57 Facts About 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.

Gerald Garson was convicted in 2007 of accepting bribes to manipulate the outcomes of divorce proceedings.

Gerald Garson 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.

Gerald 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.

Gerald Garson was sentenced in June 2007 to three to ten years in prison.

Gerald Garson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1957.

In 1984, Gerald 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".

In 1972, Gerald 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.

Gerald Garson was Treasurer from the late 1980s until the mid-1990s for a political action committee arm of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, the Brooklyn Democrats.

Gerald Garson was appointed by his former law practice colleague, Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden.

In 1997, Gerald 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.

Gerald Garson was placed on the ballot by Clarence Norman Jr.

Gerald Garson became a justice of the State Supreme Court, with an annual salary of $136,700.

Gerald Garson's courtroom was in "Matrimonial Part 5B", in the Municipal Building on Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights.

In five years as a Justice, Gerald Garson handled 1,100 matrimony cases.

Gerald Garson made decisions on child custody, and divided families' financial assets.

Gerald Garson received good ratings for his legal knowledge, administration of his courtroom, and handling of trials and settlements.

Gerald Garson was rated "approved" by the local bar association.

Gerald Garson 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.

Gerald Garson was indicted and arrested in April 2003 outside of his Upper East Side apartment.

Gerald Garson was charged with having accepted cash and other gifts from Siminovsky, as payment for preferential treatment.

The treatment included Judge Gerald Garson privately coaching Siminovsky as to what questions he should ask, and what arguments he should use.

Gerald Garson was suspended from the bench without pay on May 22,2003, by the Court of Appeals of New York.

Gerald Garson's trial was delayed as he sought treatment for cancer and underwent surgery, and while pre-trial rulings on the charges against him were litigated.

Gerald Garson 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.

Gerald Garson confessed within half an hour, and subsequently confessed to bribery.

Gerald Garson 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.

Gerald Garson continued to wear the wire for weeks in meetings with Garson.

Gerald Garson lost his license to practice law, and agreed never to apply for reinstatement.

Subsequent to the husband's payment to the fixer, Gerald Garson awarded him exclusive custody of the couple's two oldest sons.

Gerald Garson did not have an opportunity to rule on the couple's house, because he was arrested beforehand.

Gerald Garson said that after Salerno demanded $2,000 in order to have a Siminovsky case assigned to Garson, Siminovsky slipped the money into Salerno's pocket as they stood at adjacent urinals in a public courthouse restroom in Brooklyn.

Gerald Garson had been charged with bribery and conspiracy, for accepting bribes in divorce and child custody cases that he steered to Garson.

Gerald Garson himself had appeared before Garson as a divorce litigant in 2000.

Gerald Garson subsequently boasted in the Orthodox Jewish community in central Brooklyn, beginning in 2001, that for a price he could help parties in divorce cases make sure their case was heard by a sympathetic judge.

Fifty motions to reopen divorce cases that had been handled by Gerald Garson were received by New York's chief administrative judge for matrimonial cases.

When Gerald Garson was arrested, he was confronted with surveillance videotapes from a video camera that the DA's Office had installed in his robing room chambers' ceiling pursuant to a December 9,2002, warrant.

Gerald Garson's goal was to gather evidence that a seat on the bench could be purchased by paying cash to the county Democratic Party and to Norman, the Democratic Party leader who had helped place Garson on the bench.

The prosecution alleged that Gerald Garson had an agreement with divorce lawyer Siminovsky whereby the lawyer gave Gerald Garson cash, drinks, dinners, and cigars in exchange for courtroom assignments and favored treatment.

Gerald Garson coached Siminovsky as to how to examine a witness regarding the amount of money the wife had earned from a school she operated.

Gerald Garson coached Siminovsky over lunch on February 25,2003, as to what to have his client say in a case Gerald Garson was hearing.

Gerald Garson handed Garson an envelope containing a $1,000 cash "referral fee".

Gerald Garson then tried to return it, suggesting that Siminovsky contribute it to Garson's wife's judicial campaign instead.

Siminovsky was instructed by the DA to duck Gerald Garson's repeated calls that day and the next, anticipating Gerald Garson's attempts to return the money.

When Gerald Garson was arrested a few days later on his way to work, the envelope containing the sting money was in his pocket.

Gerald Garson is heard lamenting that Siminovsky's client doesn't deserve it but that the other side didn't have a winning legal position about the shared home.

Gerald Garson had found that the other side had lied about finances and operation of a daycare center and who had actually paid for the house the family lived in.

Gerald Garson was convicted of two lesser charges, relating to his accepting a box of cigars and $1,000 in cash from Siminovsky for having referred two clients.

Additionally, Gerald Garson was automatically disbarred as an attorney as a result of his felony convictions.

On June 5,2007, Justice Berry imposed three consecutive sentences on Gerald Garson, which resulted in an aggregate sentence of between 3.5 and 10 years in prison.

Gerald Garson cried in court, and said he was "profoundly sorry" for his actions.

Gerald Garson's lawyers pleaded for leniency on the basis of his reported alcoholism, bladder cancer, and other medical conditions.

Gerald Garson's lawyer tried to delay his sentence on account of Garson's granddaughter's death, and so he could care for his mentally disabled grown son.

Gerald Garson entered an alcohol detoxification program for six days, after which on June 28,2007, he surrendered at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn to begin serving his sentence.

Gerald Garson was granted an early release from prison, obtaining parole six months before the term of his minimum sentence had run.

Gerald Garson was granted parole in his first appearance before the New York State Parole Board, over the DA's Office's strong opposition, and released from a Harlem halfway house on December 23,2009.

Gerald Garson was released early as a result of his completion of a substance abuse program, and good behavior.