Fake Bank Accounts of the Dead Similar to the City Council Fake Non Profits Exposed by A Former Employees Lawsuit

Joseph Arenson and Phillip Beckerman, both law partner of surrogate candidate John Reddy and his predecessors as the Public Administrators counsel had illegal bank accounts in their name that distributed estate funds to other lawyers. That information came out as a result of a lawsuit by former counsel employee Connolly. No one was charged, however PA counsel Beckerman resigned and was replaced by his partner John Reddy.

“The official in charge of administering court-supervised estates in Manhattan has opened bank accounts normally reserved for the assets of dead people in the names of three lawyers working in her office, a practice that bank officials and law enforcement authorities describe as highly unusual, if not improper. Two of the lawyers say the accounts were opened without their knowledge and one has charged that his name was repeatedly forged on transactions. The official said the accounts were intended to hold money claimed by the lawyers, who are paid on a commission basis, for their work on estate cases. But records show that she disbursed money from the accounts to other lawyers doing estate work.” –NY Times, July 25, 1992

Update

Among the contributions (to Reddy campaign for Surrogate Judge) were donations of $20,000 each from Philip Bekerman and his wife, Roberta Bekerman. Mr. Bekerman, whose name remains on Mr. Reddy's law firm, Bekerman & Reddy, retired in 1992 due to illness - NY Law Journal, August 21, 2008.

Planned Delays and Mismanagement to Increase Legal Fees

During former State Senator and family court judge Karen S. Burstein's 1996 challenge to Surrogate Renee Roth reelection, Burstein said delays in the cases was a strategy used in the Surrogate office to allow a circle of friends and political allies to have benefited disproportionately.

"Ms. Burstein says, for example, that the surrogate defended the administrator's office and the Surrogate's Court before a State Assembly committee in 1988." - NY Times, September 7, 1996

“In candidates' forums and in interviews, Ms. Burstein has sought to tie Surrogate Roth to the mismanagement documented in the state reports. She has suggested that Surrogate Roth often resisted change. Ms. Burstein says, for example, that the surrogate defended the administrator's office and the Surrogate's Court before a State Assembly committee in 1988. Ms. Burstein also says that when the Manhattan Public Administrator, Bruno Cappellini, resigned under pressure in 1988, Surrogate Roth let his successor, Ethel J. Griffin, hire to the lucrative position of counsel to the public administrator a law partner of the previous counsel, who had also resigned under pressure.” – NY Times, September 7, 1996

Update

Hopeful 1

"Reddy said his 13 years as counsel to the public administrator of New York County has prepared him for the bench. Fewer than three years after being hired, Reddy had closed over 2,000 cases full of vague language or instructions that had been open for at least four years, he said. He is hopeful that he will be able to close Surrogate cases, some of which have been open even longer." – City Hall News, August 11, 2008

Hopeful 2

"With some wariness we endorse Justice Feinberg on the basis of his good record, and trust he will stay true to his reform pledges.” – NY Times Editorial, September 6, 1996

"In a harshly worded opinion, the Court of Appeals yesterday ended Brooklyn Surrogate Michael H. Feinberg's judicial career. It held that his awarding of millions of dollars in attorney's fees to a friend without demanding the affidavits required by law constituted removable misconduct." - New York Law Journal, June 30, 2005

2nd Follow-Up Report Found Surrogate Court Problems Worsened

The 2nd repot from the Attorney General and State Comptroller found the problems outline done four years after the first one have largely remained unabated and in some cases have worsened.

“The draft version of the latest report by the State Attorney General and State Comptroller concluded that few changes suggested by the last investigation had been adopted. It also said that, as before, the deficiencies in Manhattan were the bulk of the big estates were concentrated, were particularly alarming.” – NY Times, July 24, 1992

U.S. Attorney Calls Surrogate Court “Racketeering Enterprise”

“The latest critical report comes as Federal investigators are pressing a separate investigation into operations of the Surrogate’s Court, including the public administrators’ office. Yesterday, a politically connected Manhattan lawyer, Melvyn Altman, was indicted on Federal racketeering, mail fraud and money-laundering charges in what the United States Attorney in Manhattan, Otto Obermaier, called a continuing investigation that identified the Surrogate’s Court as a “racketeering enterprise” used by the defendant.” – NY Times, July 24, 1992

No Press Follow Up on Outstanding Issues

We are continuing our investigation to find a follow-up to the Attorney Generals and State Comptroller 2nd report in 1992 and what were the results of the U.S. Attorneys call for an investigation. Where have you gone institutional memory? Or at least Google.

Reddy Delays Payment, Chess Master’s Heir Loses His Inheritance

“Citibank Cheats Grandmaster Benko out of $70,000, Ruth V. Cardoso, the South American Woman's Chess Champion, was the constant companion of Grandmaster Pal Benko

Benko accordingly applied to the New York Surrogates Court for letters of administration. However, the court has an unusual rule that when a person dies without relatives, any person claiming under a will must prove to the satisfaction of the court that there are no living relatives. However, since it is impossible to prove a negative, the applicant must detail the steps that have been taken to locate any possible relatives of the deceased person. Although Ruth Cardoso had been born in Brazil and was a citizen of Brazil, she had been trapped in Nazi Germany during World War II and grew up there. All of her relatives had died in the war except for her mother who had died two years before Ruth died.

Following confirmation from the German government that she had no living relatives and the publication of the legal notices, the New York Public Administrators Office demanded that the witnesses to the will be produced to testify that Ruth Cardoso was of sound mind and body when she made out her will. However, the attorney assigned the task by the New York Public Administrator was John Reddy, who then delayed seven months and only issued his report after the Benko Family complained to the court that he was not doing his job. As a result of these delays by John Reddy, it took seven months until July 2004, before he issued his report. Benko then went to Citibank at 120 Broadway to collect the $70,000 that Ruth Cardoso had left to him, only to be told that Citibank did not have the money any more. They refused to reveal what had happened to the money.

-SURROGATES COURT: STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK In the Matter of the Estate of Ruth V. Cardoso, Deceased FILE NO. 2546/2002 MOTION FOR REHEARING, http://groups.google.com.vn/group/soc.culture.usa/msg/7966f07bfb1a5355

Surrogate Judge Lambert: There is gambling in Rick’s Place

Although she does not want to prejudge Mr. Cappellini and Mr. Arenson, Surrogate Lambert said, she has long been concerned about the “Tremendous delay in distribution of money to heirs or depositing it and in the closing of estates.” When she became Manhattan’s supervising surrogate two years ago, Judge Lamberrt said, she “pressured them very hard to get their cases up to date.” – NY Times Nov 28 1987