Just askin'
Betsy Combier
Landlords have cases before Silver-linked judge
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| Sheldon Silver |
Two Lower East Side landlords with ties to outgoing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have property-tax cases pending before a judge who owes his career to the disgraced Manhattan Democrat, The Post has learned.
Mark Miller and Sion Misrahi are also being represented by the law firm that allegedly funneled at least $700,000 to Silver in illegal kickbacks in a long-running corruption scheme, records show.
The judge presiding over their assessment challenges, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Martin Shulman, is a lifelong pal of Silver. He and Silver live in the same Grand Street building and pray at the same nearby synagogue.
“They’re friends who grew up together. Shelly pushed Shulman through to be a Supreme Court judge,” a judicial insider said.
Shulman also sits on a prestigious appeals court, the Manhattan Appellate Term. He was recommended to the court by a screening committee whose members include a Silver appointee.
Shulman is the lone judge in Manhattan who handles “tax certiorari” cases, in which owners challenge the official value of their real-estate holdings, which is used to calculate tax bills.
Feds say Silver illegally pocketed at least $700,000 in sham “referral fees” by steering business from two leading developers to a law firm specializing in tax-certiorari cases and founded by Silver’s former Assembly counsel.
Silver never listed the payments on disclosure forms, the feds say.
The law firm, identified by sources as Goldberg & Iryami, has 17 cases pending before Shulman, including three on behalf of Miller and Misrahi.
Miller, owner of the Miller Manhattan Property Group and the Mark Miller Gallery, is the second vice chair and former president of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, which Silver showered with more than $450,000 in public money between 2003 and 2010, state records show.
The funding stopped when Gov. Cuomo began vetoing pork-barrel spending by Albany lawmakers.
When Miller stepped down as the business-improvement district’s president in 2013, Silver presented him with a plaque and an iPad.
He is challenging the $578,000 assessment on his six-story rental building at 256 Broome St.
Misrahi, also a business improvement district member, donated $300 to Silver in 2011 through his Brownstone Management Corp., campaign-finance records show.
He is contesting the $513,000 assessment on an 18-unit building at 188 Orchard St., as well as a $200,000 hike on another property at 11 Essex St.
Shulman didn’t return a request for comment, but court-system spokesman David Bookstaver said the relationship between Shulman and Silver didn’t create a conflict of interest.
“Because someone belongs to the same congregation, it would be far-fetched to say that would be a reason to recuse oneself from the case,” Bookstaver said.
Miller and Misrahi didn’t return messages seeking comment.
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| Manhattan Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street |
ORAL ARGUMENT SEEKING
RECUSAL OF JUDGE HAGLER FROM PRESIDINGOVER DR. MEHULIC’s
WHISTLEBLOWING ACTION
Mehulic v. New York Downtown Hospital Index No.103297-2008
October 27, 2014, at 10 AM. The courtroom of Justice Shlomo S. Hagler (Part 17) in Court
Room 335 at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007.
o I am a physician whistleblower who objected to improper and dangerous medical care that I observed at the labor and delivery department of the New York Downtown Hospital in 2007-2008. Many young mothers and babies died or were severely injured due to negligent care.
o After my multiple objections seeking to stop this negligence, I reported the whole matter several times to the New York Department of Health. Finally, on April 16, 2008, I received an email response from the DOH. That same day I was paged and told to go at once to the office of my boss, Allan Klapper, M.D. He threatened me that I would never practice medicine in this country again. Two days later I was fired by the hospital without explanation.
o Per my report , NBC News broke the story of a 16-year old teenager who was not pregnant but was given a caesarian section by these negligent doctors. Despite corrective measures that the hospital was supposed to implement, patients continued to die and in August of 2012 NBC News broke another story that 14 patients had unexpectedly died at the hospital and that an additional 40,000 medical mistakes made by hospital doctors were reported to the Department of Health and that the DOH was keeping these egregious cases of malpractice secret. In 2012 the hospital ended up with a deficiency of $40 Million. By July 1, 2013, the hospital closed both residency training programs (OBGYN and Internal Medicine) and its financial district and was acquired by the New York Presbyterian Hospital. The Government granted $125 million for the hospital’s reconstruction in 2013.
o I became aware of a long-term friendship and political alliance between Judge Hagler and Sheldon Silver, a member of the advisory board of the hospital and the Assembly Speaker of New York State. Judge Hagler is known as the surrogate son of Sheldon Silver. Moreover, Sheldon has received election contributions from the very same law firm that is representing the hospital in my case (Epstein, Becker &Green, P.C.).
o I also did not have knowledge that Judge Hagler’s brother Mendel Hagler was CEO of Gouverneur Hospital and his close personal and business relationship with Sheldon Silver, and his close ties with New York Department of Health which is involved in this action.
o I was wrongfully fired and unemployed for a year and a half because of the hospital’s slander and misinformation that it was spreading in a vendetta against me. In 2009 the hospital’s actions forced me to change my profession from Obstetrics and Gynecology to Family Medicine. I completed the Family Medicine Residency at the prestigious University of Southwestern Dallas, Texas, from July 1, 2009-June 30, 2012, with great success, awards and accolades.
o As soon as Judge Hagler took over 800 cases from Judge Goodman who retired (March 2012), my case was promptly heard on May 21, 2012. In every single hearing Judge Hagler has threatened me with sanctions and all my motions have been denied while all the defendant’s motions were wholehearted approved. I am the one who did the right thing and tried to protect patients; the hospital bosses are those who were negligent and reckless.
o There are numerous examples of the injustice I suffered in Judge Hagler’s court such as a revived confidentiality agreement that was made invalid ab initio by the prior judge. His actions also improperly placed my complete file under seal. He has unfairly placed me on a Temporary Restraining Order for more than two and a half years. Moreover, Judge Hagler disposed my case on February 6, 2014, and reactivated it only after my intervention. Judge Hagler denied my supplemental discovery which was essential to my case since the hospital closed their financial district and its residency programs. But at the same time per the opposing side’s demand, Hagler on three separate occasions ordered that the hospital could obtain my personnel file from the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital where I worked eight years ago without an issue. It was an unsuccessful fishing expedition on the part of my opponents to find something negative about me. Judge Hagler also ordered a third day of my deposition which is unheard of. I was grilled by the defendant’s counsels who tried to force me to admit to their false allegations.
o Such an amalgam of peculiar circumstances happened in my pending case and it cannot be explained by any reasonable person as anything else than rampant corruption, corruption that is preventing me, the whistleblower, and the public from obtaining justice. I had no choice other than to file a motion and demand Judge Hagler’s recusal since he never disclosed his relationships. His failure to act ethically by recusing himself has resulted in a grievous injustice.
o This is a true David v. Goliath story. Unfortunately as a whistleblower I do not have the legal right to have a jury trial at this time.
o If Hagler does not recuse himself he may stay as the trial judge. In that case, I will be crucified and the former hospital bosses who are responsible for criminal activities will come to the trial to feed him with lies and help him destroy my case.
o All public efforts to support justice are highly appreciated!
Respectfully,
Dr. Sue Mehulic, M.D.
Dr. Sue is well known to many and represents the ever so important section of our society known as the patients. She must continued to be heard and allowed to present evidence of corruption in our heslth care system.
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