Westchester Divorce Courts Under Federal Scrutiny.

FBI Looking Into Allegations of Steering and Fraud in Westchester Supreme Court, Matrimonial Part.

It’s increasingly obvious that New York State’s Chief Judge, Judith Kaye is more than “a day late and a dollar short,” in her professed desire to retain her position on the Court Of Appeals, supposedly to clean up and reorganize the State Court System, at least with regard to the Westchester Courthouse. Reliable confidential sources have informed The Westchester Guardian that numerous individuals involved in divorce litigation in Westchester Supreme Court, mostly women, and male, non-monied spouses, have gone to the FBI to report a long-standing pattern of behavior between certain attorneys, from influential law firms, and judges sitting in the Matrimonial Part. Allegations of Gender Bias, and Case Fixing, by steering and fraud, similar to those lodged in June, that brought about the so-called “Historic Rotation” of four sitting judges, are reportedly under federal investigation, with possible RICO Charges forthcoming.

Additionally, The Guardian has learned that within the past several days Judge Kaye, as well as Sherrill Spatz, Special Inspector General, Office of Court Administration, each received a complaint implicating Administrative Judge Francis Nicolai, and alleging steering and case fixing, and that, “all Hell has broken loose on the 16th floor of the County Courthouse.” Not long ago Judge Donovan, one of the judges removed in June, was severely criticized by the Appellate Division, Second Department, State Supreme Court, for having forced a female non-monied party in a divorce action to use an attorney who he knew had been suspended from practice for appearing in court under the influence of illegal drugs.

Under 18 U.S.C.A. Section 1961 both criminal and civil actions may be brought under RICO statutes. Those who have brought their complaints to federal investigators have maintained that there exists a particular, and distinguishable, group of attorneys engaged in matrimonial litigation in Westchester, who, for some time, acting in concert with certain Supreme Court Judges, have engaged in a business enterprise against the interests of a particular class of individuals, resulting in an exchange of funds from said attorneys to said judges. It’s important to note that a number of aggrieved parties who recently elected to bring their complaints to Federal authorities, hadpreviously complained to Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore without result.

Analysis :For several years the Westchester Supreme Court, Matrimonial Part, has been the subject of severe scorn and criticism by overwhelming numbers of litigants who have charged blatant Due Process violations, disappearance of documents, forgery, and fraud in the distribution of marital assets, in addition to severe personal, and financial injury, and emotional distress to children and adult parties to custody actions prejudicially administered. It has been well known, for as many years, that certain law firms have wielded overreaching, and in some instances, unlawful, influence over the outcome of numerous matrimonial disputes, with tentacles reaching up into the Appellate Division.

It would now appear that the charges and countercharges that emerged last summer between Jim Montagnino and Frank Nicolai are continuing to reverberate. Furthermore, it does not appear that the mere removal of four judges by Nicolai is going to quell the years of anger and discontentment that have been the hallmark of far too many divorce cases adjudicated in the Westchester County Courthouse. No “band-aid solution” is going to make this problem go away. There’s been a “good old boys” environment around that building for so long, it’s going to take some serious surgery to finally purge the infection. Perhaps, “ Doctor” Michael Garcia, and his team of surgeons willbe needed to perform the operation.