By Murray Weiss
New York Post
August 5, 2003

A grand jury is expected today to indict embattled Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Gerald Garson for taking bribes after examining $10,000 in credit card bills that a lawyer claims he spent on the jurist in exchange for preferential treatment, The Post has learned.

Brooklyn prosecutors had previously charged Garson with accepting a reward for official misconduct, but failed to hit him with the more serious charge.

Sources said the grand jury has found ample evidence to support the bribery charge in Paul Siminovsky's American Express bills and other documents that demonstrate a "pattern of implicit agreement" between the two men.

The new indictment means Garson could face up to seven years in jail if convicted. He already faced a four-year jail term on the other charge, which prosecutors will not be dropping, sources say.

The sources say the grand jury found the documentation shows Siminovsky lavished Garson with meals, alcohol and other gifts whenever the men had business dealings that were favorable for Siminovsky.

Garson was repeatedly feted at places like Nino's on the Upper East Side, the Marriott Hotel in downtown Brooklyn, and Queen on Court Street near Borough Hall, sources said the grand jury found.

Garson, Siminovsky and several others, including a rabbi and his daughter, were arrested last April in connection with Garson's alleged case-fixing racket, largely in matrimonial matters before him.

Siminovsky began to cooperate with prosecutors from DA Charles Hynes' office after he was presented with evidence of his wrongdoing earlier this year.

Siminovsky then wore a wire and prosecutors bugged Garson's chambers, recording him allegedly taking cigars and other gifts.

The Post first reported that Garson soon began to wear a wire when he was confronted with evidence gathered against him.

He suggested that judgeships were bought in Brooklyn and that Democratic Party boss Clarence Norman was at the center of the schemes.
 

                       Judges On Wrong Side Of The Law

CBS News
Aug. 4, 2003

NEW YORK -  After 14 years on the bench, Judge Victor Barron spoke with authority at a sentencing last year when he declared, "No one is above the law."

The sentencing, after all, was his own.

The silver-haired Brooklyn judge was led out of  Former Judge Victor Barron speaking as  thecourtroom in handcuffs to begin a three- to
he was sentenced in Brooklyn N.Y. last    nine-year prison term for taking thousands of
October.  (Photo AP)                               dollars in bribes - perhaps the most troubling scene so far in a judicial corruption scandal that one watchdog group calls the worst in the nation.

Since Barron's conviction, authorities have arrested a second Brooklyn judge for allegedly accepting gifts from a corrupt lawyer, kicked a third off the bench for breaking rules on rental property and scrutinized a fourth for his handling of his elderly aunt's life savings.

District Attorney Charles Hynes has launched a grand jury investigation into the cozy relationships between Brooklyn's elected judges, lawyers and politicians in response to allegations that civil judgeships - with annual salaries $125,000 or more - are for sale.

At issue is an arcane system in which voters pick delegates to a judicial nominating convention, but do not pick the judges themselves.

Critics say the system allows political party leaders to steer nominations to judicial candidates who have strong party ties and deep pockets - not sound legal credentials. And because the city's most populous borough is heavily Democratic, that party has had a near lock on selecting judges.

"You have to be connected to get on the bench in Brooklyn," said Alan Fleishman, a reform-minded Democratic district leader. "Are there payoffs? There's always been that buzz in the court community."

Party leaders have denied that the selection process is corrupt, and point out that malfeasance also occurs in states where voters choose judges more directly.

Still, honest judges find the Brooklyn allegations "deeply upsetting," said Judith Kaye, the state's chief judge. "No one is more eager than they to see corruption and misconduct rooted out."

Watchdog groups have called for independent judge-selection panels, nonpartisan elections and other reforms to counter Brooklyn's growing reputation for judicial corruption.

"We haven't seen anything as severe as what's coming out of Brooklyn," said Bert Brandenberg, spokesman for Washington D.C.-based Justice at Stake.

The scandal's latest chapter centers on a mother's despair, a box of 25 Dominican cigars and videotape.

In October, the mother - fearing she had lost a bitter child custody battle before Judge Gerald Garson - was approached by a courthouse con man who told her the judge could be swayed with a bribe, authorities said. She reported the encounter to prosecutors, who soon learned the man was working with a lawyer to solicit bribes of up to $10,000.

After another judge authorized the use of video eavesdropping, investigators secretly recorded the lawyer meeting Garson in his chambers and plying him with the cigars and cash, a criminal complaint said. The lawyer also was overheard in separate conversations bragging that he had bought the judge meals and loaned him money in exchange for favors.

Confronted with the tapes, Garson told investigators that judge nominations could be bought for $50,000 - and the wider inquiry was launched.

Garson, 70, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of receiving reward for official misconduct. His lawyers have accused Hynes of inflating a possible ethical violation into a felony case.

True to the clannish nature of Brooklyn's judicial and political circles, both Garson's cousin, Michael, and his wife, Robin, also are on the bench - and in the sights of investigators.

Michael Garson, 59, has faced allegations that he looted his 92-year-old aunt's bank accounts to cover stock losses. About $500,000 is unaccounted for since 1997, when the aunt granted him power of attorney. No charges have been brought.

Investigators also have reviewed financial records for 49-year-old Robin Garson's successful campaign for a civil court seat, but have made no accusations of wrongdoing.

In May, an appeals court removed another Brooklyn judge, Reynold Mason, after finding that he illegally sublet his rent-stabilized apartment to his brother-in-law and used the money to pay child support.

Then there was Barron, 61, who admitted accepting $18,000 in cash in his chambers to approve a multimillion-dollar civil settlement. A Westchester County judge assigned to the case told him at sentencing that he had "made a joke out of (Brooklyn) and that's terrible."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/04/national/main566433.shtml

                          Bribe-rap Judge Skips Grand Jury

By Denise Buffa
New York Post
July 31, 2003

A Brooklyn judge, charged with taking gifts from those involved in his cases, has decided not to testify before a grand jury - clearing the way for prosecutors to seek a new indictment against him for bribery, his lawyer said yesterday.

Judge Gerald Garson's decision came yesterday only hours after a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Hynes had "suspended all action" by the grand jury because the disgraced judge's lawyer had indicated Tuesday his client may want to exercise his right to testify.

Defense lawyer Ron Fischetti said his client thought the matter over and decided not to appear before the grand jury.

"I didn't think it was going to have any effect on what they do," Fischetti said. "They can proceed."

But now the embattled judge can expect to be hit with a bribery indictment, sources told The Post.

Garson, 69, has already pleaded not guilty to accepting a reward for official misconduct for allegedly taking cash and gifts from those involved in divorce and custody cases he handled.

The defense says the charges, if true, are ethical violations, not crimes.

'Bribe Judge' Says Da out of Order

by Denise Buffa
New York Post
July 19, 2003

Lawyers for embattled judge Gerald Garson say Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes has overstepped his legal authority.

In papers filed yesterday in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, the attorneys asked a judge handling the case to prohibit Hynes from prosecuting Garson further.

They charged Hynes "is proceeding in excess of his jurisdiction."

Garson's attorneys claim that although the judge may be guilty of an ethical violation, it is not a crime.

They noted Hynes cited the Code of Judicial Conduct in the felony complaint against Garson, who is alleged to have taken favors to fix divorce cases.

In their seven-page brief, Garson's lawyers noted that the code says "the rules are designed to provide guidance to judges . . . they are not designed or intended as a basis for civil liability or criminal prosecution."

Since Garson was arrested in April, the investigation has mushroomed into an inquiry into how Democratic judicial nominations are obtained in Brooklyn.

Judge's Att'y Slams 'Graft' Tape

By Denise Buffa
and Kati Cornell Smith
New York Post
July 16, 2003

-- The Brooklyn DA's Office bungled its investigation into an embattled Brooklyn Supreme Court judge who allegedly traded favorable rulings for money and gifts, defense lawyers have charged in a bid to get the indictments tossed.

Justice Gerald Garson's attorney is fighting to keep out of the trial a damning collection of videotapes that allegedly show the judge taking cash from a corrupt attorney in his robing room - claiming prosecutors skirted the law to plant the secret camera.

And an attorney for an Israeli businessman charged with bribery for allegedly steering cases to the judge has accused the DA's office of targeting private citizens while crooked lawyers and judges are allowed to slip through the net.

During a court session yesterday, Garson lawyer Ronald Fischetti argued investigators should not have wired the judge's chambers without strong evidence of bribery.

Garson is charged with the lesser charge of official misconduct.

Fischetti, who has not reviewed copies of the 1,000 audiotapes and 60 videotapes associated with the case, has also characterized his client's alleged actions as an "ethical violation, not a crime."

Outside court, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes said, "I would suspect after Mr. Fischetti has had an opportunity to review the audio and videotapes, I don't think he'll be suggesting that this is merely a violation of the code of judicial conduct."

    Politics Laid Bare: Success and Scandal in Family of Judges

By Andy Newman
New York Times
July 5, 2003

In southeast Brooklyn past Avenue D and Avenue J, where the roads run out of alphabet on their way to the sea, the Garson name is a familiar one in political circles. Since the 1970's, in and around Sheepshead Bay, a Garson, or the spouse of one, has run for one office or another more than a dozen times: local school board, State Democratic Committee, City Council or State Assembly.

By last year, the Garsons had hit a sort of political trifecta. Gerald P. Garson, a longtime lawyer for the taxi industry and former treasurer for an arm of the Brooklyn Democratic machine; his cousin Michael J. Garson, a former district leader; and Gerald's wife, Robin, a soldier in the party's corps of election lawyers, had scored what for years has been regarded as one of the great patronage plums in city politics: they were judges, holders of $125,000- or $135,000-a-year elected posts that often amount to lifetime appointments.

But the Garson family's story of political success has, in recent months, come to a sudden halt.

Gerald, 70, a State Supreme Court judge, has been indicted on charges that he accepted cash and other gifts as payment for preferential treatment. Michael, also a State Supreme Court judge, is being investigated by prosecutors for draining the bank accounts of a wealthy aunt, according to lawyers and others involved in the case. And investigators with the Brooklyn district attorney's office are looking at Robin's ascension to the Civil Court, those involved in the case said, and are reviewing financial records from her campaign, although no one has accused her of wrongdoing.

For prosecutors and others, the tale of the Garson family —— how three lawyers from the same family came to be prominent city and state judges only to become embroiled in scandal —— says much about the potential pitfalls of a judicial selection system in which political connections are, too often, paramount.

The Garsons have admitted no wrongdoing. All of them, through lawyers or court employees, said they would not comment for this article.

Certainly, many in the city —— from legal experts to prosecutors to government reformers —— say the system for selecting and electing judges has invited trouble for decades. Judges in New York are members of a courthouse world where most of them are Democrats who have done work for the party and who continue to socialize with the politicians who helped them and the lawyers from whose ranks they ascended.

Indeed, in Brooklyn, many veteran lawyers say, relationships are so entangled that dozens of judges and lawyers can hardly walk into a courtroom without confronting a potential conflict of interest.

"It's a very fraternal culture," said Fidel F. Del Valle, a former city taxi commissioner and a friend of Gerald Garson's. "These are guys who are running into each other every day at work, and after work they run into each other at restaurants and functions."

More than 10 years ago, the New York State Commission on Government Integrity concluded that the state's system for choosing judges was so dictated by political favoritism that it failed to even reasonably guarantee that those serving on the bench had the essential qualities of skill, independence and honesty.

Lawyer Family Fits the Mold

If, as prosecutors and other critics of the judicial selection process in New York suggest, political connections count for more than legal accomplishment, the Garsons appear to fit the mold of lawyers who tend to wind up as judges.

Gerald graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's law school, but his work as a lawyer chiefly involved defending taxi drivers and owners in negligence suits. Robin Garson, 49, Gerald's second wife and a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, handled cases involving the elderly and was a member of several county bar committees.

But according to several longtime lawyers in Brooklyn, she was not considered among the borough's elite legal minds.

Michael, 59, meanwhile, ran a neighborhood law office on Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay, handling bankruptcies and car accident cases. He also teaches business law at Kingsborough Community College.

Frances Rusin, who took his course this spring, said he was a popular teacher.

"He would give funny examples that helped us remember the concepts," she said. "For example, if I made a contract to punch you in the face for $100, you couldn't be held to the contract because it is illegal."

Whatever their legal credentials, the Garsons demonstrated an appetite and affinity for politics. Gerald, who years ago worked in the same law office as Howard Golden, was also a member of Mr. Golden's political club. When Mr. Golden, who would serve 24 years as the Brooklyn borough president, became head of the county Democratic organization, he named Gerald as treasurer of the group's political action committee, the Brooklyn Democrats.

Michael Garson served 13 years as a local state committee member, the first step on the elective ladder, and by 1990 was powerful enough to mount a credible challenge against Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr. for the county Democratic leadership.

Robin was a frequent volunteer lawyer for the party, helping knock the opponents of Democratic regulars off the ballot.

And like all good party loyalists, the Garsons gave to local candidates —— nearly $5,000 over the years, including $2,000 from Gerald and his law firm to Mr. Norman. Mr. Norman ultimately kept Gerald Garson on as a treasurer for the political action committee.

In time, Michael became the first to ascend to the bench. In 1992, Mr. Norman, in what was widely viewed as an attempt to defuse a threat, put him on the ballot for Supreme Court, the highest state court below the appellate level.

Gerald, at age 65, followed in 1997. And in 2002, Robin was put up by the Democratic Party for Civil Court, a level below Supreme Court. Her opponent was knocked off the ballot in July, weeks before the primary.

Deborah Goldberg, a director at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which has worked for judicial reform, said she found the shared success of the Garsons telling.

"It's conceivable that you would have a highly distinguished family where three people would be selected as nominees," she said, "but this is not a selection system that is calculated to produce the most distinguished jurists."

Prosecutors examining how and why judges get elected to the bench in Brooklyn have focused considerable attention on what the candidates do with the money they raise for their campaigns.

Their interest stems from what law enforcement officials say is a fundamental incongruity: in Brooklyn, once one has gained the Democratic nomination, election is a virtual certainty. The need for a campaign, prosecutors and others have noted, seems curious.

And at least two of the Garsons, in this regard, again appear to have followed standard practice in the borough. Gerald, for instance, did not even begin raising his campaign money until after he had won the all but decisive Democratic primary. Of the $55,000 he collected, he spent only $10,000, mostly on printers and political consultants who, campaign records show, are favorites of the county party.

Robin Garson raised and spent most of her $50,000 in campaign donations after her rival had been knocked off the ballot. As much as $20,000 went to the familiar consultants.

Michael's understanding of how the system worked, moreover, was considered sufficiently thorough that he was a featured panelist in a 1998 city bar association seminar, "How to Become a Judge."

Mr. Norman was the panel's moderator.

Performance Hard to Judge

How the Garsons performed on the bench, as with most judges, is hard to measure definitively. By and large, they seem to have been reasonably well thought of. In an anonymous survey of lawyers published regularly, Michael, who hears lawsuits involving claims of more than $50,000, is praised as "street-smart, prepared and knowledgeable about the law."

Gerald, who heard divorce and child-custody cases, is described as "always well prepared," and armed with "excellent settlement skills."

But Gerald and Michael, during their lives as lawyers and judges, have drawn scrutiny.

In 1998, a lawyer testified to the judicial ethics committee that Justice Michael Garson, in violation of judiciary rules, had asked associates to work on his brother Joel Garson's campaign for State Assembly.

The ethics committee took no official action. And in 2000, Michael withdrew from a case after an article in The New York Post raised questions concerning how he had handled a possible conflict of interest in a major criminal case.

Michael Garson had announced at the start of the trial that he had invited two of the defense lawyers, including the man who ran the party's screening committee for judicial nominees, to his son's bar mitzvah, but that he saw no reason to recuse himself.

And Gerald, who would eventually be indicted on charges that he had taken improper gifts from a lawyer, was censured in 1984, while in private practice, for treating a judge and his wife to a Catskill vacation, falsely registering the judge under the name of one of his law partners, then lying about the matter to investigators.

While on the bench, records show, Michael and Gerald Garson have regularly done what many of their counterparts have done for years: dispensed any number of the appointments and receiverships that are a main source of extra income for many lawyers to a core group who have been major powers within the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

A Stormy Custody Battle

The storm that has now engulfed the Garsons was set in motion last October. A mother in a bitter child-custody battle before Justice Gerald Garson told the district attorney's office that she had been told that her husband had bribed the judge to fix the case. The lawyer Justice Garson had appointed as law guardian for her children, Paul Siminovsky, had a role in the scheme, the woman said.

Within weeks, lawyers involved in the case have said, both the lawyer and Justice Garson admitted wrongdoing.

Fidel Del Valle, Gerald's friend, said that to some extent, Gerald was a victim of his own affability. "He's a gregarious, friendly guy who would probably consider it impolite to turn down a drink or a sandwich," Mr. Del Valle said.

Gerald Garson's subsequent effort to try to tape Democratic Party officials talking about buying and selling judgeships did not work out. But lawyers and others involved in the case said that he had also provided investigators with an account of how his brother Michael had been siphoning money from the accounts of a relative —— their aunt, Sarah Gershenoff.

Ms. Gershenoff, now 92, was a retired executive legal secretary with about $800,000 in the bank, and in 1997, she gave Michael and Gerald power of attorney. Michael was put in control of her checkbooks, court records show.

In 2000, a niece of Ms. Gershenoff's who lived in California began complaining that money was missing from Ms. Gershenoff's accounts and persuaded her to revoke the power of attorney.

Michael, it turns out, had just suffered a financial setback. In 1999, according to his state filings, he had at least $430,000 in his Morgan Stanley Dean Witter brokerage account. But in the coming months he lost at least $117,000 in the crashing stock market.

Gerald told investigators that at an emotional family meeting, Michael broke down and confessed to Gerald and Robin that he had taken $100,000 from his aunt to cover his losses, according to lawyers involved in the case.

On April 23 of this year, Gerald Garson surrendered himself and was charged with receiving a reward for official misconduct, a felony. The next time Michael Garson's business law class met, Frances Rusin said, the professor was uncharacteristically serious. "He wanted to make sure we knew that he was not the one who got arrested," she said. "He told us 'We don't choose our family.' "

Michael Garson has not been charged with any crime. But he is under pressure from his aunt's court-appointed financial guardian to account for more than $500,000 that left Ms. Gershenoff's accounts on his watch, according to court papers. According to lawyers involved in the case, more than $200,000 of the aunt's money has not been satisfactorily accounted for.

As for Gerald Garson, he has hired a prominent criminal defense lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, to defend him, and has vowed to fight the charges.

But however the Garson family's travails wind up, the investigation they helped set in motion continues. Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, has been taking evidence before a grand jury for weeks, and said recently that he expected the investigation of the election and conduct of judges in the borough to last at least a year.

For the moment, though, the process of electing judges goes on, provoking both criticism and some signs of change.

On Tuesday, a committee of the borough's Democratic district leaders approved a proposal to create an independent panel for screening judicial candidates. Alan Fleishman, a reform-minded Brooklyn district leader, said there was some reason for hope.

"I'm cautiously optimistic about where we're going," he said. "I just think that it's going to need constant monitoring. No matter how the system seems to be changed, insiders always find a way to manipulate the process to their benefit."

Tapes Capture Lawyer's Talks With Garson

By Daniel Wise
New York Law Journal
June 16, 2003

                      Say Judge Got Bribes, Took Kids


By Nancie L. Katz
Daily News Staff Writer
June 10th, 2003

Two women charged yesterday that they lost custody of their kids after their husbands bribed indicted Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson.

"They shattered my life altogether," she said. Garson "played like the king of the jungle over there ... ruined so many lives."

Judge Ruined Me

By Kati Cornell Smith, Murray Weiss and Neil Graves
New York Post 
June 10, 2003                                                                                                                                                The whistleblowing divorcee who helped nail an allegedly crooked Brooklyn judge said yesterday he botched her case so badly that she's now too broke to hire a lawyer to fight for custody of her son.

"I blew the whistle, but it's not over yet," Frieda Hanimov wearily told The Post as she watched Judge Gerald Garson plead not guilty to charges of taking payoffs to fix divorce and custody cases.

Hanimov, 34, accused Garson of dragging out her custody battle to help her rich ex-hubby, who she said paid off the judge.

She went to the DA's office after it looked like she was going to lose her kids in the custody battle, which cost her more than $70,000.

At first, "they didn't believe me," she said. But desperate to prove her case, she wore a wire for eight months while she was pregnant - a move that proved crucial for the prosecution.

Hanimov now has custody only of her three younger children.

Her 14-year-old son is in the temporary custody of his father, a wealthy Diamond District merchant who hired powerful lawyers she'll face in court Friday.

"I am my own lawyer. It's terrible," Hanimov said. "The system did this to me. I'm really by myself. I ended up broke."  Garson, 69, faces charges including official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities such as cash and cigars. "The judge is innocent. We intend to go to trial and we intend to win," defense attorney Ronald Fischetti said after a court appearance before Queens Administrative Judge Steven Fisher.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes turned over 1,009 audiotapes and more than 60 videos to defense lawyers yesterday, as well as boxes of affidavits that prosecutors used in getting permission to plant bugs in Garson's chambers and elsewhere.

"It might be prudent for Mr. Fischetti to view the . . . evidence before he proclaims his client not guilty," said Hynes spokesman Jerry Schmetterer.

Four co-defendants who allegedly helped the judge turn his chambers into a marketplace, including his court officer and a retired clerk, also pleaded not guilty to a host of bribery and conspiracy charges.

Absent from the hearing was Paul Siminovsky, a lawyer who specialized in matrimonial and custody cases and was the original target of the probe. Authorities say Siminovsky began cooperating with Hynes in late February.

Fischetti noted the judge was caught on tape taking gifts after that, suggesting Siminovsky set him up.

Garson wore a wire prior to his arrest in April, promising to help authorities root out judicial corruption in an attempt to save himself. But the investigation was fruitless, and a grand jury indicted him last month.

                              Garson Arraigned;
                         Details of Probe Emerge
   Key videotapes obtained after attorney began cooperating                      

By Daniel Wise and Tom Perrotta
New York Law Journal
June 10, 2003

Attorney Paul Siminovsky began cooperating with prosecutors on Feb. 25, six days before a court authorized video camera placed in Brooklyn Justice Gerald P. Garson's chambers captured the lawyer giving the judge a box of cigars, sources close to the case say.

The charge that Justice Garson received the cigars in exchange for giving Mr. Siminovsky ex parte advice was one of eight counts the judge was arraigned on yesterday before Queens Administrative Justice Steven W. Fisher. Justice Garson pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Meanwhile, Mr. Siminovsky, who was initially arrested on April 24 along with Justice Garson and six other suspects, is due back in court today, leaving open the possibility that the charges against him could be dropped. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes first acknowledged that Mr. Siminovsky was cooperating with his office on May 22, the date all the defendants in the case — except Mr. Siminovsky — were indicted.

The sources state that Mr. Siminovsky began cooperating with prosecutors after they confronted him on Feb. 25 with evidence against him. That date was nearly two weeks before prosecutors charge Mr. Siminovsky paid $1,000 to Justice Garson on March 10 for referring a matrimonial case to him.

Mr. Siminovsky's lawyer, Anthony M. Bramante, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Justice Garson, who sat in a matrimonial part until he was suspended — now without pay — following his arrest, faces a maximum of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him, receiving an award for official misconduct, a Class E felony.

Also pleading not guilty yesterday to participating in a bribery scheme that involved steering cases to Justice Garson were Nissim Elmann, a businessman; Louis Salerno, a court officer; Paul Sarnell, a former court clerk; and three people with matters before the judge. The prosecution charges the three — Rabbi Ezra Zifrani and his daughter Esther Weitzer and Avraham Levi — were Mr. Siminovsky's clients.

At the arraignment, Justice Fisher announced he had unsealed wiretap material, which cleared the way for prosecutors to hand over to the defense in discovery 1,009 audio tapes and 67 video tapes, as well as a variety of documents, including the affidavit prosecutors had used to persuade Brooklyn Supreme Court Administrative Judge Ann T. Pfau to approve the surveillance of Justice Garson's chambers.

Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver said that Justice Fisher had merely unsealed those materials to allow the Brooklyn prosecutors to give them to the defense as a part of their office's "open discovery" procedures. The records will not be available to the public, he added, unless Justice Fisher receives, and grants, a motion for their release. Several media outlets have expressed interest in access to the materials, and such a motion is expected imminently, Mr. Bookstaver said.

At the arraignment, Mr. Hynes, who is handling the matter personally, said that all the tapes, save for one concerning Justice Garson, were being turned over to the defense.

Sources said that tape was recorded by Justice Garson when he wore a wire for a short period after prosecutors confronted him on March 10, after he was recorded receiving the $1,000 referral fee from Mr. Siminovsky. The tape reportedly recorded a conversation Justice Garson had with a Brooklyn political figure in a restaurant.

Justice Garson's lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, declined to comment, as did Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.

D.A. Eyes Donations Meanwhile, the political donations of a father of another Brooklyn Supreme Court justice has caught the attention of prosecutors in Mr. Hynes' office, sources reported.

Eugene Hurkin, an attorney in Brooklyn, single-handedly financed the 2001 campaign of his son, Allen Z. Hurkin-Torres, with $17,500, according to records from the State Board of Elections. Justice Hurkin-Torres later refunded $761 to his father.

The district attorney's interest, sources said, is tied to his ongoing grand jury probe into how judges are nominated for elections in Brooklyn. When Mr. Hynes announced the probe in April, he said it would examine why large sums of money are often raised in Brooklyn judicial campaigns despite near complete dominance by the Democratic party.

Neither Justice Hurkin-Torres nor his father could be reached for comment.

Dr. Hynes spokesman Mr. Schmetterer said the office had not asked either the judge or his father to answer questions, but declined to say whether the office was interested in doing so.

Justice Hurkin-Torres spent the bulk of his campaign money — nearly $11,600 — on a party to celebrate his victory and swearing in. Another $4,440 was used for political contributions.

The judge, who turned 40 in February, was law secretary to Justice David Friedman of the Appellate Division, First Department, before his election to the bench in 2001. Justice Hurkin-Torres is the second-youngest Supreme Court justice on the bench, according to the most recent Office of Court Administration judicial directory. The judge, who was admitted to the First Department in 1991, waited the minimum 10 years before running for and winning a seat, a rare occurrence for a Supreme Court judge. His current term ends in 2015.

In addition to the $17,500 that Eugene Hurkin contributed to his son's campaign, Mr. Hurkin also made political contributions of $4,770 from 1999 to 2002. Mr. Hurkin, his son and another family member, Jean Hurkin-Torres, who are all listed at the same Brooklyn address, contributed a total of $1,950 to the committee to re-elect Assemblyman Clarence Norman, the chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

Of the $4,440 in political contributions made by Justice Hurkin-Torres' campaign, $2,200 went to either the Kings County Democratic Party or to Mr. Norman's re-election.

Also at Justice Garson's arraignment, Justice Fisher rejected motions to allow both still and video cameras at the proceeding. He told Daniel Kummer, a lawyer for NBC who sought access for television cameras, state law bars television coverage of an entire criminal proceeding, not just those portions where witnesses might be testifying under court compulsion.

Similarly, he told, Jonathan R. Donnellan, a lawyer for the Daily News, that the newspaper's application for a still camera in the courtroom had only been received on Sunday, too late for appropriate consideration of how disruptive a camera might be. Justice Fisher added that his ruling would not prejudice a future application for still coverage or to have New York's ban on television and movie camera's in Civil Rights Law §52 struck down as unconstitutional.

All seven defendants remain out of jail on $15,000 bail each, and the matter will next appear on the calendar on Sept. 8 for a review of what motions the defense may bring.

                              YOU'RE BENCHED!

By Denise Buffa
New York Post
May 23, 2003

The embattled Brooklyn judge indicted on six felony counts for allegedly taking money and cigars from a lawyer to violate his duty as a public servant was suspended without pay yesterday - as more details of the extensive probe that led to his bust were revealed.

Supreme Court Judge Gerald Garson was suspended by the state Court of Appeals, which cited Wednesday's indictment.

Garson had been suspended with his $136,700 annual salary on April 24, after he was arrested and accused of taking cigars and referral fees from a lawyer handling custody and divorce cases before him.

The salary cutoff came as no surprise to the defense.

"It was expected," said Garson's high-powered attorney, Ron Fischetti.

Fischetti once again maintained Garson's innocence, saying the only bad apple in the case is the lawyer, Paul Siminovsky, who has turned state's evidence.

"I think the evidence shows in this case that a corrupt lawyer by the name of Paul Siminovsky was taking money from clients and others, saying he was going to bribe a Supreme Court judge and he never did, and the videotapes taken in the judge's robing room confirm that fact," Fischetti said.

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes' spokesman Jerry Schmetterer said: "The suspension without pay of Judge Garson indicates how seriously the Court of Appeals takes these allegations."

Hynes revealed at a press conference yesterday that Siminovsky had cut a deal with prosecutors in which he would plead guilty to a crime - but he declined to say on what charge.

"Without Siminovsky, we wouldn't know a hell of a lot," Hynes said.

Siminovsky treated Garson to cigars, expensive bottles of liquor, lunches and dinners as Garson appointed the lawyer to the lucrative position of law guardian in at least half the judge's cases, Hynes said.

Garson also allegedly accepted fees from Siminovsky for referring cases to the lawyer, who continually got favorable rulings, Hynes said. The judge is also accused of giving advice to Siminovsky without the adversary attorney present.

Siminovsky's lawyer, Anthony Bramante, could not be reached.

More than 800 audiotapes and hundreds of hours of videotapes were taken during the investigation - with a spy camera in the judge's chambers and other key places, including a bar-restaurant, investigators said.

The Brooklyn DA's office also revealed yesterday that two other suspects in the Garson case - a former court clerk and a court officer - allegedly accepted gifts including tickets to Florida, hotel reservations in Atlantic City, a DVD player, a VCR and a digital camera from an Israeli businessman in exchange for steering cases to the judge.

Report: Suspended Brooklyn Judge Asks for his Job Back

The Associated Press
May 14, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Brooklyn judge who was suspended after being arrested on corruption charges reportedly asked the state's highest court to reinstate him until the case is resolved.

A lawyer for state Supreme Court Justice Gerald P. Garson, 72, filed papers with the Court of Appeals in Albany on Tuesday asking that he be returned to the bench, the Daily News reported Wednesday.

Garson was arrested last month after a video camera planted in his chambers of caught him taking cash and gifts -- including a box of cigars -- to influence divorce cases.

His lawyer, Diarmiud White, argued that Garson was victimized by a slick lawyer, and that prosecutors did not have proof that gifts influenced the cases, the Daily News said.

Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, told the News that "their argument is absurd."

If convicted, Garson faces up to four years in prison.

Probe Eyes 21 B'klyn Judges

By Denise Buffa
New York Post
May 10, 2003

Prosecutors are demanding campaign finance records of at least 21 judges in an apparent probe into judicial corruption that's sparked a huge buzz in Brooklyn legal and political circles.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes subpoenaed the state Board of Elections for the records, but board spokesman Lee Daghlian declined to say what specifically he requested.

A confidential source told The Post the subpoena was issued by a special grand jury Hynes recently convened to probe whether judgeships are up for sale in Brooklyn.

Hynes formed the grand jury on April 24, after Judge Gerald Garson was busted on charges of official misconduct during a divorce-fixing investigation.

Garson is accused of accepting a $100 box of cigars in exchange for coaching a lawyer in a divorce case and receiving $1,000 from that attorney for funneling a client to him.

He's not the first Brooklyn judge to be tainted by a corruption scandal recently. Last year, former judge Victor Barron pleaded guilty to demanding bribes to speed up a case. He'll serve nine years in prison.

The Brooklyn judge scandal has put Democratic Party county boss Clarence Norman under a harsh spotlight because the reigning political party in each county has enormous sway in the complex system of nominating and electing judges to office.

The DA's office also has obtained a copy of a civil case in which Garson and his jurist cousin, Michael Garson, are accused by another relative of bilking their elderly aunt's bank account of more than $500,000.

In 1997, they obtained a bogus power of attorney over their wealthy aunt, 91, and then seized control of her finances, according to the lawsuit, filed by Garson's cousin Janice Tannen. For the next three years, they "gifted" themselves half a million dollars, the filing states.

Gerald Garson's criminal lawyer, Ron Fischetti, maintained the civil file contains no evidence of any wrongdoing by his client. He noted he did not object to the unsealing of the file.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed top Queens jurist Steven Fisher would handle the criminal misconduct case against Garson if he's indicted.

Hynes spokesman Jerry Schmetterer had no comment.

Civil lawyers for the three Garsons did not return phone calls.

'Judge Graft' File Te Be Unsealed

By Dareh Gregorian
New York Post
May 8, 2003

May 8, 2003 -- An explosive court file that includes charges of wrongdoing against a Brooklyn judge who's been indicted on bribery charges and two of his family members should be unsealed, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday.

"The public's right to know outweighs other considerations in this case," State Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische said as she granted The Post's application to open the guardianship court file of Sarah Gershenoff.

Post lawyer Dori Hanswirth argued the case file had to be opened because "we have obtained information that it involves allegations of improprieties against at least one sitting judge in Kings County, if not three."

Gershenoff, 91, is the aunt of three Brooklyn judges - state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson, who's out on bail on bribery and misconduct charges, his wife, Civil Court Judge Robin Garson, and their cousin, state Supreme Court Justice Michael Garson.

Bribe-Suspect Judge Sits On Other Side Of Bench

By Eric Lenkowitz
New York Post
April 30, 2003

The Brooklyn judge arrested for allegedly running a corrupt courtroom where justice was traded for cash and gifts made a brief appearance in court yesterday, but was allowed to remain free on bail.

Judge Gerald Garson, 69 - who is charged with bribery and misconduct - was ordered by Judge William Garnett to return to court June 10 for a pre-trial hearing, and his $15,000 bail was continued.

"We have no comment," Garson's lawyer Stan Bandelli said after the proceeding, as he and his client escaped from the eighth floor down a stairwell and into a waiting black Lincoln Town Car.

Garson faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

He turned himself in last Wednesday after an eight-month probe, in which he was caught on camera receiving money and gifts, including a plane ticket to Bali, in exchange for favorable rulings for matrimonial lawyer Paul Siminovsky.

At one point during the investigation, Garson wore a wire to help prove judgeships were being sold by Democratic Party bigwigs for upward of $50,000.

Rabbi Ezra Zifrani, 66, and his daughter, Esther Weitzner, 36, also appeared in court yesterday.

Free on $5,000 bail, they face conspiracy charges that could mean a year in jail.

Siminovsky, a retired clerk, a court officer and others also were arrested in the elaborate bribery scandal. All but one of them, Israeli businessman Nissim Elmann, also appeared in court yesterday. A bench warrant was issued for Elmann.

Hynes Probe Targets Judges' Election Funds

By Daniel Wise
New York Law Journal
April 29, 2003

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes pledged Tuesday that a special grand jury he convened to examine the way Democratic nominations for Supreme Court in Brooklyn are secured will follow the money trail.

In a meeting with Law Journal editors and reporters, Mr. Hynes asked why is it necessary for Democratic candidates, whose elections are a "fait accompli," to raise large sums of money. The grand jury will examine "why the money is raised, where it goes and how much is involved," he said.

Mr. Hynes announced last week that he had convened a special grand jury on April 7 as his office was winding down an eight-month investigation into allegations that bribes were being paid to steer matrimonial cases to Brooklyn Justice Gerald P. Garson. Last Thursday, Justice Garson was arraigned on two felony counts. One count accused him of accepting a box of cigars for offering matrimonial lawyer Paul Siminovsky ex parte advice on how to present a case; the other accused him of accepting $1,000 from Mr. Siminovsky for referring clients to the lawyer.

Mr. Siminovsky was charged with the more serious crime of bribing Justice Garson by buying him meals and drinks in Brooklyn establishments. Mr. Siminovsky also was accused of bribing Justice Garson's former clerk, Paul Sarnell, to steer two cases to the judge. Mr. Sarnell was accused of bribery-related charges in the scheme, as were a court officer, a Brooklyn businessman and three of Mr. Siminovsky's clients.

Mr. Hynes left open the possibility that the special grand jury's work could lead to further criminal charges, but said that at a minimum the grand jury will raise "very serious questions going to the very heart of the integrity of the [nomination] system."

The issue, Mr. Hynes explained, is the appearance of impropriety in fund raising. In an elective system, he said, there are "obscene numbers that must be raised from sources that raise very serious suspicion — lawyers who practice in the court, title companies, other real estate interests, banks and the like."

Mr. Hynes declined to comment on published reports that Justice Garson told investigators after being confronted with the evidence against him that candidates pay more than $50,000 to obtain Supreme Court nominations, and that the judge agreed to wear a recording device to collect evidence of that claim.

Mr. Hynes acknowledged that the claim that judgeships are being bought and sold had been "repeated often enough" to warrant investigation, but added that he was not "as sanguine" that the probe would yield proof of the charge.

Election Versus Appointment

Only last week Mr. Hynes said he was not backing political appointment as the method for selecting Supreme Court justices, but Tuesay he came out firmly for doing away with judicial elections entirely.

"The plain fact is," he said, that "to continue to have an elected position which requires so much fund raising is just plain wrong. . . . The bottom line is, they [the politicians] have to get out of the system at long last."

He acknowledged, however, that given the current political climate, the prospect of a constitutional change, which would be required to switch to an appointive system, is not "realistic." Mr. Hynes said that for now he is pressing for a change in the law to replace the present convention system — in which delegates are elected to choose judicial candidates — with an open primary election system for elections because that can be accomplished with the passage of a new state statute.

Mr. Hynes suggested that as a prosecutor armed with subpoena power, he is in a unique position to unearth information that will build "momentum" for "historic change."

Mr. Hynes said that information developed in the probe of Justice Garson had provided the material basis required under Criminal Procedure Law § 190.55(c)(2) to permit him to convene a special grand jury. During the entire 24 years he has headed the Brooklyn office or served as a special state prosecutor, he said, there has only been one other occasion on which he had a "material basis" for convening a special grand jury to examine official misconduct, whether "criminal or otherwise."

Mr Hynes declined to elaborate on the information the Garson probe had generated to meet the material basis standard for a grand jury probe.

Mr. Hynes also said he hoped to meet with the state publishers' associations, community newspapers and court reform groups to build support for an open primary system for the nomination of party's Supreme Court candidates.

Helene Weinstein, D-Brooklyn, chairwoman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, Tuesday indicated that Mr. Hynes may face tough sledding in his press for a legislative change.

"If you look at the mix with some judges elected and some appointed, I think on the whole we have a good mix of judges," Ms. Weinstein said. "There is something attractive about having that mix."

Senate Judiciary Chairman John A. DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse), however, was more receptive to Mr. Hynes' proposal. Moving to a primary system, he said, "would help open up the process and give more individuals the opportunity to participate as a candidate," he said.

In the Law Journal meeting, Mr. Hynes pressed his case that the convention system is fatally flawed. The convention delegates, who are named by district leaders, have no independence, he said. Party leaders are quite open in admitting that "the delegates are told for whom they vote," he said.

"The pernicious reality," he said, "is that, where a party dominates, there is no real election." The notion that the public elects the Supreme Court judiciary is "illusory," he added.

Talk of Reform Could Remain Just That

By Joyce Purnick
April 28, 2003
New York Times

ANOTHER charge of corruption on the Brooklyn bench, another round of investigations, another call for reform, another evocation of moral outrage from elected officials who have looked the other way for years.

How many times have New Yorkers been through this?

This time, a State Supreme Court judge in Brooklyn is charged with fixing divorce and child custody cases. The Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, charges that Justice Gerald P. Garson —— a former longtime treasurer of the Kings County Democratic organization who joined the Supreme Court bench in 1997 —— ran a bribery scheme with five other people to rig the outcome of divorce and child custody cases in exchange for cigars, cash, meals and other gifts.

If the charges are true, ordinary citizens were hurt. And when that happens, sometimes the powers in Albany bestir themselves, or so the prosecutor, who is calling for changes in the way judges are elected, is hoping.

"If we can get statewide momentum, maybe we can do it," Mr. Hynes said this weekend. "The phones are ringing off the hook with people calling about their concern."

Maybe they will. Or maybe this reform effort will go the way of most others. Naysayers note that the optimistic Mr. Hynes is a less than obvious champion of reform. He has, after all, been a veteran Brooklyn Democrat and such a good clubhouse loyalist that last year he gave a high-paying job of ambiguous description to Howard Golden, Brooklyn's Democratic powerhouse and a Hynes confidant, when term limits ended his run as borough president.

Nor is Mr. Hynes's solution —— direct primaries for the State Supreme Court instead of the current indirect system —— an obvious remedy. The Democratic machine has amply demonstrated its ability to control so-called open primaries, closing them to those who don't fit the party bill.

There are open primaries for Civil Court, for instance, but the Democrats so tightly control the process that there are few real challenges. That's why some civic groups prefer the merit selection of judges —— appointment by the governor, who would then be held accountable.

But at least the district attorney has gotten people talking about the system of electing State Supreme Court judges, calling it —— with understatement —— "a sham." That method is so breathtakingly insular that even detractors have to be impressed with its circular ingenuity. Judicial candidates are nominated by delegates to a judicial convention that is controlled by party leaders. The public votes for the delegates, who rubber-stamp the candidates who were hand-picked by the party leaders. Some fine jurists have somehow made it to the Supreme Court despite the system, but fewer and fewer over the years.

Mr. Hynes's idea for open primaries may not be a great reform, but strikes many Democrats as unlikely to get very far anyway. It would require action in Albany by the Democratic-controlled Assembly and its speaker, Sheldon Silver —— himself an old-line and very powerful party leader. And the Brooklyn Democratic leader, Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., also wields influence in Albany, and is a staunch defender —— and beneficiary —— of the status quo. Mr. Norman indicated on Friday that he is proud of the judicial selection system he controls, noting that he has a judicial screening panel.

HE acknowledged that it can't predict if a judge will someday go awry, but "we're very pleased with it," he said of his panel, which has a reputation for being as independent as it is judicious. Among the judges who wound up on the Brooklyn bench through the system Mr. Norman defends is Justice Garson, who in 1984 as a practicing lawyer was censured for taking a judge and the judge's wife on a vacation, and registering the judge under a law partner's name (maybe the screeners missed that).

Justice Garson's wife and a cousin are on the Brooklyn bench, too.

They all fit the profile: party loyalists. It is widely understood that those who are not party players, who do not buy tickets to Democratic club functions, need not apply. There are deeper suspicions. Are judicial seats bought for lavish "donations" to the Democratic Party? Mr. Hynes has convened a special grand jury to, among other things, follow the money, and on Friday, Edward I. Koch, the former mayor, wrote to Gov. George E. Pataki, calling on him to appoint a Moreland Act Commission to conduct an investigation beyond the borders of Brooklyn. "He can't do it," said Mr. Koch of the Brooklyn district attorney. "This is a citywide problem."

Judge In Parent Trap

By Murray Weiss
New York Post
April 26, 2003

It was a mother's love for her children that brought down Brooklyn bribe-scandal Judge Gerald Garson.

The mom of three whose call to prosecutors led to Garson's arrest told the Post she blew the whistle out of fear the jurist's greed would result in the loss of her children.

"When I thought I was losing my kids, I fought like a tiger," the 34-year- old woman said yesterday, a day after Garson and his allegedly crooked court were busted.

"The judge - I don't think he's a human being," she said. "He was selling people like objects for a cigar."

The woman, whose name is being withheld, said the dramatic tale that turned her into a whistleblower and wire-wearing informant began about two years ago, when she and her Israeli-millionaire husband decided to split.

She said her case was heard before Garson, whose every ruling went against her, leaving her with neither alimony nor any other support from her ex-husband.

Nevertheless, she didn't suspect Garson's apparent bias was allegedly based on bribes until she and her husband began to battle for custody of their children last year, she said.

The first indication came before the custody trial even started, when Garson had a private, closed-door discussion with the couple's 11-year-old daughter.

The woman said the girl told her Garson asked the preteen with which parent she wanted to live.

When the girl said "my mother," Garson told her that he probably wasn't going to let her.

"He had made up his mind before the trial began," the woman said.

At trial, Garson didn't appear to even bother to read any of the filings her lawyer presented to the court, she claimed.

Her husband also made what she said were false allegations that she abused him.

She now believes that Garson coached the man to say this so he would have grounds to rule against her.

In court papers filed this week, Garson is accused of taking a box of $100 Romeo and Julietta cigars in return for coaching attorney Paul Siminovsky, who was the lawyer for the woman's husband.

"I knew something was not right, that I was losing my kids," she said.

The woman finally decided to call the office of District Attorney Charles Hynes last October. She said he was afraid they would treat her "like a crazy woman."

But the DA's office assigned a female detective who the woman said "understood what it would feel like to lose your children."

Garson, Siminovsky, some of the judge's court staff and several litigants on Thursday were charged with misconduct and bribery.

The judge, who allegedly fixed at least four cases, faces up to four years on each of two counts of misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty.

$licing Up Judge's Pie

By Kati Cornell Smith, Murray Weiss and Todd Venezia
New York Post
April 25, 2003

A Brooklyn divorce court was corrupt right down to the bailiff's badge, officials charged yesterday - as a Supreme Court justice, his court officer, a retired clerk, a lawyer and several court litigants were charged with a scheme to fix divorce cases in return for huge payoffs.

Judge Gerald Garson - who allegedly turned his chamber into a marketplace where justice was traded for cash, trips and dinners - stood silently in Brooklyn Criminal Court yesterday as he was slapped with misconduct charges that could net him up to four years in prison.

Garson, 69, was suspended with pay and will continue to receive his $136,700 annual salary, court officials said.

Also arraigned early yesterday were:

* Lawyer Paul Siminovsky, 46, who allegedly bribed Garson on behalf of clients.

* Nissim Elmann, 43, a store owner who allegedly combed the courthouse corridors soliciting clients for Siminovsky.

* Court officer Louis Salerno, 50, who allegedly assured that bribe cases were heard in Garson's court.

* Avraham Levi, 48, a Brooklyn man who allegedly tried to pay $10,000 to have Garson fix his bitter divorce.

All were freed on $15,000 bail by Judge Alan Meyer at an 11 a.m. hearing at which Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes appeared as prosecutor.

"Gerald Garson, a sitting Supreme Court justice, has been captured on videotape accepting gifts and cash in his chambers," Hynes said in court.

Garson's retired clerk, Paul Sarnell, was arraigned later in the day. His bail was set at $15,000.

Last night, prosecutors finished the sweep by arresting a Brooklyn rabbi, Ezra Zifriani, and his daughter, Esther Weitzner.

Zifriani allegedly tried to get the judge to fix his daughter's custody case. Father and daughter are to be arraigned today.

Two people in the matrimonial clerk's office - Donna Anderson and Janet Ricevuto - were suspended without pay for allegedly routing cases to Garson.

The charges against Garson list a $1,000 payoff he allegedly got from Siminovsky for funneling a client to him - and a box of cigars Siminovsky gave him in return for guidance on what to say during a divorce trial.

According to court papers and law-enforcement sources, the veteran of the Brooklyn bench also allegedly took cash and gifts to fix at least five cases. The swag included cash payoffs of $5,000 and $10,000, a trip to Bali, bottles of Scotch and dinners at Manhattan restaurants such as Nino's and Campagnola.

Sources said Siminovsky may have been fixing cases with Garson for the entire four years Siminovsky appeared in his court.

The alleged bribe ring was busted after an eight-month investigation by the DA's office that began after a woman in a messy divorce reported that she believed her case had been fixed by her husband's lawyer, Simonovsky.

A hidden camera in the judge's "robing room" at 210 Joralemon St. let investigators videotape Garson taking gifts.

Sources in the DA's office said every case over which Garson presided will be examined.

Additional reporting Dareh Gregorian and Denise Buffa

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/57021.htm

How to Fix a Divorce: Prosecutors Spell It Out

By Diane Cardwell
New York Times
April 25, 2003

It would often begin with Nissim Elmann, an electronics dealer, known among some Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn as the man who could help win a messy divorce or custody battle. For a fee, Mr. Elmann could guarantee a good outcome, according to a theory laid out yesterday in Brooklyn Criminal Court, by bribing the right people.

Mr. Elmann would bring a client wanting a guarantee, say, that he would win custody of his children to Paul Siminovsky, a divorce lawyer who had bragged that he had an advantage whenever he appeared in Justice Gerald P. Garson's courtroom, officials said. Under the court system's random assignment method, some of Mr. Siminovsky's cases did land before Justice Garson, but his advantage was really a payback for the meals and drinks he routinely bought for the judge, according to criminal complaints accusing the judge, Mr. Siminovsky and two court employees of a conspiracy to fix divorce and child custody cases.

For his part, Justice Garson, a State Supreme Court judge in Brooklyn, directed clients toward Mr. Siminovsky and gave him advice on how to win cases in his courtroom, even coaching him on questions to ask witnesses, the complaints say. In exchange for the favorable treatment, according to the complaints, Mr. Siminovsky gave Justice Garson a box of cigars, $1,000 in cash and other gifts. At that point, Justice Garson asked that Mr. Siminovsky simply write a check to his wife, Robin Garson, also a State Supreme Court judge, to use to pay off a debt, officials say.

For the whole scheme to work, a law enforcement official said, the group needed to subvert the random assignment method the court employs to guard against corruption. To make sure the cases ended up in front of Justice Garson, the complaints charge, the conspirators brought in court officials, including Paul Sarnell, his senior clerk, and two employees of the main court clerk's office. In return for Mr. Sarnell's role in getting two cases assigned to Justice Garson, the complaints charge, Mr. Siminovsky gave him telephones from Mr. Elmann's warehouse.

After Mr. Sarnell retired in late 2002, Louis Salerno, a court officer, approached Mr. Siminovsky about becoming the new fixer, court documents say. In one instance, Mr. Salerno received electronic equipment from the trunk of Mr. Siminovsky's car for assigning a case to Judge Garson, the complaints say.

The clients hoping to win an advantage in their divorce or child custody fights also poured money into the scheme, officials said. For example, Avraham Levi, who was charged yesterday with conspiring to rig the outcome of his divorce, agreed to pay Mr. Elmann more than $10,000 to bribe Justice Garson, one complaint says. That case was steered to Justice Garson, and Mr. Elmann warned Mr. Levi that he could not settle the case but must let it come to trial, the complaint charges. Mr. Levi paid the money in December 2002, according to the complaint, and his divorce and custody case, still pending, began before Justice Garson in late January.

In another case, Esther Weitzner is said to have given Mr. Elmann money to bribe the judge and a court-appointed psychologist who was to be a witness in her child custody proceeding. A warrant was pending for her arrest late yesterday, a law enforcement official said.

Trouble in Brooklyn Spurs Court Reforms
Oversight Added for Matrimonial Matters

By Tom Perrotta
New York Law Journal
April 25, 2003

Responding to allegations of corruption in Brooklyn's matrimonial court, Administrative Judge Ann T. Pfau on Friday imposed several restrictions on court procedures designed to uncover and disrupt foul play.

The changes, announced in a memo to all Supreme Court judges under her supervision, include an independent review of the Brooklyn matrimonial part by a former prosecutor, Sherrill R. Spatz, and the office of Judge Jacqueline W. Silbermann, the statewide administrative judge for matrimonial matters.

Judge Pfau, who also oversees the Supreme Court in Staten Island, announced a new system for monitoring how cases are assigned in Brooklyn Civil Supreme Court, and said the borough's matrimonial courts, located at 210 Joralemon Street, would be moved to 15 Willoughby Street, closer to Judge Pfau's office in the Supreme courthouse at 360 Adams Street.

The matrimonial part's office, including its clerks, will be merged with the main clerk's office at Adams Street. Those changes could come as soon as the end of May.

"Our priority is to make sure we have the public trust," Judge Pfau said in an interview. "We are making sure that we have the right kind of screening in place."

Every day, Judge Pfau said, her office will review whether cases in Civil Supreme Court were randomly assigned to judges, as they are supposed to be, or were instead routed to a specific judge.

A new report generated by the court's computer system will reveal if the random assignment procedure was not followed and who authorized the change, Judge Pfau said.

Cases can be assigned to specific judges only in certain circumstances, such as when a judge is handling related cases or has a conflict of interest.

But the arraignment last week of Supreme Court Justice Gerald P. Garson, 70, on corruption charges revealed that the old system could be manipulated -- allegedly for a price -- for nefarious purposes.

Justice Garson was accused of taking part in a scheme to steer cases his way for favorable treatment in exchange for money and gifts. Also arraigned were an attorney, a businessman, a court officer, a former law clerk, and three litigants. The first six people arrested in the case, including the judge and the attorney, were each released on $15,000 bail. They denied the charges through their attorneys.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes said last week that his office had used audio and video tapes to catch the judge giving advice to the attorney, Paul Siminovsky, 46, as well as accepting a box of cigars from him. Other tapes -- all of which were made with the approval of Judge Pfau -- allegedly recorded the judge discussing cash payments for favors.

Hynes also announced a special grand jury to investigate how judges are chosen to run for election in Brooklyn, a process involving back-room party politics that he called a "sham" and "indefensible."

The grand jury was convened based on conversations Justice Garson recorded with Brooklyn party leaders after he was confronted by the district attorney's office and agreed to wear a wire, sources said last week.

Those sources also said the grand jury, which will sit for at least six months, would likely issue a report on the election process, but was not likely to indict any judges or major players in Brooklyn politics in the immediate future based on Justice Garson's information.

Justice Garson's alleged scheme involved many players, according to prosecutors, including a regular court officer and law clerk who could manipulate the court's assignment system.

Risk Assessment

In light of the scenario, Judge Pfau said in her memo that clerks and court officers in Civil Supreme Court would be rotated quarterly among various parts, rather than remaining in one place.

She said that the review by Judge Silbermann and Spatz would concentrate on "risk assessment." Spatz, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, has been serving as a special inspector general to the Office of Court Administration (OCA) to investigate political favoritism by judges who appoint guardians and other fiduciaries.

Judge Pfau said Friday that the toll-free hotline set up by OCA -- 1-866-302-7001 -- to inquire about past cases before Justice Garson had received a lot of calls. All of the judge's cases are being reviewed for impropriety by OCA and prosecutors. She said an automated version of the assignment tracking procedure would be implemented soon and could be installed in other boroughs.

Judge Pfau's announcement, which had been planned previously but could not be made public until after Justice Garson was arraigned, was yet another attempt by OCA to repair the image of a court that has been tarnished in recent years by judicial misconduct and scandals, including a bribe request of more than $100,000 by former Supreme Court Justice Victor I. Barron, who is now serving 3 to 9 years in prison.

At a meeting with her judges last Thursday, described by one source familiar with the meeting as a "pep talk," Judge Pfau tried to quell concerns from other judges about recent events and the fact that she had approved Hynes' request to monitor Justice Garson's conversations and place a video camera in his robing room.

But the subtext of the meeting, the source said, was that "if anyone was going to do anything in the future, they would get caught" and if necessary, be monitored.

One judge in Brooklyn, who asked not to be identified, said that many of the judges feel like students in a classroom where numerous others have been caught cheating.

"Everyone gets painted with this terrible brush," the judge said. He added that monitoring a judge was justifiable if the judge was corrupt.

"If they are dirty then they deserve to be removed," the judge said. "We are not above the law. People should expect more of us, not less." The judge did not express an opinion about Justice Garson or the allegations against him.

Justice Garson faces a Class E felony and, if convicted, up to four years in prison.

Bribe Judge Busted
Brooklyn New York Judge Gerald Garson -
Selling the Bench for Cigars, For Exotic Trips and For Cash

By Murray Weiss
New York Post
April 24, 2003  

It was unclear whether those meetings recorded any incriminating evidence against members of the borough's political parties. But the scandal has prompted the DA to investigate all divorce and child-support cases handled by Garson.

Garson, 72, arrived at the DA's Jay Street office at 9:45 last night, smoking a cigar and wearing a blue trench coat - but said nothing to reporters.

Earlier yesterday, the first person arrested in the case, Brooklyn Supreme Court officer Louis Salerno, 50, was taken into custody by prosecutors.

Although Garson is at mandatory retirement age, he remains on the bench after receiving a "certificate" to remain through his term, which extends for two more years.

Hynes' spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer, declined to comment on the case.

Garson is the second allegedly crooked judge to be snared by Hynes' office in the past year.

Criminal Court Judge Victor Barron was caught soliciting a $115,000 bribe from an attorney who was handling a big negligence case before Barron.

The lawyer wore a recording device for Hynes, and caught Barron accepting $18,000. Barron pleaded guilty in August and is serving up to nine years in prison.

(It should be noted that it is highly discretionary for the district attorney to take a case. Generally when a case involves a judge the complainant is sent to the Judicial Commission which does nothing.)

WHAT THE AUTHORITIES PROPOSE TO DO
Hynes Begins Investigation of Supreme Court Elections
Criticism of process comes on heels of Brooklyn judge's arraignment

By Tom Perrotta
April 24, 2003
New York Law Journal

Hynes' unprompted remarks followed the arraignment of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gerald P. Garson, 70, after prosecutors said the judge was caught on videotape discussing payments and accepting gifts in exchange for favorable rulings in matrimonial cases.

Prosecutors Thursday painted a picture of rampant corruption in Justice Garson's court, where a court officer, a law clerk, an attorney and a businessman are alleged to have worked in concert to collect gifts and cash from litigants.

In return for the gifts, including electronics, the court employees would redirect cases to Justice Garson rather than have them assigned randomly to a judge, and Justice Garson would coach litigants on how to argue in court for the best outcome, prosecutors alleged.

At the center of the scheme, though, was a businessman named Nissim Elmann, Hynes said at Justice Garson's arraignment Thursday.

Elmann, Hynes said, was recorded on audio tape demanding cash from a litigant to bribe a judge, believed to be Justice Garson. He was also recorded requesting money to bribe court-appointed attorneys and psychologists, Hynes said.

In one case, according to a complaint filed Thursday, Avraham Levi, an acquaintance of Elmann's who was going through a divorce, told Elmann in a phone conversation that he would give Elmann more than $10,000 to bribe Justice Garson.

Gerald J. McMahon, an attorney for Elmann and Levi, rejected the idea that Elmann was at the center of any scheme, saying Levi had come to Elmann for advice.

"You can be a focal point [of an investigation] and still be a small potato," McMahon said. He said Elmann was an entrepreneur and respected in his community; a criminal complaint said he operates a warehouse containing electronics.

Prosecutors said they had video and audio tapes of the judge accepting a box of cigars from an attorney, Paul Siminovsky, 46, as a reward for advice the judge offered Siminovsky on a case the attorney was conducting before the judge, including questions to ask witnesses.

The surveillance tapes also caught the judge discussing cash payments for special treatment, prosecutors said.

Hynes said that his office obtained wiretaps on the judge's phone and installed a camera inside the robing room behind his courtroom at 210 Joralemon Street. At Justice Garson's arraignment Thursday, Hynes said applications for surveillance were reviewed and approved by Ann T. Pfau, Supreme Court administrative judge for Brooklyn and Staten Island.

At a press conference Thursday to discuss the charges against Justice Garson, Hynes initially put aside the arraignment and launched into an attack on New York's process for electing Supreme Court judges.

"Any suggestion that this is a process giving voting rights to the public is a sham," Hynes said.

Hynes compared the way Supreme Court justices are put up for election -- essentially, after being approved by political party delegates at judicial conventions -- to elections for Civil Court, which involve open primaries in which candidates need to collect signatures to appear on a ballot.

"It's done through judicial delegates who are told who to vote for at the conventions," Hynes said. "The public doesn't have a right to vote."

Hynes said the special grand jury was convened April 7 and would sit for at least six months. He declined, though, to say what had inspired his decision and if future corruption indictments involving judicial elections would be forthcoming. A grand jury could also make findings on public policy matters and issue a report, without handing down indictments.

Nevertheless, Hynes said he was not throwing his support behind "merit selection" of judges, an alternative to elections used to select members of the Court of Appeals and some lower courts. He said Civil Court elections were much more healthy than those for Supreme Court, and cited the successful campaign of Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, a Brooklyn Democrat and sitting judge who won her election last year despite losing the backing of her party.

Hynes also declined to comment on a report in the New York Post that Justice Garson had told investigators that candidates in Brooklyn could buy judgeships, and that he agreed to wear a wiretap to prove it.

Prosecutors insisted Thursday that there was no cooperation in the case and that no deals had been offered to any of the defendants. They said the investigation into Justice Garson began last October.

Justice Garson surrendered to authorities Wednesday night and was arraigned Thursday morning before Criminal Court Judge Alan J. Meyer. He was charged with receiving an award for official misconduct, a Class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Justice Garson is being represented by Stanford J. Bandelli.

Four other defendants were arraigned on bribery-related charges, including Siminovsky, the attorney; a court officer, Louis Salerno; Elmann; and Levi. All the defendants pleaded not guilty and were each released on $15,000 bail.

Prosecutors also arrested a former clerk to Justice Garson, Paul Sarnell, 47, Thursday afternoon and said he would be charged with bribe receiving. Sarnell was to be arraigned last evening.

Two more warrants remained outstanding in the case, prosecutors said, and the Office of Court Administration (OCA) also revealed that two court employees had been suspended in connection with the case.

The employees, Donna Anderson, an associate court clerk in the Brooklyn matrimonial part, and Janet Ricevuto, a principal office assistant in the part, "are alleged to have violated the rules on random selection of matrimonial judges," said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for OCA.

The two do not face criminal charges, though, and it remained unclear whether they were merely duped into steering cases to Justice Garson without being directly involved in the scheme.

Prosecutors said the two remaining warrants were not for court officials.

Hynes said Thursday that his office was continuing to investigate the extent of the corruption in Justice Garson's courtroom, noting that Siminovsky had been practicing before the judge for at least four years.

He said that the office would continue to investigate Justice Garson's past cases, as would OCA. The agency has set up a toll-free hotline -- 1-866-302-7001 -- for past litigants before Justice Garson who have concerns about their cases.

Bookstaver said Justice Garson's cases would be reassigned to Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael A. Ambrosio.

Responding to the arraignment, Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman said in a statement that the events would hurt the public's trust of the judiciary, and that "the events of today could not be more disturbing to all judges."

He said Justice Garson had been suspended with pay until further review by the Court of Appeals.

Justice Garson, whose wife, Robin, and cousin, Michael, are also Supreme Court justices, was censured in 1984 as an attorney when he took a judge and the judge's wife on vacation but registered the judge under the name of a law partner.