silver and Lippman

silver and Lippman

Friday, October 23, 2015

Official Citizen's Criminal Complaint To US Attorney Bharara Against Judge Jonathan Lippman


“The appointment of Sheldon Silver’s childhood friend, Jonathan Lippman, as the state’s chief judge based on his administrative experience made about as much sense as the Yankees making their accountant the manager of the team.” He added the appointment was to “protect and promote Silver’s interests.”

-Charles Compton, former president Supreme Court Officers Association



Official Criminal Complaint Against Judge Lippman, 

Received by Preet Bharara April 6th, 2013




William Galison
Blackstar News
32 Broadway, suite 511
New York NY 10004

To: Preet Bharara
United States Attorney
Office 
Southern District of New York

One St. Andrew’s Plaza

New York, NY 10007

April 3, 2013

COMPLAINT REGARDING FRAUD IN
THE NOMINATION AND CONFIRMATION OF
NEW YORK CHIEF JUDGE JONATHAN LIPPMAN BY
MEMBERS OF THE NEW YORK SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

This complaint regards crimes and corruption by Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of New York State, members of the NY State Senate Judiciary Committee and members of the NY State Judicial Nomination Committee, with the complicity of other government officials.  These acts constitute legislative election fraud among other crimes.

If any of the statements herein are false, Title18 USC; Section 1001, obliges you to arrest me for making false statements to a Federal Officer. Your failure to arrest me will represent your acknowledgment that the statements herein are true, in which case a failure to investigate these allegations would represent a dereliction of your duty.

The NY Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on
Judge Lippman’s Confirmation Was Fraudulent and Invalid.

The process of Lippman’s nomination and confirmation to the Chief Judgeship of New York was illegal; rife with conflicts of interest, official fraud, and rampant violation of the laws and rules of the Constitution of the State of New York.

The New York Senate Judiciary Committee Failed to Uphold
Any of Its Duties in Regard to the Confirmation of Judge Lippman.

All Senate Committees, whether federal or state, have four cardinal duties in regard to public hearings:

           1) to announce hearings to the public with reasonable notice
           2) to gather information or evidence from the public and other sources
           3) to evaluate the information and evidence and reach findings based thereon
           4) to present their findings to the full senate to inform their vote

In their disposition of the confirmation of Judge Lippman, members of the New York Senate Judiciary Committee failed to uphold every one of these duties
. Specifically:
1) The “Public Confirmation Hearing” was not announced until one day before the hearing, in violation of NY Senate rules which require a five-day notice. The announcement also did not mention that the public was invited, despite its being a “public hearing”.

The NY Senate FAQ page states:

All Standing Committees may hold public hearings. Assembly rules require that not less than two days notice of such hearings be given,  and the Senate rules require five days notice.”

[NOTE: SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS BLOG, THE FAQ PAGE CONTAINING THIS RULE HAS BEEN REMOVED, AS HAS AN ALTERNATE LINK TO THE SAME URL. APPARENTLY ALL MENTION OF THE 5 DAY RULE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE WEBSITE OF THE NY SENATE AND ASSEMBLY. THE RULE HOWEVER STILL STANDS AND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET ONLY AT THIS ADDRESS: 

http://www.abateny.org/leg/confused/details.html

FORTUNATELY, A SCREENSHOT OF THE FAQ PAGE WAS RECORDED BEFORE THE PAGE WAS REMOVED AND CAN BE VIEWED HERE.




The February 11th, 2009 hearing was announced exclusively
on the webpage of the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 10th, 2009 , with no mention that the hearing was public. The hearing was not announced in any newspapers, or any radio or television broadcasts in New York State.
In fact, the February 10th announcement does not mention that anyone was invited, yet at least ten friendly witnesses were invited by the SJC to testify before the committee - none of them members of the Committee or the Senate - and dozens of Lippman’s supporters were present. Their testimony of the friendly witness unequivocally establishes that this was indeed a “public hearing”, despite the Senate’s violation of applicable rules.

There are two kinds of hearings “Public” and “Not Public”. There is no provision in the Constitution for a hearing that is only “public” to selected individuals.

Tim Spotts, the assistant to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Sampson tried to convince this reporter that Lippman’s confirmation was “not a public hearing”, although the public was invited to testify. He went so far as to say that the confirmation hearing was not even a hearing. “It’s not a “hearing hearing” said Spotts, “it’s just a confirmation”.  Spotts was only truthful in his acknowledgement that Lippman’s confirmation was a fait accompli, and the confirmation hearing a sham. As transparent as his ruse was, Spotts must be prosecuted for misleading the public about the nature of the hearing.

The “five-day rule” is no mere technicality; it exists to ensure that the public has enough prior notice to prepare statements and attend “public hearings”; a fundamental tenet of our democracy.

It is in violation of state senate rules to hold a public hearing with less than five days notice, and/or without public invitation.  On these ground alone, the confirmation of Jonathan Lippman is illegal and invalid.

2) The SJC failed to investigate allegations by opposing witnesses at the hearing.

Despite the absence of notice, three New York citizens, including Elena Sassower,  Director of the Center for Judicial Accountability (CJA), and Will Galison, CJA member and  Black Star News Journalist, learned of the hearing two days prior through an inadvertent leak by a Senate employee
and attended the hearing as witnesses in opposition to Lippman’s confirmation.

The testimonies of Sassower and Galison were videotaped. and were posted on the NY Senate website,  before being expunged from the official record
. Fortunately, the videos were copied and are now posted on Youtube and elsewhere. The bias, bullying and intimidation against the opposing witnesses by the SJA are shockingly evident in these clips.

3) Selected Witnesses and reporters “friendly” to Lippman were secretly invited to the hearings in advance of, and to the exclusion of, the general public and press.

As mentioned above; aside from these three citizens, the hearing was attended exclusively by over 50 officials and citizens personally invited by Judge Lippman and Senator Sampson to either testify in Lippman’s favor or to applaud favorable testimony. As the announcement of the hearings did not mention that anyone was invited, the friendly witnesses must have been personally invited by the Committee in advance of (and to the exclusion of) the general public.


It is unconstitutional to secretly invite “friendly” witnesses and “friendly” reporters to a public hearing without notifying the general press - and the general public - that the hearing is public
. 

4) The Senate Judiciary was denied access
to criminal allegations and judicial conduct complaints against Lippman, which were under investigation at the time of the hearings.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct, whose sole duty is to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by NY judges, withheld from the Senate Judiciary Committee pending complaints alleging crimes by Judge Lippman.

At least one and possibly more, judicial complaints against Lippman were pending before the CJC at the time of the hearings. It was the duty of the CJC to inform the SJC that these complaints were pending, and must be adjudicated before a confirmation decision could be reached.

Robert Tembeckjian, the Administrator of the Commission on Judicial Conduct was personally present at the confirmation hearings, but failed to inform the SJC about complaints of criminal acts by Lippman that were pending before his commission, even when they were referenced by the witnesses.  [Tembeckjian also applauded at the testimony of the friendly witnesses and mocked the opposing witnesses, in a display of bias in favor of the judge he is required by law to investigate.]

Without the benefit of the officially filed evidence against Lippman, the SJC was unable to render an informed decision on his qualifications for Chief Judge. Hence, their report to the full Senate was incomplete, inadequate and invalid.

[One month after Lippman’s confirmation, the CJC complaint was “dismissed without investigation”
by Tembeckjian.]

5) The Senate Judiciary Committee failed to investigate evidence against Lippman which had been submitted directly to all members of the committee prior to the hearing. 

Two weeks prior to the confirmation hearings, documents supporting allegations of criminal activity by Lippman were sent to all 21 members of the SJC by opposing witness Will Galison. At the hearing, Galison asked which of the Senators on the SJC had reviewed the documents and allegations. The Senators refused to answer
; one Senator leapt from his chair and yelled “That question is inappropriate!”, to which Chairman Sampson added “We’re the ones asking the questions here!”

Moreover, in violation of Senate rules, the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to review or investigate documentation of allegations against Lippman presented by the opposing witnesses who testified at the hearings. In addition to their 5-minute testimonies, the opposing witnesses offered the SJC copious documentation of their allegations against Lippman. In violation of their mandate, the SJC failed to review or investigate any
of these documents before voting on Lippman’s confirmation.

No Time Was Allotted to Evaluate Opposing Testimony

In fact, so certain was the SJC that no opposing witnesses would appear or present evidence, (because they were not invited) that they did not allot any period of time to review or investigate potential opposing testimony.  The record shows that the hearing was allowed to continue until just before 11:00 - the final speaker being Lippman himself – and that immediately after Lippman spoke, the handful of committee members, Lippman and his admirers marched from the hearing room to the senate chamber, to address the full senate on the findings of the committee. Hence, none of the documentary evidence presented by the opposing witnesses was investigated or considered in the full-senate vote, as required by law..

6) The SJC failed to report the fact or substance of opposing witness testimony to the full Senate prior to the full Senate confirmation vote.

The transcript of Senator Sampson’s presentation to the full senate proves that he failed to inform the senate of any testimony by the opposing witnesses. Hence, the full senate was ignorant of the pending criminal allegations against Lippman and thus voted on incomplete and biased information.  

On each and all of the grounds cited above, the NY Senate confirmation of Jonathan Lippman is illegal and invalid, hence, Lippman is not
the lawful Chief Judge of New York, and is not eligible for nomination for the SJI by the President in that capacity.


The New York Senate Judiciary Committee was Aware of
Fraud in Lippman’s Confirmation and was Complicit in That fraud
Every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that attended the hearing knew that it was in violation of Senate Rules, yet every one went along with the unlawful hearing without objection. Perhaps that is why more than half of the Committee members failed to attend this critically important hearing, and why no quorum of SJC members were present throughout the entire hearing.
The NY Senate Judiciary Committee Also Disregarded
Documented Evidence of Corruption in the Nomination of Jonathan Lippman.

The first step of an investigation into a nominee would be to examine the questionnaires he is required to fill out in application for his nomination. The questionnaire provided by the New York Commission on Judicial Nominations to all nominees asks the following question:

30(a) has any complaint or charge ever been made against you in connection to your service in a judicial office? Include in your response any question raised or inquiry conducted of any kind by any agency or official of the judicial system?

If the answer to subpart (a) is “yes”,  furnish full details, including the agency or  officer making the inquiry, the nature of the question or inquiry, the outcome and relevant dates

If Lippman filled out this sworn questionnaire honestly, he would have had to report the complaint filed with the Commission on Judicial Conduct by Will Galison. Receipt of this complaint was acknowledged by the CJC in a letter of January 28th, 2009; two weeks before the Confirmation hearing.


The allegations in the complaint that was pending before the CJC at the time of the confirmation hearing are extremely serious. They regard Lippman’s abuse of authority as Presiding Judge of the First Department, and blatant conflicts of interest and appearances of impropriety in the process of Lippman’s nomination.

The complaint alleges that as Presiding Justice of the First Department, Judge Lippman used his office to illegally protect a lawyer from disciplinary action. The protected lawyer was later found to be an intimate friend and business partner of one of the twelve members of the Judicial Nomination Commission (JNC)
; the body that nominated Lippman.

Corruption of the New York State Judicial Nomination Commission
The letter that Mr. Brewington shredded alleges that:

-       Judge Lippman knowingly violated Part 118 of the New York State Rules of the Chief Administrative Judge and section 90 of the Judiciary law
-       Judge Lippman refused to fulfill his duty to oversee the DDC
-       Judge Lippman ignored [Galison’s] lawyers’ letter proving that Mr. Friedman lied
      to a panel of Appellate Court Judges
-       Judge Lippman failed to enforce rules of the First Department which were altered byAlan Friedberg at the DDC.
-       Judge Lippman’s illegal favors to Leon Friedman were an effort to Influence the Commission on Judicial Nomination which in turn nominated him for the Chief Judgeship.
-       CJC Staff member Mr. Richard Emery is also a friend and colleague of Leon Freidman and must be recused from the adjudication of his case.

Why Lippman Needed to Subvert the Confirmation Process

There is a very good reason that Lippman and his conspirators in the SJC had to illegally limit the attendance of his confirmation hearings to Lippman’s friends and colleagues.  Had the confirmation hearing been announced to the public, the room would have been packed with citizens testifying of Lippman’s corruption and Lippman would have been rejected.

This was proven on 6/8/09 and 9/24/09, when hearings in Albany and Manhattan respectively were filled to capacity by victims of corruption by the attorney grievance committees and Committee on Judicial Conduct.  Dozens of documented complaints were filed against Lippman personally, and hundreds more against the agencies he supervised as Administrative Judge and Presiding Judge of the First Department. These complaints have never been investigated.

In light of the above, your office must undertake and investigation into the nomination and confirmation of Jonathan Lippman as Chief Judge of New York State.

I look forward to hearing your response to my allegations and evidence above.


Sincerely,


Will Galison
Reporter, Truthout.org, Blackstar News



cc: Milton Allimadi, Publisher Blackstar News
      Leslie Thatcher, Editor Truthout.org
      General Mediahttp://senwww.senate.state.ny.us/sws/aboutsenate/faqs.html

Monday, February 16, 2015

Feb 12, 2010 letter to Senator Eric Schneiderman re: Judicial Corruption and Crimes of Jonathan Lippman

Wiliam Galison
299 Riverside Drive
New York NY 10012

State Senator Eric Schniederman

February 12, 2010.

Regarding New York State’s Utter Lack of Judicial Oversight

Dear Senator Schneiderman,

I am pleased to say that I will be moving into your district in the next month.

I am a founding member of an organization concerned about the widespread and unchecked corruption in the Judiciary branch of the New York State Government, and the total lack of oversight of judges and “officers of the court”.

You’re website states: "The Schneiderman bill includes stricter campaign finance rules and greater penalties for violations, increased disclosure of outside income for legislators, enhancements to the lobby law, strengthened legislative and executive oversight."

Conspicuously absent is any mention of the systemic corruption in the Judiciary branch, including illicit collusion of powerful lawyers and judges to subvert due process. We wonder if you are unaware of the scale of judicial corruption, or whether you are simply not eager to address it. We hope that your affiliations and those of your father with powerful lawfirms will not influence your assessment of this problem, and that your passion for integrity in two branches of government will apply to the third branch as well.

As you may know, New York State rules and laws regulating behavior of judges and lawyers are enforced by the divisional "Grievance Committees" the "Commission on Judicial Conduct" respectively. The corruption in both of these bodies, however, is absolute and flagrant. Complaints against lawyers with "connections" are brazenly whitewashed. Lawyers who act against the connected ones are often sanctioned or disbarred Likewise, the CJC dismisses complaints against judges without any investigation or explanation. Judges who dare to challenge the system are punished. To compound the problem, no attorney will touch cases of alleged corruption against crooked attorneys or judges. They know this means professional suicide.



The Public Resistance

There is a growing affiliation of victims of judicial corruption, and consequently of the Grievance Committees and the CJC. Our complaints against these agencies are not about unfavorable decisions, but about the flagrant subversion of due process. We have at least seven cases now pending in federal court, specifically against the grievance committees and the CJC with more being prepared. Members of this affiliation have been fighting this corruption by compiling evidence proving egregious abuses by judges and lawyers and the pattern of blatant corruption in the oversight committees. These include:

- Christine Anderson Esq: a six year veteran investigating attorney at the First Departmental Disciplinary Committee,: who was fired by Jonathan Lippman for whistle-bowing against systemic corruption at the DDC.

- The Honorable Duane Hart: an exemplary sitting Supreme Court Judge, who has suffered a campaign of harassment and retaliation by the CJC for standing by his principals. His Honor has stated on the record that the only lawyer he has known who is “sleazier” than the Chairman of the CJC is the Chief Counsel of the DDC.

- Gizella Weishauss: A survivor of Auschwitz, and the first complainant in the Holocaust restitution case against the Swiss banks. Removed from the case by her lawyer after she exposed graft and corruption by her lawyers, she was deprived of the restitution she sought for all victims. The New York DDC whitewashed her complaints against her lawyer even as he was disbarred in its counterpart in New Jersey.

-Louisa Esposito, a car accident victim who videotaped her lawyer Allen Isaac demanding oral sex in return for a “favorable outcome” based on his connections with the judges of the First Appellate Division Court. No criminal or disciplinary action has been taken against him.

-Numerous attorneys who have been disbarred, sanctioned and harassed for obeying their obligations to their clients and the rules of professional responsibility.

The June 8th Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

On June 8th 2009, after years of pressure from concerned citizens, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in Albany about the alleged abuses by the oversight committees. Most of the above victims testified at the hearing, which can be viewed in its entirety on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR8OX8uuAbw

The September 24th Judiciary Committee Hearing

A second public hearing was held in Manhattan on September 24th, 2009. Despite it being held in the middle of a work day the hearing attracted over 200 people, far beyond the capacity of the hearing room. At this hearing Senator Eric Adams and Senator Bill Perkins called for a “Task Force” to be immediately convened to investigate and address the problem of insufficient oversight.

http://www.youtube.com/nysenateuncut#p/u/0/knQLll5hmjs

The illegal confirmation of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman is one of the worst perpetrators of judicial corruption in New York, and his ascension to the highest judgeship in New York State is a disaster for justice. There are at least seven federal corruption cases pending against Lippman in the Southern District and dozens more before the SJC and CJC.

On January 29th, 2009 Hearings were held to discuss the process for the section of nominees for Chief Judge. These hearings were a sham, and illegal in several respects.

The Senate Judiciary Committee (and every Senate Committee) has three duties:

  1. To announce and hold public hearings
  2. To investigate the testimony given at those hearings, and;
  3. To present the result of that investigation to the full Senate, so that they may vote with knowledge of the facts,

The Senate Judiciary Committee rode roughshod over all three mandates.

1) The Committee NEVER announced the hearings to the public. As a result, only three independent citizens attended the hearing after learning of it through a leak. In contrast, over one hundred friends and family of Lippman were personally invited to celebrate his confirmation and speak on his behalf. These guests included Robert Tembeckjian, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL CONDUCT! This is wildly inappropriate, as Tembeckjian’s job is to watch the judge like a hawk, not to celebrate his ascension.

2) They Committee NEVER investigated the claims against Judge Lippman. These claims included election fraud through illicit favors to a member of the Nominating Committee, gross official misconduct and other complaint officially pending before Tembeckjian’s Commission on Judicial Commission. Tembeckjian should have stood up and stopped the proceeding until the complaints were resolved.

In fact there was not even time allotted for the investigation of the claims brought against Lippman. Had someone provided proof that Lippman had robbed a bank, there would have been no time scheduled to investigate, The vote was rushed directly from the Committee chamber to the full Senate with no consideration of the claims.

3) The Committee NEVER presented the allegations of criminal conduct and the pending, unresolved CJC complaints against Lippman to the full Senate, who voted while ignorant of these complaints.

Finally, there was neither a quorum of Senators present in the Judiciary Committee nor the full Senate sufficient to legally confirm Lippman. By New York State Law, Jonathan Lippman is not the Chief Judge of New York State, because he was not confirmed under State law. He is a usurper.

In recent weeks, evidence has emerged against Judge Lippman in regard to a $40 million dollar estate scam:


For more information on New York State Judicial Corruption, please see:



In light of the above, some of my colleagues and I are eager to have a meeting with you regarding this urgent matter.

Thank you,


Will Galison
917 5177344


NO RESPONSE FROM SCHNEIDERMAN


Sunday, July 20, 2014

RICHARD EMERY. THE FOX GUARDING THE CHICKEN HOUSE

RICHARD EMERY:

The Man Who Oversees Himself





Unanswered Letters to Richard Emery in his Capacity as Member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC).

These letters request that Emery be recused from the CJC's deliberations regarding judges accused of illicitly favoring lawyers with an intimate relationship to Emery.

None of these letters was ever answered.

When I approached the State Ethics Commission (the only agency with jurisdiction over the CJC)  about the CJC's misconduct, I discovered that Richard Emery was also serving on  the that Commission. 

It is common sense that a person cannot serve on a commission while also serving on the agency overseeing that commission.

I didn't even bother asking the SEC Richard Emery to investigate or sanction the CJC Richard Emery. 

Only a supremely corrupt person would occupy both positions simultaneously, because supervising oneself represents the ultimate conflict of interest in Government. 

In either a monumental misjudgment or an indicator of foul play, Mayor Bill DeBlasio recently appointed Emery to lead another critical oversight agency, the notoriously dysfunctional CCRB. Who is advising DeBlasio on his hiring decisions? 




























Sunday, December 8, 2013

PRESS CENSORSHIP OF COMMENTS CRITICAL OF JUDGE LIPPMAN

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

This page will expose journalists and publications who censor posts critical of Judge Lippman and his corrupt colleagues. While this practice is not illegal, it is in violation of the publications' own policies regarding comments, undermines public discourse and deprives readers of factual information critical to an informed democracy. Moreover, the press's failure to cover information brought to their attention by whistleblowers and independent journalists encourages and protects the corrupt "public servants" who so badly damage our society. A censoring press is complicit in this corruption.




Reporter: JIMMY VIELKIND, 

Publication: CAPITAL NEW YORK


Comment Guidelines

Publications that published the same comment:

Chicago Tribune 
Jewish Week 
New York Magazine



TEXT OF COMMENT:

"Sheldon Silver singlehandedly placed the Chief Judge of New York into power; his lifelong friend, and protege,Jonathan Lippman, 

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runnins…/…/wayne_barrett_h.php 

Is it possible that Sheldon Silver placed a corrupt judge into power to protect him from the consequences of his decades of criminality? 


More to the point, what are the chances that a career criminal like Silver would place an HONEST judge into the most powerful judicial seat in the State? 


It turns out there is also a criminal complaint pending before Preet Bharara regarding corruption and fraud in the nomination and confirmation of Judge Lippman. Perhaps Lippman will be the next to fall. 


www.judgejonathanlippman.blogspot.com"



ANALYSIS: 

This comment asks two reasonable, pertinent questions, and links to sources of accurate, factual information regarding the topic of the article.


PROOF OF CENSORSHIP


POSTED: 8:47 AM February 3, 2015 




"MODERATED" AND CENSORED by Jimmy Vielkind








Thursday, October 31, 2013

Confirmation of Sunny Sheu's testimony at the aborted Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings


 
 Subject: RE: can you help ?
To: sunnysheu@hotmail.com> From: spotts@senate.state.ny.us Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 13:20:49 -0500

Dear Mr. Sheu:
 
You are on the list to testify at the hearing on the 16th.
Tim



From: sunny sheu <sunnysheu@hotmail.com>
To: spotts tim <spotts@senate.state.ny.us>
Cc: <llashley@senate.state.ny.us>
Date: 12/07/2009 02:53 PM
Subject: RE: can you help ?

 
 
Dear Mr. Spotts,
 
How are you doing ?

Can you put me in speaking list for 12/16/2009 hearing ?

My story is about corruption,kiddnapping,abuse authority,money
lanudry,falsify financial disclosure statement.
 
I have sufficient evidence to prove the "super power" of NYS supreme
court,"President of NYS supreme court justice association" Jseph Golia ,not
only because of FBI or NYPD investigation.


Regards
sunny sheu