specifically asked to immediately appoint a commission to look into the troubling allegations of a $40 Million Judicial Scam involving Judge Lippman and Judge Charles Ramos.

Highlights include......

....Our research has revealed, and fully documented, a troubling state court “ethics” oversight structure that is itself corrupt. We have documented countless examples where the law, attorneys, litigants, state employees and, in fact, judges have been targeted for annihilation simply because of a political whim or from the vengeful, misguided desires of a few. Conversely, we have evidence of many outrageous and criminal acts by certain individuals within and about the state court system that have been substantively overlooked for no other reason than their favored position or political affiliation.

CRIMES AGAINST FAMILIES

We take all allegations very seriously, but especially when they involve New York State’s Chief Justice, Jonathan Lippman, and an Appellate Division Associate Justice, Charles Ramos. We are most troubled by the apparent common denominators of “greed of money” and “thirst for power.” The sad result of these crimes against families, state employees and citizens is outrageous, and must end.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

OVERVIEW: New York State Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Ramos received a "waiver" of the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct from then-Chief Administrative Judge Lippman based upon information he (Ramos) provided in writing. The “waiver” pre-approved Judge Ramos to be co-executor of two estates of a couple who were alive; the “waiver” also approved Judge Ramos’ in a role over various family trusts.

DOCUMENTED FACTS: The highly unusual "waiver" of the State Judicial Rules was given by then-Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman on May 7, 2003. The May 7, 2003 dated letter from the Administrative Judge allowed Judge Ramos "to be named and to serve as a co-executor and trustee under the Wills of Ruth and Herb Weissberg.” (see attached) However, on May 7, 2003, Ruth and Herb were very much alive. And though Herbert Weissberg would die about 2 months later, on July 3, 2003, it was known that Herb had had a stroke and couldn’t speak, due to dementia and aphasia, for well over one year prior to his death.

While Judge Lippman's letter reiterates Justice Ramos' contention that he "had a longstanding relationship of trust and confidence with the Weissbergs going back 36 years"(see attached), there is no mention as to why the original March 24, 2002 dated Will did not name Charles E. Ramos as an executor or trustee but, instead, the Last Will named trusted accountant Andrew Rubin and long-time friend attorney Paul Herman as co-executors. It was only by virtue of a subsequent Codicil, purportedly by the long-incapacitated and dying Herbert Weissberg that Andrew Rubin and Paul Herman were removed as named co-fiduciaries, and replaced with Judge Ramos and the frail, soon-to-be-widow, Ruth Weissberg as the newly named co-fiduciaries. Witnesses confirm that Herb could barely say “yes” or “no” and was in a fetal position during the last year of his life. People who knew the Weissberg family for decades were shocked to hear that Judge Ramos had presented himself as a long time "dear friend" of Herbert Weissberg.

It appears that other plans to wrestle control of Herb's millions were in the works. It is also alleged that in October of 2001, Herbert Weissberg’s attorney, Paul Herman, went to the hospital to visit Herb, who was at that time extremely ill and unable to speak due to dementia and aphasia. While it cannot be determined exactly how many documents, purportedly signed by Herbert Weissberg, emerged from that hospital visit, or exactly from whom, what is certain is that Herb’s signature varies significantly from one writing to another on papers with the exact same date. One document, supposedly prepared by Herb, misspells the word “Gramercy” – as in the Gramercy Park Hotel- the place Herbert Weissberg had run for decades. Out of thin air, but with a judicial waiver in hand, Judge Ramos then appeared and became a paid trustee. The question remains that if Judge Ramos was such “a close, personal friend of the family” and as was presented to Judge Lippman, then Judge Ramos surely would have known that Herb Weissberg had been very ill, could barely scribble a signature, and could not communicate or understand anything complex- all long before the codicil giving him (Ramos) so much was even drafted. Simply, people with Dementia and Aphasia do not initiate complex estate changes.

THE ALLEGATIONS: (1) Judge Ramos, in early 2003, filed papers within the New York State Court system containing knowingly false information, so to advance a scheme where he would improperly, and financially, gain; and (2) Judge Lippman, since at least mid-2007, has been aware of the false presentation of information by Judge Ramos, and he has failed, and he continues to fail, to take appropriate action as required by law.

The FBI correspondence will be posted here at 9am on Tuesday, February 22, 2011.