From the Elder Abuse blog:
Monday, June 28, 2010
Justice 'Probate Style' Judge John L. Phillips Gets Some!
Justice has not been served in the case of my dearly departed friend, the Honorable Judge John L. Phillips, known to all as the Kung-Fu Judge. Upon learning of his candidacy in 2001, Brooklyn D.A. Joe Hynes filed an ex-parte (secret action) to seal up all of Judge Phillips' assets. Twelve apartment buildings and two movie Theatres were part of the millionaire judges' empire. The Court then appointed Hynes former Chief of Staff, Harvey Greenberg, as Judge Phillips' "Guardian."
The transcript of the proceeding to condemn Judge Phillips is chilling. The reason presented to the court for a guardian was a videotape presented by a prosecutor from the Brooklyn DA's office, Steven Kramer, who conducted a raid on Judge Phillips home along with three confederates. A.D.A. Kramer produced a videotape of the raid at the hearing, and the chief piece of evidence to appoint a guardian was that Judge Phillips had "campaign posters" in his house. These facts are not in dispute. I've read the transcript.
Judge Phillips was then remanded to a nursing home...in the BRONX, and the race for District Attorney was over.
All of Judge Phillips' properties were sold for pennies-on-the-dollar. Then the judges' home mysteriously burned to the ground, obfuscating any records he had been keeping. The guardians neglected to pay the insurance. Six years later, the once museum-like four story brownstone at 155 Herkimer Street still sits in the heart of Bed-Stuy as a boarded up shell. A monument to the tragic end of the Kung-Fu Judge.
Now, the undisputed facts, according to the IRS, are that between the years of 2000 and 2007, four separate guardians sold $10 million dollars of Judge Phillips' property and failed to pay or file any taxes. The IRS now wants $3 million in unpaid taxes from Judge Phillips' estate. The only item left in the estate is the Slave Theatre, which is worth close to 3 million dollars. The four guardians, all attorneys, are:
1. Harvey Greenberg (former chief Assistant District Attorney to D.A. Hynes);
2. Frank Livotti
3. Raymond Jones
4. Emani Taylor
The sale of Phillips' properties was absolutely unlawful and illegal, so why not rescind those sales, restore those properties to the estate of John L. Phillips, and transfer the burden of those unpaid taxes to those four "guardians" who fattened themselves on the fat of Judge Phillips' properties? I would liken those "guardians" to the many suitors of Penelope, Odysseus' estranged wife in the Odyssey, while Poseidon kept the hero away from home.
I'm proud to announce that attorney John Kennedy O'Hara has a $10 million lawsuit pending against the nursing home that held Judge Phillips hostage on the orders of DA Hynes. O'Hara also met with federal agents from the IRS last week concerning a criminal probe regarding Phillips' properties, and those four guardians who "forgot" to pay the taxes on the 10 million dollars.
The undisputed facts of the case: Judge John L. Phillips, died homeless and broke. He owned 12 apartment buildings and 2 movie theatres. The Brooklyn D.A. seized his assets because Judge Phillips was planning to run against him in 2001. D.A. Hynes got the courts to appoint his former chief of staff as a guardian. All 4 guardians sold all of Judge Phillips' buildings, and kept the money. These facts are not in dispute. I've read the court documents.
The New York Times, New York Post, Brooklyn Paper, and The New York Sun ran a series of articles. In addition, Christopher Ketcham wrote an excellent article in the Brooklyn Rail, and AARP Bulletin.
http://www.brooklynrail.org/
I mentioned the Odyssey earlier. It seems that Hynes, playing the part of Poseidon, was successful in his campaign to kill our hero, Judge John L. Phillips, and the suitors have all but eaten his property. Can John Kennedy O'Hara, playing the part of Telemachus, bring some modicum of justice to the estate of Judge Phillips?
May we see justice served to the legacy of Judge John L. Phillips, the Kung-Fu Judge of Brooklyn, beloved by his tenants, his friends, and this writer.
The transcript of the proceeding to condemn Judge Phillips is chilling. The reason presented to the court for a guardian was a videotape presented by a prosecutor from the Brooklyn DA's office, Steven Kramer, who conducted a raid on Judge Phillips home along with three confederates. A.D.A. Kramer produced a videotape of the raid at the hearing, and the chief piece of evidence to appoint a guardian was that Judge Phillips had "campaign posters" in his house. These facts are not in dispute. I've read the transcript.
Judge Phillips was then remanded to a nursing home...in the BRONX, and the race for District Attorney was over.
All of Judge Phillips' properties were sold for pennies-on-the-dollar. Then the judges' home mysteriously burned to the ground, obfuscating any records he had been keeping. The guardians neglected to pay the insurance. Six years later, the once museum-like four story brownstone at 155 Herkimer Street still sits in the heart of Bed-Stuy as a boarded up shell. A monument to the tragic end of the Kung-Fu Judge.
Now, the undisputed facts, according to the IRS, are that between the years of 2000 and 2007, four separate guardians sold $10 million dollars of Judge Phillips' property and failed to pay or file any taxes. The IRS now wants $3 million in unpaid taxes from Judge Phillips' estate. The only item left in the estate is the Slave Theatre, which is worth close to 3 million dollars. The four guardians, all attorneys, are:
1. Harvey Greenberg (former chief Assistant District Attorney to D.A. Hynes);
2. Frank Livotti
3. Raymond Jones
4. Emani Taylor
The sale of Phillips' properties was absolutely unlawful and illegal, so why not rescind those sales, restore those properties to the estate of John L. Phillips, and transfer the burden of those unpaid taxes to those four "guardians" who fattened themselves on the fat of Judge Phillips' properties? I would liken those "guardians" to the many suitors of Penelope, Odysseus' estranged wife in the Odyssey, while Poseidon kept the hero away from home.
I'm proud to announce that attorney John Kennedy O'Hara has a $10 million lawsuit pending against the nursing home that held Judge Phillips hostage on the orders of DA Hynes. O'Hara also met with federal agents from the IRS last week concerning a criminal probe regarding Phillips' properties, and those four guardians who "forgot" to pay the taxes on the 10 million dollars.
The undisputed facts of the case: Judge John L. Phillips, died homeless and broke. He owned 12 apartment buildings and 2 movie theatres. The Brooklyn D.A. seized his assets because Judge Phillips was planning to run against him in 2001. D.A. Hynes got the courts to appoint his former chief of staff as a guardian. All 4 guardians sold all of Judge Phillips' buildings, and kept the money. These facts are not in dispute. I've read the court documents.
The New York Times, New York Post, Brooklyn Paper, and The New York Sun ran a series of articles. In addition, Christopher Ketcham wrote an excellent article in the Brooklyn Rail, and AARP Bulletin.
http://www.brooklynrail.org/
I mentioned the Odyssey earlier. It seems that Hynes, playing the part of Poseidon, was successful in his campaign to kill our hero, Judge John L. Phillips, and the suitors have all but eaten his property. Can John Kennedy O'Hara, playing the part of Telemachus, bring some modicum of justice to the estate of Judge Phillips?
May we see justice served to the legacy of Judge John L. Phillips, the Kung-Fu Judge of Brooklyn, beloved by his tenants, his friends, and this writer.
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