The New York Post by Dareh Gregorian, Dan Mangan and Douglas Montero - December 29, 2011
The man being sued for allegedly murdering his Upper West Side wife surreptitiously took control of the $1.6 million life-insurance-policy payout she’d left behind for their two kids, The Post has learned. Rod Covlin, 39, filed papers in Westchester County Surrogate’s Court in April seeking to be named guardian of the cashed-in Aetna policy that Shele Danishefsky Covlin, a money manager, had left for Anna and Myles. “I am Anna’s father,” an affidavit reads. “I have her best interests at heart, and I am in the best position to determine her current and future needs.” He filed a similar petition to control Myles’ half of the windfall. Covlin’s bid was successful. Surrogate Anthony Scarpino named him guardian in July, apparently unaware he’s the prime suspect in Shele’s Dec. 31, 2009, murder. The revelations came on the same day he was served with court papers by the New York County Public Administrator accusing him of having caused the wrongful death of the beautiful UBS Wealth Management VP. Shele's death was initially classified an accident but as The Post first reported it was reclassified a homicide after the body was exhumed three months later. The suit says Colvin, who's never been charged criminally, "did intentionally, deliberately, willfully, wantonly, maliciously, brutally and without provocation or just cause did strangle, choke, strike, injure, assault, abuse, beat and murder" the mother of his kids. A source familiar with the investigation said an arrest "could" come by this spring. Both kids were asleep in her apartment at the time of her death. Anna found her body in the bathtub. The children are supposed to get what remains of the cash at age 18. Covlin has power to invest the money, and he can withdraw the cash with the court’s permission. A source said Covlin had originally been listed as the beneficiary of the Aetna policy but Shele switched it to her kids about a month before she died as their marriage disintegrated and she told friends she feared he was going to kill her. The circumstances of his taking control of the funds appear shady. Covlin filed the petition to be named guardian in Westchester even though Shele’s estate case is being heard in Manhattan and the kids already have a law guardian acting on their behalf there. His petition doesn’t say that there’s an ongoing case or that the kids have a guardian. He also left blank the answer to a question about whether the kids’ custody had ever been the subject of a court order — and an order of protection had been filed against him before and after his wife’s murder, allowing him only supervised visits with the pair. He also wrote “n/a” under a question asking for the name and address of the kids’ maternal grandfather and grandmother, who have been fighting to keep him from getting their daughter’s money in the Manhattan case. He also touted his financial expertise, saying, “I have managed securities firms throughout my career, held many securities licenses, and traded [professionally],” although court papers show he’s been unemployed for years and spends his time gambling. He and the kids now live with his parents in Scarsdale. There’s no record of Covlin having notified the county public administrator, which is acting as executor of Shele’s estate, the judge handling the estate or Danishefsky’s family about his action. Covlin did not return a call for comment. Marilyn Chinitz of the law firm Blank Rome, which is representing Shele’s family, declined comment. dareh.gregorian@nypost.com
----- RELATED STORY:
Judge blocks Roderick Covlin from slain wife Shele Covlin’s $1.6 life insurance payout; orders hearing
The New York Daily News by Barbara Ross and Helen Kennedy - December 29, 2011
Westchester judge didn't know hubby Rod Covlin a suspect, faced court challenge in Manhattan
A Westchester judge yanked Roderick Covlin’s access to a $1.6 million life insurance payout on his slain wife Thursday after learning he is the prime suspect in her unsolved 2009 murder. That big Aetna life insurance policy is only one of several being fought over: nearly $4 million is at stake for Covlin in the battle to inherit his wife’s estate, the Daily News has learned. In Westchester, Surrogate Court Judge Scarpino suspended the financial rights he granted Covlin earlier this year when the unemployed backgammon player asked to manage the fortune his wife left their two kids. Shele Covlin, who was divorcing her husband when she was strangled in her Upper West Side bathtub, had removed him from her Aetna policy, and left it instead to Anna, 11, and Myles, 5. In his petition, Covlin told the judge that he has his kids’ “best interests at heart” and had experience managing investments and trading stocks professionally. He never mentioned that his right to oversee his wife's estate was being challenged by her family, who say he’s a gambler who can’t be trusted with the kids’ money, or that a Manhattan Surrogate Court had removed him as executor. He was readily granted guardianship of the money with no strings attached. David Bookstaver, spokesman for Office of Court Administration, said Scarpino was not aware of the claims against Covlin. Bookstaver contacted the judge on vacation after Covlin was sued for wrongful death Wednesday. He set a Jan. 4 hearing to revisit Covlin’s guardianship status. No one has been charged with the Dec. 31, 2009 murder of the 47-year-old UBS wealth manager but the Public Administrator in charge of her estate filed a civil suit alleging he killed her. The Daily News has learned Shele Covlin had additional $1 million policies on her life with the Hartford and US Life - and both companies have gone to court asking for guidance about who to pay. “The New York City Police Department has advised the company that Roderick B. Colvin is a suspect in their homicide investigation into the death of the Insured,” US Life said in a federal filing in March. It asked the court to take charge of the money, hoping to “avoid being vexed and harassed by conflicting” claims f Covlin is arrested. The issue is still being litigated. With Kerry Wills
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18 comments:
I'm glad that Tony Scarpino took a few moments off from his vacation (no doubt paid for by dirty money) to address an issue that may leave more money for him and his thugs to get their dirty fingers on. With the Astor estate, Tony and Company exploited Marshall and his dumb lawyer to make sure criminal charges moved forward so they would have control of the big bucks. In this case, Scarpino welcomes any circumstance when he can get control of some good old cash. As the chief god father of the 9th JD criminal enterprise, Scarpino should give himself a raise before he finally gets what he's long deserved: a spot behind bars.
I was before Scapino in a family court matter. Be afraid of this guy! He's a mobster and every lawyer acknowledges that fact.
Let's not be stingy with acknowledging who's involved.
Who is his attorney that submitted these papers?
Covlin isliving with his father & mother and two girls in Scarsdale. Who is his dad and who does he know? Who else lives in Scarsdale? Bingo! None other than Jody Keltz, the go to person in the Surrogate Court! Do the Covlin's and Jody Keltz go to the same shul? All questions that Scarpino and his minion Keltz need to respond to in the setting of a Federal Grand Jury.
OR YOU CAN JUST START SHOOTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have read that the wife's family were the ones who pushed this, G*d Bless Them. Many people tried to "bury" this one. The fix was set up in Westchester with Scarpino and his crew. The federal people have to know Scarpino is dirty so why don't they movr. For sure there are many other cases where he left his finger prints that they could grab him for too.
Is this the same Jody Keltz that stole a house from an Estate in the Surrogate Court where she works?
Talk about a smoking gun.
How many times does it take with incidents like this before all those agencies who receive our tax dollars, to finally take action and put an end to this corruption?
When PA had the cash for kids fiasco, everyone knew and did nothing about it. Then there are all the cases of pedophiles that were covered up for years, that are now making the news. Everyone is asking why nothing was done when it was first learned what these people were doing. Well d'oh. Apparently that's they way things work in the US. Cover-up and ignore for as long as you can. As long as everyone is getting their cut of the pie, who cares that there are victims, as long as enough people are getting rich off of them.
Now, unfortunately, the newspapers are making it look like Scarpino was a victim. That he was mislead, and when he found out, he took quick action. Nevermind that the case should never have been in Westchester and that he apparently held a court proceeding while he was away on vacation.
There is an old parable about 7 blind men and an elephant. Each one goes up to an elephant and touches a different part and tells what they think it is. Each one makes a statement about what it is depending on the part they are touching. Of course, they all come up with something completely different, because they can't see the whole thing. That is what all these agencies do. Look at each incident like it has nothing to do with anything or anyone else, and decide that everything is fine.
As long as they don't bother to look, they won't find anything.
Disgusting.
When is Scarpino going to be pulled off the bench and thrown in jail.
New York apparently has devised a new legal system. It seems that if they just ignore the laws and their obligations, everything will go away.
In today's NYT's it's reported that the police are ignoring crimes and that this has been going on and is known by politicians and the ranking officials in the department.
"Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books"
"While it is difficult to say how often crime complaints are not officially recorded, the Police Department is conscious of the potential problem, trying to ferret out unreported crimes through audits of emergency calls and of any resulting paperwork.
As concerns grew about the integrity of the data, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, appointed a panel of former federal prosecutors in January to study the crime-reporting system. The move was unusual for Mr. Kelly, who is normally reluctant to invite outside scrutiny."
Clearly, NY is becoming a lawless state. Everyone knows and not only do they do nothing about it, they cover-up and prevent anything from stopping it.
The feds say privately that Judge Anthony Scarpino is mobbed up and that's one of the reasons that they aranged for him to depart the FBI...he's under their watchful eyes.
I hear this guy Scarpino is about to fall. I can't wait to see him standing on the other side of the bench facing real justice. The funny thing is Scarpino's wife knows what's coming down and she'll be happy and relieved about it. She'll get the cash money he's been collecting from the kickback and most importantly she'll be able to get away from the cheating thug she married.
One of Scarpino's goumada's has a big pill of cash that he made sure she got. He was going to divorce his wife, then Rob Debella found out how much it would cost and Scarpino went crazy and that was off the table. The funny thing is he is screwing not only his wife with the money, he also hosing his offspring. Scarpino is a very complex and devious animal.
A. Scarpino and F. Nicolai are members of the Columbian Law Society that is effectively a criminal enterprise. Scarpino/Nicolai and some others have used this organization to network and make sure that other legal (lawyers) criminals become Judges. A federal crime fighter could make his name breaking up the den of thieves.
You are certainly right about the Columbia Society they are gangsters and many of them have black robes. But as a member I must say that most of the members haven't figured out the scam, they believe that its mainly social and networking. I now know different
those Columbia dudes are bad news
The Bureau has a dossier on Anthoney Scarpino...who came up on the radar during his term as a Field Agent. He was cut loose to be watched so he could be blue printed and the whole group could be rolled up. If I were going to bet he will roll over and take a lot of people down. He likes himself too much.
Yesterdays NY Post has a story that states that Judge Anothony Scarpino is angry about this matter. The only thing he is angry about is that this became public and his part in this is now exposed. He got caught with his pants down! So now the devious worm tries to spin the facts to cover his involvement. No promotions over this, you screwed up big time Tony! LOL
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