Gerald Garson
Gerald Phillip Garson was an American lawyer and New York Supreme Court Justice who heard matrimonial divorce and child custody cases in Brooklyn. He was convicted in 2007 of accepting bribes to manipulate the outcomes of divorce proceedings. Garson was imprisoned from June 2007 until December 2009.
In the bribery scheme, a "fixer" told people divorcing in Brooklyn that for a price he could steer their case to a sympathetic judge. After the fixer received a payment, he would refer the person to a lawyer contact of his, who had given Garson drinks, meals, cigars, and cash—accepting preferential treatment in return. The fixer and the lawyer, Paul Siminovsky, would then bribe court employees to override the court's computer system, which was programmed to ensure that cases were assigned to judges randomly. Instead, they would have the case assigned to Garson. Garson, in turn, would then privately coach the lawyer. He would tell him questions the lawyer should ask of witnesses in the case before Garson, and arguments that the lawyer should make to Garson in court. Garson would then rule in favor of the lawyer.
Garson was indicted in 2003, on the basis of video surveillance of his judicial chambers, and recordings made on a body wire worn by his "favored" lawyer. At his four-week trial in 2007, he was acquitted on four counts, but found guilty on one count of accepting bribes, and on two lesser charges of receiving rewards for official misconduct. He was sentenced in June 2007 to three to ten years in prison. In December 2009, after 30 months in prison, he was released for good behavior at the age of 77.
The New York Times, commenting on Garson's conviction, observed: "It was news that confirmed every sneaking suspicion, every paranoid fantasy of anyone who had ever felt wronged in a divorce court."
Early career
Garson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1957. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran.In 1962 he founded the law firm Gerber & Garson, on Court Street in Brooklyn, with Howard Gerber. The politically connected law firm is now known as Gerber & Gerber. In the 1970s and 1980s, Garson and his law firm had a lucrative practice representing owners of taxi fleets, defending taxi drivers and owners in negligence suits.
In 1984, Garson was censured by the state Appellate Division for "conferring gifts, gratuities and benefits", by giving an improper gift to a judge with whom he had a "long-standing social relationship". Garson and members of his firm regularly appeared before then-New York Civil Court Judge Frank Vaccaro. In 1972, Garson treated Judge Vaccaro and his wife to a weekend vacation at Kutsher's County Club in the Catskills, and falsely registered the judge under an assumed name; later, he lied about the incident to investigators. Vaccaro, by then a New York State Supreme Court Justice, was suspended without pay for six months.
Garson was also Treasurer from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s for a political action committee arm of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, the Brooklyn Democrats. He was appointed by his former law practice colleague, Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden.
Justice of the NY Supreme Court (1998–2003)
In 1997, Garson was placed on the ballot to be a Democratic Party nominee for the position of Justice of the New York Supreme Court, the highest state court below the appellate level, and the equivalent of county court. He was placed on the ballot by Clarence Norman Jr., a long-time Kings County Democratic Party leader. Garson then won the 1998 general election.He became a justice of the State Supreme Court, with an annual salary of $136,700. His courtroom was in "Matrimonial Part 5B", in the Municipal Building on Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights. In five years as a Justice, Garson handled 1,100 matrimony cases. He made decisions on child custody, and divided families' financial assets.
In an anonymous survey of lawyers, he was described as "always well prepared", and as having "excellent settlement skills". In the 2004–05 edition of New York Judge Reviews and Court Directory, Garson received the following comments in anonymous reviews, under the section "Temperament/Demeanor":
Nearly every interviewee complimented Judge Garson's demeanor. 'He's pleasant, and will let you try your case. He's excellent—a real lawyer's judge.' 'He's easy to get along with.' 'He can be pleasant.' 'He's nice and very competent.' Only one lawyer criticized , saying, ' tough, and can be aggressive and impatient.'
Garson also received good ratings for his legal knowledge, administration of his courtroom, and handling of trials and settlements. He was rated "approved" by the local bar association. In 2001, he was applauded by feminists for ordering an Orthodox Jewish man to pay his ex-wife $500-a-week for life, because the man refused to grant her a religious divorce, or get.
Indictment, arrest, and related events (2003–07)
Sting operation, indictment, and arrest
In October 2002, Frieda Hanimov, an Israeli émigré nurse, called a hotline at the District Attorney's Office. The mother of three, was at the time embroiled in a bitter child-custody dispute that was being heard by Judge Garson. She complained that she had been told that her husband, Yuri Hanimov, had bribed the judge to fix their case, and that he had done so through Nissim Elmann and Paul Siminovsky. The woman had learned this when she herself met with Elmann, seeking to bribe Garson. Elmann told her that she was too late, inasmuch as her husband had already paid a large bribe to receive a favorable ruling. Within days, the DA's Office had her wearing a wire, meeting with and secretly taping Elmann.Garson was subsequently indicted and arrested in April 2003 outside of his Upper East Side apartment. He was charged with having accepted cash and other gifts from Siminovsky, as payment for preferential treatment. The treatment included Judge Garson privately coaching Siminovsky as to what questions he should ask, and what arguments he should use. Garson would then rule in Siminovsky's favor. This violated the rules of judicial conduct, which prohibit a judge from speaking privately with an attorney who has a case pending, without the presence or permission of the opposing attorney.
Garson was suspended from the bench without pay on May 22, 2003, by the Court of Appeals of New York. He ultimately resigned and retired.
In 2006, he received, but rejected an offer to plead guilty to two minor felonies, in exchange for a 16-month sentence in a local jail. His trial was delayed as he sought treatment for cancer and underwent surgery, and while pre-trial rulings on the charges against him were litigated.
Prosecution of others charged in the scheme
Others charged with felonies linked to the Garson bribery scheme were: Siminovsky, the "fixer", a court officer, two of Siminovsky's clients who paid what they understood were bribes, and a former Garson court clerk. Two long-time employees in the main court clerk's office, who were not arrested, were suspended without pay.Lawyer
Siminovsky, a lawyer who appeared before Garson in divorce cases, was arrested on February 25, 2003. He had a friendship with Garson going back to 2001 and spent an extraordinary amount of time with him outside of court, taking him out and paying for lunches, dinners, and drinks. In a November 18, 2002, in a recorded telephone conversation, he told Elmann that he had just spent two hours getting Garson drunk, and that "e'll do what we want."On the morning he was arrested, Siminovsky was taken to the Fort Hamilton army base in Bay Ridge for questioning. He confessed within half an hour, and subsequently confessed to bribery. He made a deal with the investigators, agreeing to cooperate in the investigation of Garson in exchange for a reduced charge, and the promise of a positive letter from the DA to Siminovsky's sentencing judge. Within hours, he was wearing a hidden body microphone in a sting operation, as he joined Garson for lunch at the Archives Restaurant on Adams Street. He continued to wear the wire for weeks in meetings with Garson.
Siminovsky testified for 13 days at two different trials and ultimately helped prosecutors win convictions for nine people. Siminovsky, himself, as part of his plea bargain, pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor for having given unlawful gratuities. In June 2007, Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey G. Berry, a visiting judge from Orange County, New York, sentenced him to a year in prison, the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor. He also lost his license to practice law, and agreed never to apply for reinstatement.
Bribers
Ezra Zifrani and his daughter Esther Weitzner pleaded guilty in February 2004 to one misdemeanor conspiracy charge. They admitted having given $5,000 to Elmann, to influence Garson's handling of a custody dispute between Weitzner and her ex-husband involving their five children. They said that Elman "clearly implied" he was going to bribe Garson. They did not know, however, whether the money was actually paid to Garson. Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrosio ruled in August 2004 that Weizner was an unfit parent for her children, because she paid the bribe. In exchange for their pleas and their cooperation in the investigation, in August 2007 they were each sentenced to 210 hours of community service and three years of probation.Avraham Levi pleaded guilty in June 2004 to having given the "fixer" $10,000 in December 2002, to get his case in front of and obtain favorable treatment from Garson. There was no evidence that the money ever made its way to Garson. Subsequent to the husband's payment to the fixer, Garson awarded him exclusive custody of the couple's two oldest sons. Garson did not have an opportunity to rule on the couple's house, because he was arrested beforehand. In 2005, after the bribery scandal had broken and the case was moved to another judge, 100% of the marital residence was awarded to the wife.
For his role in the corruption scandal, Justice Berry sentenced Levi to three months in jail, 150 hours of community service, and five years' probation following his release.