Marcus Einfeld
Marcus Richard Einfeld is an Australian former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and was the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. He was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and served two years in prison.
Einfeld studied law at the University of Sydney. His father Syd Einfeld was a federal MP. He was called to the bar in 1962, and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1977. From 1972 to 1976, Einfeld was a director of the World Jewish Congress, based in London. After returning to Australia he became one of Sydney's most prominent barristers. Einfeld was appointed to the Federal Court in 1986, serving until 2001. In the same year he was made the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, serving until 1989. He was also the inaugural president of the Australian Paralympic Committee from 1990 to 1992.
In 2006, Einfeld was issued a A$77 speeding ticket for travelling 10 km/h over the limit. He appealed the ticket, claiming that he had not been driving. Journalists subsequently discovered that he had made a number of false statements under oath; the woman he had said was driving had in fact died several years earlier. Einfeld was arrested in 2007, and the following year pleaded guilty to perjury and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. As a result of his actions, Einfeld was expelled from the legal profession and stripped of many of the honours he had previously accumulated, including his status as a Queen's Counsel, appointment of the Order of Australia, and his status as a National Living Treasure.
Early life
Einfeld was born in Sydney, and was named after his paternal grandfather who had died a year earlier. He has a sister. His parents were the Labor Party politician Syd Einfeld and his wife Billie Einfeld, who married in June 1934. His father served in both Federal Parliament and the Parliament of New South Wales. Einfeld's paternal grandfather was the Reverend Marcus Einfeld, who came to Australia in 1909 by way of London, England, to which he had immigrated from Jarosław in Galicia with his wife Deborah.Einfeld attended Sydney Boys High School from 1951 to 1955. He then obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney in 1962. At some point, Einfeld began claiming that he held doctorates from both "Century University" and "Pacific Western University"; both are U.S.-based diploma mills without any accreditation as law schools. Those qualifications were referred to by Attorney-General Lionel Bowen when Einfeld was added to the Federal Court in 1987, and were listed in his Who's Who in Australia entry until 2007. His updated Who's Who entry, which was published after he had been arrested and charged with perjury, also corrected his year of birth and removed a claim that he had once been a director of the multinational firm Marks & Spencer in the 1970s.
Marriages and children
Einfeld has four children, two from each of two marriages. He married his first wife Yetta, a teacher, in 1963 and they had two children before they divorced in 1977. He married his second wife Anne, an attorney, in 1982 and they had two children before they divorced in 1996.He was subsequently in a long-term relationship with Sylvia Eisman.
Legal and judicial career
Einfeld became a barrister in 1962. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1977, aged 39. He represented High Court Justice Lionel Murphy in his legal challenge to the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry which had been established to examine whether Murphy had perverted the course of justice; the inquiry was suspended when Murphy became terminally ill.Einfeld was appointed to the Federal Court in 1986. Einfeld was also an additional Justice of the Australian Capital Territory. He retired as a judge in April 2001. Einfeld was the founding president of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. He was appointed to a seven-year term in December 1986, but resigned after three years citing an inability to combine the role with his judicial duties. In 1987 he led the commission's enquiry into the living conditions of Aboriginal people in the border area of New South Wales and Queensland. An Aboriginal elder praised his work with Indigenous communities when he was Human Rights Commissioner.
Community and social involvement
In 1989, Einfeld was interviewed by Caroline Jones on her Radio National program The Search for Meaning.Einfeld has served as Austcare's "Ambassador for Refugees", and as a UNICEF "Ambassador for Children". In 1997, he was named by the National Trust of Australia as an Australian Living Treasure, one of up to 100 living people selected by popular vote for having made outstanding contributions to Australian society. In 2002 he was granted the United Nations Peace Award. He has also served as National Vice President of the International Commission of Jurists. In 2002, he was presented a United Nations Association of Australia Founder's Award for his contribution to justice and human rights. He served as Chairman of Legal Resources International Inc., a non-government organisation funded by lawyers and the World Bank and Commonwealth Secretariat, dedicated to advising developing countries on establishing proper systems for democracy and justice.
He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to international affairs and the protection of human rights in 1998. He was also the inaugural President of the Australian Paralympic Federation.
Einfeld has served as an executive member of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies and as a Councillor on the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. He also started and served as the first chairman of the Australian Campaign for the Rescue of Soviet Jewry, following his earlier establishment of the London-based National Campaign for Soviet Jewry of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Einfeld has been a spokesperson for Israeli and Jewish causes, and has contributed to public debate on Palestine, the media, the United Nations, universities, and other institutions. In 1997 President of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat chose him to assist in overhauling the Palestinian Authority's legal system. He was an invited speaker at United Israel Appeal functions in Britain, the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. He is patron of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants and of the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Controversies
In a March 2006 address on the war on terror and civil liberties at the University of Western Sydney, he stated that Western powers, including Australia, had supported terrorist regimes financially, and that new sedition laws showed that Australia was "leaning towards an autocratic framework".Einfeld was the President of Australian Legal Resources International, a non-profit independent group of lawyers that supported democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in developing countries. In August 2006, this organisation collapsed, leaving creditors, including AusAID, the Australian Taxation Office, and St.George Bank "thousands of dollars out of pocket."
Criminal conviction
On 7 August 2006, Einfeld contested a A$77 speeding ticket. His car had been caught by a speed camera, traveling at 60 km/h in a 50 km/h zone in the Sydney suburb of Mosman on 8 January 2006. The BBC noted: "the judge was only 6 mph over the limit, which scarcely made him a boy racer."He contested the ticket in Downing Centre Local Court by claiming he had on that day lent his car to an old friend, Professor Teresa Brennan, who was visiting from the United States. By making his claim Einfeld was avoiding a A$77 fine, and avoiding gaining demerit points. He gave evidence under oath in the Local Court, and signed a statutory declaration to that effect, and the magistrate dismissed the charge as "not proved." However, a junior reporter for the Sydney daily tabloid The Daily Telegraph filed a brief story which caught the attention of assistant editor Michael Beach, who discovered that Brennan had died in the United States three years before Einfeld claimed she had been driving his car, and on Beach's instruction the reporter called Einfeld to obtain his reaction. This was the basis for Einfeld's later conviction for knowingly making a false statement under oath.
When challenged by the journalist concerning Brennan's death, Einfeld claimed that he had lent his car on that day to a different Terese or Therese Brennan, who he claimed also lived in the US, and who had also died after returning to the US. On 10 August 2006 a police investigation commenced into whether Einfeld had committed perjury in giving his evidence. On 23 August 2006, Einfeld produced a detailed 20-page statement describing the fictitious second Teresa Brennan and his supposed dealings with her. This was the basis for his conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Matters took an unusual turn when on 10 August 2006 Angela Liati, a 55-year-old Sydney woman unknown to Einfeld but who wanted to meet him, came forward and claimed that she had met Einfeld and had driven in his car with "Theahresa Brennan" on a shopping expedition on the day in question. Liati said "He has given his life to good causes and has been a brilliant judge... a brilliant man... and he deserves all the respect a country will give him". Liati represented herself during an eight-day District Court jury trial and claimed that she was only endeavouring to make contact with Einfeld through her admission. However, she was found guilty on 12 February 2009 of perverting the course of justice and was subsequently sentenced to 200 hours' community service; later changed to a 12-month good behaviour bond.
On 29 March 2007, Einfeld was arrested by the New South Wales Police. He was initially charged by the Director of Public Prosecutions with 13 offences, including perjury, perverting the course of justice, and making and using false statutory declarations. The charges had maximum penalties totalling 154 years in jail.
Einfeld's committal hearing was held in December 2007. The prosecution suggested the reason he lied under oath was that, had he gained the demerit points for the speeding offence, he would have been close to losing his licence. However, Einfeld denied he was aware his points were so high. One charge was dropped. Einfeld was committed to stand trial on charges of perjury, perverting the course of justice, and traffic offences.
On 19 October 2008 the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed another five of the charges against Einfeld, leaving only two.
On 31 October 2008, Einfeld pleaded guilty to the two remaining charges—to perjury, and to perverting the course of justice—just before his trial was to commence. It was also revealed that he had been battling prostate cancer for several months. The pre-sentence report to the court stated that Einfeld accepted responsibility for his actions. The head of the NSW Fraud Squad and commander of the Strike Force said its two-and-a-half-year investigation of the matter was "very lengthy, very protracted, very intricate". After his speeding fine case came to the attention of the Australian media, Einfeld was the subject of media reports alleging various other improprieties, including padding his curriculum vitae, purchasing doctorates from US diploma mills, and plagiarism.
On 20 March 2009, the 70-year-old retired judge Einfeld was sentenced to the maximum three years in prison for knowingly making a false statement under oath and for attempting to pervert the course of justice, with a non-parole period of two years. Supreme Court Justice Bruce James found Einfeld had committed "deliberate, premeditated perjury" that was "part of planned criminal activity". He served two years, and was released on parole on 19 March 2011.