Kids-for-Cash Documentary Set to Debut This Weekend

A documentary about a juvenile justice scandal in Northeastern Pennsylvania will have its premiere this weekend at a film festival in New York.

“Kids for Cash” will be shown Sunday at the festival called DOC NYC. The film directed by Robert May examines the case of former Luzerne County judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. now serving lengthy prison terms.

Prosecutors say the judges locked away thousands of children at for-profit detention centers – often for minor offenses – in exchange for payments from the facilities’ builder and co-owner.

Last year, a federal judge approved a nearly $18 million settlement for 1,600 juveniles who said they were wrongfully incarcerated.

“Kids for Cash” also will have a special screening in Philadelphia on Feb. 5, two days before it’s released in theaters nationwide.

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Kids-for-Cash Documentary Set to Debut

A Tribute to Veteran Gary E. Harvey

A wife’s loving tribute to her husband, Gary Harvey – Veteran and unfortunately trapped in an abusive guardianship.   Currently, Gary is confined to a hospital room and denied all visitation from family, friends, advocates – even clergy.  The guardian does not keep his wife informed of his medical condition and blocks all her efforts to advocate for his best interest and his preferences. 

Please pray for Gary’s continued strength and that he will be allowed the comfort and the love of his wife.

Source:
A Tribute to Gary E. Harvey

Developmentally Disabled Woman Was Subjected to Years of Mistreatment, Reports Show

Mary Lou Steff was treated no better than the cows and chickens she was told to tend during the day and sleep next to at night in a rickety Springville barn.

Perhaps worse, according to investigators and relatives of the 66-year-old developmentally disabled woman who want to take custody of her.

For more than a decade, Steff lived under the care of her brother and sister-in-law, who abused and neglected the woman, authorities say.

What happened to her reads like a Charles Dickens novel, although the accounts are contained in county reports.  Her brother and sister-in-law slapped her in the face and denied her breakfast to speed up her morning chores, and when they went away, they locked her out of the farmhouse, forcing her to take refuge in a barn a strong wind might knock down, according to the county report and people who saw what was going on. She was not allowed to bathe, see doctors or have her eyeglasses replaced when they broke.

“Mary Lou was able to share the horrific details of her life but was not able to remember when certain things happened,” according to recently completed investigator’s report to Surrogate Court. Others, including witnesses, have filled in the details.

But Mary Lou’s sister-in-law denied that the disabled woman was neglected or mistreated, and in fact said she was treated well.

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Developmentally Disabled Woman Was Subjected to Years of Mistreatment, Reports Show

Home Health Aid Accused of Exploitation

A Minneapolis woman who provided home health care for a Rochester woman will make her first court appearance Monday after being accused of stealing jewelry and pawning it.

Danielle Marie Johnson, 30, was charged in September in Olmsted County District Court with financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult and theft, both felonies; and pawning the property of another, a misdemeanor.

The alleged victim, a quadriplegic, suffers from lung disease and mental health issues, according to court documents.

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Home Health Aid Accused of Exploitation, Theft From Rochester Woman

NYS Cuts Red Tape, Saves $$ for Guardians Who Care for Loved Ones in Other States

ALBANY, N.Y., Oct. 24, 2013 — /PRNewswire/ — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed into law an AARP-backed bill that will cut red tape and save money for guardians by simplifying the process for exercising their rights when their loved ones live in another state.

The Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (S2534/A857) will eliminate costly and time-consuming red tape for guardians in exercising health care, financial and other legal responsibilities for elderly parents or other loved ones who live out of state.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/10/24/5336938/nys-cuts-red-tape-saves-for-guardians.html#storylink=cpy

Under current law, guardians who live in New York must often hire lawyers to help them navigate other states’ court systems to receive approval to exercise their responsibilities – after they’ve already obtained such legal orders in New York.

The New York law is part of AARP’s national fight to focus on care, not courts, by removing the barriers that prevent caregivers from providing for their loved ones, regardless of where the loved ones live. New York becomes the most populous state with the law in place, joining 36 other states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

“Forcing caregivers to spend time in lengthy and expensive court proceedings that drain family resources undermines their ability to provide care for their loves ones,” said Beth Finkel, State Director for AARP in New York.  “Governor Cuomo has taken an important step toward cutting red tape for New Yorkers who care for loved ones in more than two thirds of other states, which already have this law on the books. AARP hopes the momentum will push the final states to join and create uniformity and reciprocity across the nation.”

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/10/24/5336938/nys-cuts-red-tape-saves-for-guardians.html#storylink=cpy

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NYS Cuts Red Tape, Saves $$ for Guardians Who Care for Loved Ones in Other States

Bridgewater Financial Advisor Sentenced to 27 Months

Bridgewater resident Ralph Saviano, 72, was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in prison, following his guilty plea to mail fraud charges, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

In June, Saviano, an investment advisor with nearly 40 years experience in the area, had entered a guilty plea to charges he stole $138,000 from two elderly clients through his financial advisory company to fund a lifestyle Fishman called “lavish.” Fishman said the clients were told the funds were invested in “conservative securities and Saviano’s business.”

At the plea hearing on June 5, U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, in Trenton federal court, entered a consent judgment and order of forfeiture in the amount of $699,926.51, which constitutes the proceeds Saviano obtained from his known investor victims as a result of his offense.

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Bridgewater Financial Advisor Sentenced to 27 Months

Huguette Clark estate trial delayed 2 days to allow attempt at settlement

Huguette Clark estate, “Empty Mansions” The copper heiress Huguette Clark  poses in a Japanese print dress  in about 1943, when she was 37.

NEW YORK — A last-ditch effort at a settlement is delaying Tuesday’s scheduled start of the trial to determine who will inherit the $300 million estate of Huguette M. Clark, the reclusive heiress to a copper mining fortune, attorneys said Monday.

To allow time for negotiations, jury selection has been put off until Thursday morning in Surrogate’s Court in Lower Manhattan.

The office of the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, is trying to broker a settlement, attorneys said. His office’s Charities Bureau has made previous attempts, but Clark’s relatives, who are challenging her last will and testament, have not been able to find common ground with the beneficiaries named in the will.

 

It wasn’t clear Monday night how close a settlement might be. Several of the more than 60 attorneys in the case declined to comment. Schneiderman’s office had no comment.

 

Huguette (pronounced “oo-GET”) Marcelle Clark was the youngest daughter of former U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark (1839-1925), one of the copper kings of Montana and one of the richest men of the Gilded Age, a railroad builder and founder of Las Vegas. Born in Paris in 1906, Huguette was a shy painter and doll collector who spent her last 20 years living in simple hospital rooms. She attracted the attention of NBC News in 2009 because her fabulous homes in Connecticut, California and New York sat unoccupied but carefully maintained.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Huguette Clark estate trial delayed 2 days to allow attempt at settlement

NY: The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption

On July 2, 2013, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo appointed the “Commission to Investigate Public Corruption” under the Moreland Act and Executive Law Section 63(8) to probe systemic corruption and the appearance of such corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections in New York State.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will appoint the members of the Commission as Deputy Attorneys General giving the Commission broad investigative authority to probe matters that “involve public peace, public safety and public justice”.

The Commission will have the power to issue subpoenas and examine witnesses under oath.  They will be tasked with among things, reviewing the adequacy of existing state laws, regulations and procedures involving unethical and unlawful misconduct by public officials and the electoral process and campaign finance laws.  They will also examine whether existing laws and regulations have been fairly and vigorously enforced and what changes must be made to such enforcement.  The Commission is directed to make recommendations to toughen and improve existing laws and procedures.

Note: 

The Commission will hold hearings in September:
* Tuesday, September 17 in lower Manhattan,
* Wednesday, September 18 in Buffalo,

* Tuesday, September 24 in Albany

The hearings will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Source:
The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption

Astor swindler Anthony Marshall’s ‘sick’ ploy in bid to go free

SMILE! Evidence photo from DA showing Anthony Marshall was well enough to attend a black-tie gala at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in Manhattan last February at the same time his lawyers were arguing he was too sick and frail to go to prison.

 

The octogenarian aristocrat who swindled his philanthropist mother, Brooke Astor, out of $185 million claims he is too sick to serve out his prison term — but Manhattan prosecutors aren’t buying it.

Anthony Marshall, 89, hasn’t provided medical documentation to back up his sob story and was even partying on the Intrepid right before he was sent away, prosecutors claim.

The Parkinson’s suffering fraudster — who has served fewer than two months of his 1- to 3-year sentence — will go before a parole board tomorrow to determine whether he’ll be released on medical grounds from Fishkill Correctional Facility.

Marshall’s medical claims can’t be substantiated as he hasn’t turned over sufficient medical records despite repeated requests, wrote Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy in a seven-page letter sent to the Department of Correction on Aug. 14..

But his attendance at a party last February suggests he isn’t doing too badly, the prosecutor argues.

“Marshall was well enough to attend a black-tie gala at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in Manhattan,” she wrote. She even included a picture of the wheelchair-bound con smiling in a tux as his wife, Charlene, stands behind him. The lavish dinner party for 600 guests celebrated the construction of the ship Titanic II, the letter states.

“Mashall’s ability to socialize to this extent, at about the same time defense counsel and Dr. Franklin were describing his condition in such dire terms, is certainly relevant to the determination whether releasing him at the outset of his prison term would undermine the public’s respect for the law,” she wrote.

She adds that Marshall’s age shouldn’t be a factor in considering his release especially given that his own mother was 102 years old and in the throes of Alzheimer induced dementia when he robbed her blind.

 

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Astor swindler Anthony Marshall’s ‘sick’ ploy in bid to go free

See Also:
Final Curtain for Anthony Marshall’s Plea for Freedom

Marshall’s Criminal Trial

Mrs. Astor Regrets

Too Sick for Court?

Artist Robert Rauschenberg’s foundation, trustees in court fight Monday over money

Captiva artist Robert Rauschenberg left his $600 million estate in the hands of three friends, including another artist, but now these trustees are suing to collect millions they say they’re owed.



Robert Rauschenberg

Darryl Pottorf, himself an artist and one of Rauschenberg’s closest friends, inherited Rauschenberg’s $3 million Captiva home upon the artist’s death in 2008. He also was named executor of Rauschenberg’s will and a trustee, charged with ensuring his late friend’s money and charitable foundation would run as planned.

Pottorf and two other trustees — Bill Goldston, who met Rauschenberg in 1969 and partnered with him for a fine-art-print publishing company, and Bennet Grutman, Rauschenberg’s accountant since 1989 — are seeking $60 million for what they call “extraordinary services” they’ve provided to Rauschenberg’s legacy, according to court documents.

A court hearing is planned Monday morning in Lee in regard to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s request for a protective order and to discuss fees sought by trustees.

The history

The court battle began in Lee County in 2011, when the trio filed the lawsuit against the foundation. It has been a contentious back-and-forth between the groups, trading jabs over competency of the trustees, allegations of harassment and whether Rauschenberg actually meant for the three men to pocket millions meant for his charitable efforts.

Pottorf, who would not comment to The News-Press for this article, also filed paperwork Wednesday in a New York court, seeking additional money for handling Rauschenberg’s Manhattan property, which includes the gallery and studio where the foundation is housed, and a Mount Vernon, N.Y., property that houses some of Rauschenberg’s art.

Court documents show Pottorf, Goldston and Grutman have paid themselves $5.7 million from the trust, divided evenly at $1.9 million.

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Artist Robert Rauschenberg’s foundation, trustees in court fight Monday over money