By Richard Luthmann
Judicial Power Run Amok: Family Courts or Judicial Collection Agencies?
Hon. Erika M. Tindill is a judge for the Ansonia/Milford Judicial District Superior Court in Connecticut.
On August 14, 2024, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Erika Tindill sent shockwaves through the state. She jailed Nishani Naidoo, a Harvard graduate and corporate lawyer.
Naidoo’s crime? Failing to make a court-ordered payment to her ex-husband’s Stamford attorney, Gary I. Cohen. The sum in question is $37,512.50.
Naidoo, the sole caregiver for two young children, was incarcerated despite her pleas for more time. This case has become a lightning rod for criticism of family court corruption. Recent years detail the growing use of jail time to enforce financial judgments.
Naidoo’s story is about one mother’s struggle and highlights a more profound, systemic issue within the U.S. judicial system, particularly in the family courts. Judges wield unchecked power to jail individuals for unpaid debts—an act many thought had been abolished nearly two centuries ago.
“This is a fundamental family court corruption issue of our time. It is the criminalization of parents already financially drained from the divorce process,” said Peter Syzmonik, a legal and parent’s rights advocate familiar with Naidoo’s case.
“Family Court Judges like Erika Tindill act like seventeenth-century debt collectors with robes. The use of modern-day debtor’s prison needs to stop,” Syzmonik said.
A Judge’s Decision Highlighting Systemic Family Court Corruption
Judge Tindill’s decision came after Naidoo failed to meet a May 1, 2024, deadline to pay Cohen, who had represented her ex-husband. Naidoo, a corporate lawyer with degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School, still cannot fully employ her education and experience. Judge Tindill granted her full custody of her children, to who she was the primary caregiver. Years of acrimonious divorce muffled Naidoo’s ability to practice her profession. She was further tied down in the winding up of her previous marital affairs. The Court decreed a rental property to her to be sold to cover her financial obligations and get her out from under the beast.
However, the closing couldn’t come quickly enough. Naidoo explained that the property sale was delayed, and she didn’t have the money to pay Cohen by the court-ordered deadline.
“I asked the judge for more time, but she wasn’t hearing it,” Naidoo wrote in a letter she posted on social media. “I explained that the [sale of rental] property would close at the end of August, and I would pay Cohen in full then. But Judge Tindill refused to listen.”
Naidoo’s offer to make a partial payment of $2,500, the maximum amount she could charge to her credit cards, was also rejected.
“Cohen didn’t want to wait, and the judge backed him up,” Naidoo added.
Despite her ex-husband, Vipul R. Kumar, appearing in court and asking the judge not to jail the mother of his children, Judge Tindill stood firm.
“A judge is supposed to protect the best interests of children, but instead, this one is destroying a family,” Kumar said in court.
Evidently, the right of a lawyer to their immediate fee trumps the fundamental right to be a family.
This is Connecticut Judge Erika M. Tindill’s interpretation of the law.
The Return of Debtors’ Prisons
President Andrew Jackson championed Congress’ abolition of debtor’s prisons in 1833.
Naidoo’s jailing has ignited outrage among civil rights advocates who see her case as a return to the era of debtors’ prisons—a practice Congress abolished in 1833. President Andrew Jackson championed the legislation. According to Old Hickory, debtors’ prisons were a clear affront to fundamental rights.
“The personal liberty of the citizen seems too sacred to be held, as in many cases it now is, at the will of a creditor to whom he is willing to surrender all the means he has of discharging his debt,” said President Andrew Jackson in his Third Annual Message, delivered December 6, 1831.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been vocal about the resurgence of debt-related incarcerations in modern America. In its report, “A Pound of Flesh: The Criminalization of Private Debt,” the ACLU details how thousands of Americans are jailed each year over unpaid debts. The report highlights how debt collectors and their attorneys exploit civil court systems to have judges issue arrest warrants for debtors who fail to appear in court or comply with payment orders.
“This isn’t just about missed payments; it’s about an abuse of judicial power,” said an ACLU spokesperson. “Judges are issuing arrest warrants for people who can’t pay, effectively turning our court system into a tool for debt collection. It’s a complete reversal of the progress made since the abolition of debtors’ prisons.”
Ironically, most of these so-called “fees” are dischargeable in bankruptcy. Had Naidoo and several others filed for federal bankruptcy protection, the automatic stay provision would probably have shielded them from modern-day Debtor’s Prison. But that is an expensive legal solution, one effectively out of reach for most financially depleted litigants and designedly so in most state courts, including family courts.
Judicial Rogues and Calls for Reforming Family Court Corruption
Legal experts argue that cases like Naidoo’s demonstrate the urgent need for judicial reform.
“Judges like Erika Tindill are acting outside the reach of regulation and punishment,” said one Connecticut attorney familiar with the case, speaking under conditions of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
“Their actions are not just punitive; they smack of treason against the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Judges should not have the power to jail individuals for financial hardship, especially single mothers.”
The problem, critics say, lies in the unchecked authority of judges causing family court corruption. These courts have broad discretion to order one party to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees—often after one party is already financially drained from the divorce process.
In Naidoo’s case, despite her ex-husband having already paid Cohen approximately $140,000 in legal fees, Judge Tindill ordered her to pay an additional $37,512.50 as a reimbursement to her husband.
“It’s absurd,” said Parent’s Rights Advocate Peter Szymonik. “This wasn’t about ensuring fairness; this was about punishing someone for being unable to pay a lawyer’s bill immediately. And now, her children are without their mother, all because of a judge’s out-of-control ego.”
This outlet has covered family court corruption and a panoply of judges seemingly “drunk” with the power that they believe their elevation to the bench bestows. This outlet recently covered the despicable activity of controversial New York Divorce Court Justice Ronald Castorina, who threatened an ailing, retired NYPD Detective and 9-11 Responder with debtor’s prison over the payment of attorneys and other fees.
Despicable Judge Castorina Demands Arrest of Ailing 9/11 Responder
In the interests of full disclosure, the author has a pending lawsuit against Ronald Castorina, Jr., for the non-payment of nearly six figures related to services rendered. At the same time, Castorina was a New York State Assembly Member and an elected government official. When paying bills for Castorina, it’s: “Rules for thee, but not for me.” That case is set for a hearing on Thursday, September 5, before Justice Louis L. Nock in Manhattan Supreme Court.
We also recently covered Wall Street Fixed Income Guru David Weigel’s NYC divorce saga. Weigel, a Fiduciary Asset Manager and Columbia University Business School grad, was sent to Riker’s Island for a weekend over a “paperwork mishap” while his matrimonial matter was pending before New York State Supreme Court Justice Tandra L. Dawson, who Attorney Daniel B. Nottes alleges was called the “Bill Cosby of Family Court Judges.”
This outlet also detailed the harm the Connecticut Family Court dealt to Dr. Luigi DiRubba, a celebrated Cheshire chiropractor. Dr. DiRubba had six children, a thriving business, and was worth millions. Now it’s all gone. The victim of at least six “Silver Bullet” false reports by his ex-wife, Annamaria Mongillo, Dr. DiRubba was arrested and jailed seven times. None of the charges stuck, but Dr. DiRubba says his wife’s Cos Cob attorney, Marianne Charles, coaxed the family court to accept these false allegations as if they were Gospel truth.
“I was the victim of multiple Silver Bullet attacks, falsely levied by my ex-wife and coached by her lawyer. But the irony is, in criminal court, I had rights. Now, with family court debtor’s prison, they can throw you away for weeks or months, and you have no recourse,” Dr. DiRubba said.
Wall Street Guru Dave Weigel echoes these sentiments.
“Your legal obligation to pay has no relationship to your economic ability to pay. The legal fiction is pure insanity that has no basis in economic reality. In my case, I presented a purely financial analysis based on hard numbers that would stand up to scrutiny by any regulator. The family court ignored the numbers and compared apples to oranges. In my business, that’s called financial fraud. In family court, it’s called a Decision and Order, the hammer of the racketeering business model,” Weigel said.
The issue is garnering national attention and is coming to a head in places like New York City, where criminals can beat store owners and rob thousands of dollars of goods and then are released on “no cash bail” hours later by New York State Supreme Court Justices. However, honest, hardworking, taxpaying citizens like Dr. Sanjay Tewari, a pediatric anesthesiologist who focuses on helping children with special needs, are thrown away for days and weeks based on a family court civil contempt order.
NBC4 NY’s renowned investigative journalist Sarah Wallace and the I-team uncovered apparent corruption and misconduct by New York State Supreme Court Justice Kathleen C. Waterman-Marshall in Manhattan divorce court. Over six complaints to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct allege malfeasance, due process, and ethical violations.
https://frankreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/qfg3ge.mp4
According to the I-Team report and the New York County Clerk’s Docket for Geeta Kohli v. Sanjay Tewari, Index No.: 365297/2021, Dr. Tewari was ordered into “Debtor’s Prison” at Rikers Island for weeks because he could not immediately pay over $135,000.00 in attorney’s fees to Blank Rome LLP attorneys Brett Scott Ward and Grace Chamoun.
Dr. Tewari alleges that the financial interests of attorneys and court-appointed persons in the New York State Supreme and Family Court system are prioritized over the well-being of their clients and their families. His proof is, among other things, the two weeks he spent at Rikers’ Island for a civil legal bill, jailed for contempt while representing himself pro se and never having been afforded appointed counsel to represent him.
We contacted tax-payer-funded press representatives for the Connecticut and New York Judiciary (in NY, the Office of Court Administration) for comment about the implicated judiciary members. As of press time, we have not received a response.
Reporters from this outlet also contacted attorneys Gary Cohen (Naidoo), John Z. Marangos (Simonetti), Daniel B. Nottes (Weigel), Marianne Charles (DiRubba), and Brett Scott Ward and Grace Chamoun of Blank Rome LLP (Tewari) for comment. We also asked if they viewed it as legally justified: A) Debtor’s Prison for unpaid legal fees and B) the Death Penalty for Treason. As of press time, we only received a response from Attorney Gary I. Cohen of Stamford, CT.
“Just to be clear: The $35,000 that Attorney Naidoo was ordered by the trial judge to pay to me was a reimbursement to her husband as a sanction against his lawyer-wife for the out-of-pocket legal fees he incurred in responding to his wife’s litigation misconduct. I was merely the conduit for delivering that reimbursement payment to Mr. Kumar. The trial judge made it very clear on the record that her incarceration order was NOT requested by me or my client; but was ordered sua sponte by the trial judge, because of Attorney Naidoo’s refusal to comply with previously entered orders of the court,” Attorney Cohen said.
We have not received a response from any of the other attorneys.
We sought comment from the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct and its counsel, Robert H. Tembeckjian. Reporters asked about pending complaints against Justices Castorina, Dawson, and Waterman-Marshall. We also sought comments about the Commission’s and Attorney Tembeckjian’s impotence because of Executive Branch budgetary dependence and political corruption. As of press time, we have not received a response.
The Devastating Impact on Families
As we see from the Weigel, DiRubba, Tewari, and now Naidoo cases, the consequences of a parent’s imprisonment extend far beyond their own personal hardship.
“My children are suffering because of this,” Naidoo wrote in her social media post before her arrest. “If I am put in prison for not being able to come up with $37,512.50, who will take care of my children? I will have a criminal record and will not be able to get another job. And all of this will be because I asked for a few more weeks for the property to be sold so I could make the payment I am being forced to make.”
Naidoo’s fears have become a reality. According to reports, she lost her six-figure job as a corporate lawyer after her arrest, and her children are now without their mother. The devastating impact on families is one of the most troubling aspects of these judicial decisions.
“Judges are supposed to protect families, not tear them apart,” said Jill Jones Soderman, a family rights advocate and founder of the Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Courts. “When a judge decides to jail a parent over a financial dispute with an attorney, they are causing irreparable harm to that family.”
Jones Soderman has dealt with family court corruption and debtor’s prison as Executive Director of the FCVFC, which has their own “Rogue’s Gallery” of crooked judges and lawyers.
“Judges are not just arbiters of justice; they’ve become bill collectors for court-appointed minions who prey on vulnerable families,” Jones Soderman said. “The system is rigged to benefit those who thrive on conflict, leaving parents who can’t pay court-appointed bills to face the threat of jail.”
Jones Sodeman says that court-appointed attorneys, GAL, therapists, and other personnel are squarely to blame.
“Court-appointed therapists and guardians ad litem are creating chaos, pitting families against each other while profiting from the destruction they cause,” Jones Soderman said. “Judges are part and parcel to the billing pipeline tapping into federal funds under Title IV-D and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by ordering appointments of preferred vendors who are then able to bill the taxpayers for unlimited and scarcely regulated services that are antithetical to the well-being of children, families, and society as a whole.”
In a shocking investigative report, Frank Parlato previously detailed the mechanics of this corrupt billing system by comparing the court-submitted billing of Connecticut GAL Jocelyn Hurwitz to dishonest and fraudulent billing touted by Westport’s “tough-guy” divorce lawyer Edward Nusbaum.
A pathetic and small man can be a telephone tough guy and threaten a journalist that he will “Put Your Face Into the Pavement.” But recent rulings by Judge Tindill, Justice Waterman-Marshall, and other rogue judiciary members have irrevocably tainted the public’s perception of the justice system and family court corruption.
Not only did Edward Nusbaum rob a single mother, Karen Riordan, of thousands of dollars of demonstrably unearned legal fees. Now, Connecticut law says that if the poor woman fails to pay every red cent, she can be thrown into modern-day Debtor’s Prison over the whims of a judge.
The same is the case in New York. How thoroughly did Justice Waterman-Marshall review Blank Rome LLP‘s billing before she called for Dr. Tewari to get onto the bus to Riker’s Island, where his life was immediately at risk?
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The law firms that benefit from these “judicial collections practices” are the most significant contributors to the election and reelection campaigns of the judicial figures involved.
Is family court debtor’s prison “rigged” to benefit any group more than the rogue judiciary?
How to Curb Judicial Abuse and Family Court Corruption?
Advocates, including Szymonik, are pushing for legislative reforms to curb judges’ unbridled power to jail individuals over civil financial disputes. Some states have already taken steps to curb these abuses. Illinois, for example, has passed legislation prohibiting courts from issuing arrest warrants in civil debt cases and requiring the release of debtors on their own recognizance if they are arrested.
“We need similar laws in Connecticut and across the country,” said Szymonik. “The power of judges to jail family court litigants over fees for lawyers, guardians ad litem, and other court-appointed personnel needs to be reined in. We can’t allow this kind of abuse to continue.”
Calls for reform have also highlighted the need for greater oversight of family courts, which critics say are particularly prone to judicial overreach.
“Family courts are supposed to be about protecting the best interests of children and ensuring fairness between parents,” said an unnamed Connecticut family law attorney. “But in reality, they are often battlegrounds where judges can impose their will without real accountability.”
These debtor’s prison cases, among others, have prompted calls for judicial impeachment and removal of judges like Tindill, Castorina, and Waterman-Marshall. These judges engage in what critics describe as “judicial treason” against citizens’ fundamental rights.
“When a judge abuses their power to jail someone over a civil financial dispute, they are betraying their duty to uphold justice and protect individual rights,” said David Weigel. “That behavior is not just unethical; it’s a violation of the Constitution and deserves the harshest penalties, including impeachment and removal from the bench. Family court litigants in New York and elsewhere should not step back in front of these corrupt judges unless this entire system is meaningfully overhauled.”
But where can the aggrieved go for meaningful recourse? As stated above, official judicial complaint bureaus draw the claims that they are corrupt, impotent, and even complicit with the rogue courts. What can be done when the so-called watchdogs are just another arm of the troubled beast?
‘Judge Crater Call Your Office’: How is Immediate Change Possible?
New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater went missing in 1930.
Family court corruption and Debtor’s Prison cases are a stark reminder of the ongoing issues within the U.S. legal system regarding debt-related incarceration, highlighting the need for reform to protect individuals from being jailed for financial hardships. Lawmakers and advocates must address the underlying issues that allow for the criminalization of debt in modern America.
The time has come to handcuff the unchecked power of judges like Erika M. Tindill, Ronald Castorina, Jr., and Kathleen C. Waterman-Marshall, whose actions have crossed the line from sober judicial discretion to drunk-wuth=power judicial abuse. The jailing of cash-strapped litigants – parents in family court proceedings – is an outrage that cannot be allowed to continue.
Legislative reforms must be enacted to protect individuals from these abuses, and judges who violate the public trust must be held accountable through impeachment and removal. Anything less would betray our nation’s foundational principles of justice.
But legislative reforms take time. In 1831, President Jackson called for the abolition of Debtor’s Prisons. It took two full years for Congress to send him a bill to sign.
The looming question remains: How is Immediate Change Possible? Naidoo, Simonetti, and Tewari are not the first victims of Modern American Debtor’s Prison. But can they and others afford to sit in jail while our system is broken? Impeachment and removal of out-of-control judges are effectively off the table. The judiciary branch’s self-discipline process is a joke.
What is the people’s recourse against out-of-touch, rogue, egoistic, and harmful judges who are drunk on their own power?
Let’s look to history for guidance.
Judge Joseph Force Crater’s mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930 remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in American history. It cast a long shadow over New York City’s judiciary and political systems. The case is also a powerful case study of the power of the media to inform and modify public perceptions and government behavior.
At the time of his disappearance, Judge Crater, a New York State Supreme Court Justice, was caught in the crosshairs of a corruption investigation that was beginning to shake the foundations of Tammany Hall. This powerful Democratic political machine controlled much of New York City’s politics. His vanishing act, coming just as investigators were beginning to delve into corruption within the judiciary, raised numerous questions about the integrity of New York’s courts and fueled widespread speculation about ties to organized crime, including Crater’s ties to the notorious Murder, Inc.
Crater’s disappearance occurred when New York City was awash in corruption scandals. The Seabury Commission, tasked with investigating corruption in the courts, had just started its work, and Crater was rumored to be involved in the very corruption the commission was targeting.
His sudden vanishing led many to believe that he had fled to avoid exposure or had been silenced by influential figures seeking to prevent him from revealing damaging secrets. Crater’s connections to Tammany Hall, the political force behind his rapid ascent to the bench, only deepened suspicions of his involvement in illicit activities. In many ways, the media’s coverage of Crater’s disappearance ended Tammany.
Media coverage was relentless, with front-page headlines fueling public fascination and outrage. The press quickly dubbed him “The Missingest Man in New York,” the story became a nationwide sensation.
Crater’s high-profile status and the ongoing corruption investigation made his disappearance more than just a personal mystery; it symbolized the deep-rooted corruption that plagued New York’s judiciary and political landscape.
NY Judge Joseph Force Crater’s disappearance is still an unsolved case.
The investigation into Crater’s disappearance unearthed several disturbing leads. Two of Crater’s briefcases, believed to contain incriminating documents, vanished along with him. Witnesses linked Crater to organized crime figures, including Jack “Legs” Diamond and Arnold Rothstein, both notorious for their involvement in New York’s criminal underworld. Further suspicion arose from Crater’s reported connections to Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of the mob, which was known for carrying out contract killings on behalf of organized crime syndicates.
A later revelation by Stella Ferrucci-Good, the widow of an NYPD detective, implicated Charles and Frank Burns, both with ties to Murder, Inc., in Crater’s murder and alleged that his body had been buried in Coney Island.
Crater’s disappearance also highlighted the murky intersection of the judiciary and organized crime, casting doubt on the impartiality and integrity of New York’s courts. The grand jury convened after his disappearance ultimately failed to produce any conclusive findings, underscoring the difficulties of investigating corruption that permeated so many levels of power.
Judge Crater’s case remains an enduring mystery, emblematic of an era when political corruption and judicial malfeasance were rampant in New York City.
The parallels between today’s broken family court system and its civil Debtor’s Prison are hard to miss. Today, family court corruption and political and judicial malfeasance are rampant nationwide.
The Crater case also serves as a paradox. Despite the extensive media coverage and public scrutiny, the truth about Crater’s fate has never been uncovered. A legacy of unanswered questions and suspicions about the depth of corruption in New York’s judiciary during that time remained.
However, the extensive media coverage did serve to almost immediately end the rampant political and judicial corruption – far better than the Seabury Commission or any grand jury. The sunshine cast by the Fourth Estate almost overnight rendered the Tammany system impotent. That is the power of media.
We would be remiss if we did not point out that the presumed violence and death of Judge Crater is unacceptable in a civilized society. No one, not even corrupt officials who have caused harm to many, should fall victim to the violence of organized criminals, vigilantes, or the mob. To have a justice system, we must trust in justice.
Indispensable to justice is a free and open press and the liberty to freely converse, newsgather, publish, and exchange ideas. To that end, if you are unhappy about family court corruption and modern-day Debtor’s Prison and want immediate change, our system has only one answer: Media Scrutiny.
America’s free press tradition is robust. More than any other factor, it has been the driver of immediate, substantial, and lasting social change. The Fourth Estate’s clarion call remains constant: Contact us if you are aggrieved or wronged and have nowhere to go. We will listen. Journalists can tell your story. Each voice is another note in the chorus. We can all play a role in meaningful change.
If you are reading this and want to formally and finally abolish the heinous practice of Debtor’s Prisons in the United States, you can. Help our reporting by raising awareness of this issue and putting faces and names to this judicial crisis.
