Judge Jacobson, Brooklyn, The Judicial Screening Panel and the Attorneys in Kings County – Lawsuit and Allegations

Federal judge did not disclose connection to player in lawsuit, records show

 

A Brooklyn federal judge did not disclose she was colleagues with a lawyer in a politically-charged civil lawsuit over which she presided — raising potential ethics concerns.

Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall handled a suit filed by former Brooklyn Civil Court Judge Laura Jacobson against the Brooklyn Democratic Party, its leader Frank Seddio and its judicial screening committee.

Jacobson alleges she was railroaded out of her judicial seat and defamed by the party and its screening committee — in part because she ruled against the Kings County Democratic Committee’s chief lawyer Frank Carone in a 2014 case.

Hall and Carone served together on the city Taxi and Limousine Commission beginning in 2011, their online bios show. Judge Hall did not disclose that connection during the Jacobson legal proceedings, which began in 2016. Carone was not a defendant in Jacobson’s lawsuit.

“They would normally at least raise the issue,” Ronald Minkoff, a legal ethics professor at Columbia Law School, said of judges in such situations. “Is it something in a perfect world you would disclose? Yes. Is it something that matters? I don’t know.”

Minkoff said situations where relatives or close friends show up in lawsuits would be clear grounds for disclosure or recusal. A situation like Hall’s is more of a gray area, but Minkoff said judges often leave such situations for lawyers to decide.

Jacobson’s attorney Ravi Batra said it’s “too early to say” whether he would pursue an ethics complaint through the federal court system.

“While I’m more comfortable with it, my client is not,” Batra said of Hall presiding over the case. “I just wish there had been fuller disclosure so this would not even be an issue.”

Ravi Batra speaks on the City Hall steps. (Hagen, Kevin Freelance NYDN)

Hall dismissed Jacobson’s lawsuit last September. Batra filed a notice of appeal the following month.

The complaint alleges that the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s judicial screening committee found Jacobson “not qualified” in order to push her from the bench over court decisions she made, including the one involving Carone.

Batra noted that this is not the first time ethics issues have arisen around Carone, a Brooklyn lawyer and a donor and friend to Mayor de Blasio.

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17 Properties, $173M Price Tag, $43-$200M Appraisals, Property Owners Controlling Process – Profiteering from Homelessness

Appraisers question process NYC used to value properties before shelling out $173 million to shady landlords

Mayor de Blasio’s release of hundreds of pages of appraisal documents used in the city’s controversial $173 million purchase of 17 properties from two shady landlords has raised more questions than it has answered, appraisers who reviewed the records said.

The biggest irregularity, they said, is that BBG Inc., the appraiser hired by former owners Jay and Stuart Podolsky, submitted an unsigned, “restricted” draft estimate intended only for the client, not the buyer. But the buyer, the city in this case, received a copy of that appraisal.

“It’s inappropriate to use it, especially if you know someone other than the owner might have to rely on your report,” said Michael Vargas, president of the Vanderbilt Appraisal Company. He said the use of draft and “restricted” appraisals is frowned upon in the industry because it gives a client the ability to influence an appraisal.

“It’s a way for the client, the property owner, to control the process,” Vargas said. “It’s kind of like talking to the client and asking him, ‘Let me know if I should change the value to your liking.’”

Paula Konikoff, a lawyer and expert on appraisal standards, said the city should not have accepted an appraisal from the sellers without a signature because it carries little weight as an estimate. “Frankly, they should know better,” she said. “Why didn’t they bother to get the signed document?”

Eight appraisal estimates of the properties offered widely divergent assessments of their worth. One, conducted by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, set the total value at $49 million. Another, commissioned by the city Law Department and conducted by Metropolitan Valuation Services, estimated the value of the properties was $143 million. A third, conducted by the Podolsky firm of choice, BBG Inc., was done by appraiser Joel Leitner, who worked for BBG at the time and put the value at $200 million.

 

City Department of Finance tax records list the total value of the 17 properties at just over $40 million. City tax levies are based on that number. If the properties were worth millions more, as some of the appraisals suggest, it means the city may have taxed the owners too little for years. If the true value of the properties is around $49 million, as one appraisal suggested, the city paid far too much for them..

De Blasio spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg said the broad difference exists because the “valuations prepared by our independent appraiser were based on different assumptions than those used by DOF to annually assess all real property in the city.”

“DOF follows state law in valuing property and its assessments are based on current use. The independent appraisers valued the properties for acquisition purposes,” she said.

Even Leitner described it as “unusual” for anyone but the client to have a copy of such a draft appraisal.

“If my client asked me to give it to the city, I would have said no because it’s unsigned,” Leitner told the Daily News. “That should not be affecting the sales price,” he said, referring to the unsigned appraisal.

The Podolskys have a history of real estate woes in New York City. In 1986, they pleaded guilty to more than two dozen felonies in connection with their real estate holdings in Manhattan. They also allegedly covered up extensive fraud involved in acquiring the properties they are now selling to the city, several sources have told The News.

 

Last month, the city said it had finalized the deal to buy the 17 properties in the Bronx and Brooklyn used to house the homeless for $173 million. The city plans to convert the “cluster-site” apartments to permanent affordable housing.

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Jeffrey Epstein, the Deal of a Lifetime and the Victims who were Never Vindicated, Revisited

Justice Department probes sweetheart deal for multi-millionaire perv Jeffrey Epstein

DAILY NEWS

In this July 30, 2008, file photo, Jeffrey Epstein appears in custody in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Uma Sanghvi / AP)

The Justice Department has opened an inquiry into the sweetheart deal that gave multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein only 13 months in the private wing of Palm Beach County jail.

The inquiry was revealed in a letter released Wednesday from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd to Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.

The Justice Department “has now opened an investigation into allegations that Department attorneys may have committed professional misconduct in the manner in which the Epstein criminal manner was resolved,” Boyd wrote.

Sasse had raised concerns about the Epstein case following a series in the Miami Herald that highlighted the unusually cozy ties between the investor’s legal team and then-Southern Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta.

Acosta now serves as President Trump’s labor secretary.

He signed off on Epstein’s plea deal in 2008 despite evidence of an international sex trafficking operation involving underage girls, the Herald reported.

Epstein, a hedge fund manager with a mansion on the Upper East Side and a private Caribbean island, was once friends with the likes of Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Woody Allen, among other celebs and business titans.

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Vinny Parco- Brooklyn and Claims of Currying Favors with the Satmar

Vinny Parco’s lawyer claims the “Parco P.I.” star’s arrest was “timed as a thank-you gift to the Orthodox/Hasidic community.” (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

TV private eye Vinny Parco wants to move criminal case out of Brooklyn

Attorneys for an ex-reality-TV private investigator accused of trying to keep a woman from testifying against an Orthodox client of his charged with sexually assaulting her when she was 12 wants his court case moved from Brooklyn, claiming the Hasidic community has sway over justice in Kings County, the Daily News has learned.

Vinny Parco’s attorney Peter Gleason filed a change of venue motion Saturday and plans to bring it up in court Monday.

“It will be impossible for Mr. Parco to receive a fair trial [in Brooklyn],” Gleason wrote in court papers, citing an instance in which he said Parco had a run-in with the Orthodox community in Williamsburg while investigating community center owners who allegedly blocked an FDNY inspection.

According to court papers, when Parco, one-time star of the Court TV show “Parco P.I.,” tried to investigate the incident, men in Hasidic garb threatened to assault him and have him arrested, saying, “We know who you are and we have friends in the Kings County district attorney’s office.”

Parco, 67, is charged with promoting prostitution and unlawful surveillance for allegedly trying to blackmail the male relative of an Orthodox woman to keep her from testifying in a child sex abuse case against his client, Samuel Israel.

Accused co-conspirator Tanya Freudenthaler allegedly lured the man to a Sunset Park hotel in December 2016, where he was secretly recorded having sex with prostitutes she hired, prosecutors said.

Investigators accused Parco of trying to blackmail the man with the video. They said he accepted $17,000 from Israel, who is also Orthodox, to mastermind the hotel encounter.

Prosecutors said Israel concocted the plan with Parco because he didn’t want jurors in his trial to know that his alleged victim was only 12 years old when he sexually abused her in March 2016.

Israel pleaded guilty to charges of criminal sex act in the sex abuse case in December and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Gleason has claimed in prior court filings that Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez lodged charges against Parco to “thank” the Jewish community after winning the Democratic primary in 2017.

“Mr. Parco is a seasoned investigator who upon information and belief is being targeted to curry favor with the Satmar/Orthodox community, and among other things in retribution for his many previous investigations regarding the Satmar/Orthodox community,” Gleason charged in a recent court filing.

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Daily News, Is Brooklyn Court System Rigged Against Non-Hasidic Litigants?

To our dedicated readers:

We have the same question alleged by the subject of the Daily News Article attached hereto. We are simply posting a screenshot. We note that the case is apparently not sealed.

We cannot speak to the validity or the allegations or charges, this is simply a repost, with the sole purpose of asking the same question.

If you are not Hasidic, can you get a fair trial in Brooklyn?

Rabbi Howard Katz Left Bloody and the Alleged Perpetrators Still at Large and What is with the Pell Grant Office?

Rabbi Howard Katz says he was left bloody and battered after two men unjustifiably attacked him in a friend’s Crown Heights office on Feb. 2, 2016 (Noah Goldberg / New York Daily News)

Rowdy rabbi rumble still resonates with victim after years without arrest

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-lubavitcher-assault-rabbi-brooklyn-district-attorney-20190201-story.html

A rowdy rabbi rumble that erupted in a Brooklyn yeshiva office has yet to be properly investigated years after the fact, according to the victim of the fracas, who claims cops refuse to make an arrest because of politics.

Rabbi Howard Katz says he was left bloody and battered after two men unjustifiably attacked him in a friend’s Crown Heights office on Feb. 2, 2016, l because they took umbrage at his impertinence and his use of the word “freaking.”

“It was an obvious assault,” Katz said. “They (the NYPD) played around for months and then did not arrest the perps.”

The kosher chaos unfolded at 760 Eastern Parkway, right next door to Lubavitcher headquarters, where the rabbi says he went to fetch some paperwork.

Katz admits he may have been a bit of nudnik — persistently ringing the doorbell, frustrated that he couldn’t get in.

After his first several attempts failed, he found his friend Moshe Glukowsky, who runs the Pell Grant program at the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva out of that office, to let him in.

Surveillance video recorded in the office shows the smackdown unfolding.

The two men accused in the attack — Elozor and Yosef Raichik, a father and son — can be seen watching as Glukowsky and Katz enter.

There’s no audio on the video, but Katz says he came in, took a sweet from the candy dish on a desk, and confronted the Raichiks about their hospitality.

“Why didn’t you open the freaking door?” Katz says he demanded of the two.

Yosef Raichik, 32, took issue with that and went meshuga.

“He said ‘freaking!’ He was shaking,” Katz said. “His right hand hits me and then he bumps me. Then he yells at me, ‘Don’t push me.’ ”

The recording shows the men nose-to-nose arguing.

Elozor Raichik, 64, belly-bumped Katz, prompting the rabbi to shove him back several feet.

That’s when the son came in like a Hebrew Hulk Hogan. Yosef Raichik grabbed Katz and slammed his face into the wall. Then he continued the attack, throwing Katz into a headlock and taking him down to the floor. Father and son tag-teamed the rabbi on the ground. Elozor held him down while Yosef appeared in the video to be trying to bend Katz’s fingers back.

“He (the son) grabs me and smashes me into a wall. I was stunned. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t know what hit me. There was such a bang. They jumped on me. They put me down on the floor,” Katz said. “They’re bending my thumbs. They’re banging me in the back. The father was screaming to his son, ‘Bend his thumbs!’ ”

Katz’s nose was bloody and his glasses mangled. He called the police, who reviewed the video. But by then the Raichiks had scrammed.

The squabble only lasted a few seconds, but Katz says he hasn’t been able to get past it in the last three years.

Police investigation reports Katz obtained through the Freedom of Information Law show the cops made regular visits to the Raichiks’ Union St. home for about four months, but never found them.

When reached at their home, the Raichiks slammed the door in a Daily News reporter’s face.

Investigators brought the office video to the attention of the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, and together they concluded that no crime had been committed, the records show.

“After viewing video of the incident and after conferral with the district attorney’s office it was determined that no crime was committed and the case was closed,” an NYPD spokesman said.

Katz persisted, asking the Brooklyn DA to investigate the police handling of the case. But the DA’s office also decided that it was not its problem.

“We reviewed the incident and determined the police acted appropriately,” a spokesman for the DA said.

Katz said he believes authorities don’t want to make an arrest because it would alienate an important Brooklyn voting bloc.

Glukowsky was less emphatic.

“It did happen in my office. I was here. After the incident two officers from the 71st Precinct came to my office and viewed the entire incident on video. They came to their conclusions,” Glukowsky said. “I haven’t had any personal issue with them.”

He refused to take sides.

“I would tell you to look at the video carefully again and again and see who moved into other people’s space,” he said.

The grant administrator said his friend was exhaustive in his attempt to bring attention to the case.

“Let me tell you something, (Katz) went to the police,” Glukowsky said. “The police came in here. He subsequently went to police and he spoke to them more than once. He went through all the channels he could. I rely on the police for 40 years. Sometimes I’m happy with their decisions, sometimes I’m not that happy. Overall I would give them a passing grade in how they handle our community.”

Katz reported his case to the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, as well as the FBI, to no avail.

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R&R Bad Cop Awards – a Friendship Gone Too Far, but Trophies Awarded

Bad cop awards! Top NYPD officers accepted ‘friendship’ trophies from accused bribers

Ex-Deputy Inspector James (Jimmy) Grant accepted a “friendship award” from Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz. He is on trial for accepting bribes. (Court Documents)

Two men accused of bribing NYPD officers handed out awards to their special friends at a 2013 Jets game, testimony revealed Wednesday.

Jona Rechnitz, who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and is cooperating with the government, said he and Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg, 44, handed out fancy crystal trophies in a private suite at MetLife Stadium during a big game against the New England Patriots.

Among the recipients during the Oct. 20, 2013 “ceremony” were ex-Deputy Inspector James (Jimmy) Grant, former Deputy Chief Michael Harrington and former Deputy Chief David Colon, photos shown in court revealed.

 

(Photo Left) Ex-NYPD Deputy Chief David Colon and former Deputy Chief Michael Harrington accept an award from Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz. (Court Documents)

“We gave him this crystal, said something about him and gave him this award,” Rechnitz, 35, said of Grant.

The trophies bearing a clear crystal football read “thank you for your friendship” and “Police Appreciation Day.”

 

Rechnitz said he covered the cost for the awards, suite and catered food.

 

Reichberg and Grant, 45, are on trial in Manhattan Federal Court for bribery.

 

Reichberg is accused of giving gifts like fancy meals, sports tickets and posh vacations to an array of officers.

 

Rechnitz said he and Reichberg treated Grant to those goodies, as well as a private flight to Las Vegas in 2013 with a prostitute.

 

The cop-corrupting duo ordered 18 awards, including ones for other cops who did not attend, Rechnitz said.

 

Some names that appeared on the trophies, like Inspector Tim Beaudette and Chief James Secreto, were of cops Rechnitz testified that he and Reichberg had hoped to cultivate.

 

But Secreto and Beaudette both rejected their attempts to draw them in, according to Rechnitz.

 

The name of then-Chief of Department Philip Banks.also appeared on a trophy, but he didn’t show up.

 

“Banks was annoyed,” Rechnitz said. “He said he wasn’t going to come if other cops were there. He didn’t want to be at those events. He thought it was inappropriate to be there.”

 

Banks’ brother, however, was at the game. A huge Cowboys fan, Banks’ bro received a trophy with his nickname, Jerry Jones, Rechnitz said.

 

Harrington was sentenced to two years’ probation for his role in the bribes-for-favors scandal. Colon resigned in 2016 after being linked to the scandal, though his union rep said at the time it was for “personal reasons.”

 

The feds consider Colon and Banks “unindicted coconspirators.”

 

Meanwhile, Rechnitz also shed new light on his relationship with Mayor de Blasio.

His testimony further contradicted Hizzoner’s claim that he barely knew Rechnitz or Reichberg.

 

Evidence displayed in court showed that Rechnitz exchanged emails directly with the mayor about who to pick for the NYPD’s most prominent positions.

Rechnitz and Reichberg lobbied de Blasio aggressively to award the job of police commissioner to Banks in late 2013.

 

When Banks resigned from the department entirely in Oct. 2014, they pleaded with de Blasio to give Banks his old job back under Commissioner Bill Bratton.

 

“What can we do for you to refuse Banks’ resignation and get him back in? And for Bratton to see past Phil’s monstrous mistake?” Rechnitz wrote directly to de Blasio.

 

The mayor even invited Rechnitz to speak with him face to face at South Street Seaport about Banks.

 

On the stand, Rechnitz referred to the mayor by his first name.

 

“I asked him if he’d reconsider. He said that Banks had made a mistake,” Rechnitz said. “I remember Bill was fuming that day.”

 

“He said he had embarrassed the mayor. He had high aspirations for (Banks), was going to make him police commissioner one day and he had really made a big mistake,” Rechnitz recalled de Blasio saying.

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