Friday, June 8, 2012

From Ken Ditkowsky–more thoughts on corruption in Probate court


Posted on
From Ken Ditkowsky to myself:
Dear Joanne
Kickbacks are soooo common!   One of the e-mails that has the ARDC, Adam Stern, Cynthia Farenga et al up in arms is the one in which I suggest that the miscreants have paid the ‘kickback’ to the ‘clout’ in the form of a campaign contribution and the ‘clout’ would not or at least in not expected to return the contribution. [That would be a very good question.  Have they made campaign contributions to Connors/Stuart and if they did, is that illegal?  About 7 fed cir court cases say no (the law in the US is you can make a campaign contribution and the candidate can change a vote, refrain from taking action, take action, or take different action due to the contribution, and that is not "corruption".  I think it's at least an appearance of an impropriety for lawyers, but the court have held "no".  That's why the Blago conviction was soooo problematic. There has not been a decision like this before and that's why he was always saying "follow the money' meaning he took nothing personally.  Then they got that state law about campaign contributions, then the US Supremes said you can give all you want to a pol candidate and that is a first amendment right.]
[Did you ask for third party discovery against Stuart/Connor's campaign fund for a list of donations and in particular regarding all miscreants or everyone involved in the corrupt mess?] 
Thus, the guardian ad litem and the plenary guardian cannot at this point in time do what is expected of them – i.e. report the unusual spending of the plenary guardian, the ex-parte and illegal drilling of the safety deposit box and the non-inventory of a a million dollars in assets.   I knew that this would draw their ire, as it is most probably the current status of the Sykes case.
Follow the scenario – if the miscreants (the eyes and ears of the court) were to put on record the allegations made the Court would have to hold an inquiry.   Gloria Sykes has provided information on the subject as has Aunt Yolanda Bakken.    If called to testify I would also have testimony to contribute based upon my conversations with Mary.   At the very least there would have to be a referral to the States Attorney’s office for an investigation.   The SA would find that Gloria was a signatory on the box (and probably a joint owner) thus the drilling without her knowledge was suspect.    The State Attorney General and the IRs would also do some questioning as taxes are due – at this point in time almost a million dollars with interest and penalties.
To starve off the interest and penalties an excuse based upon the ***** (I am not going to give them a hint at a defense) the million dollars would have to be inventoried.   With the double eagles being inventoried it would have to be physically available for audit.    As the referral fee has most probably been paid to the clout (the referral fee is usually 1/3) someone has to come up with $333,000.00.   That would raise suspicion and in this pecuniary climate some hardship.    Once again – if Adam Stern, Cynthia Farenga, Peter Schmiedel et al have nothing to hide, let them join with me in calling for the States Attorney of Cook County to do a complete, honest, and comprehensive investigation of the Sykes case.    A professional investigation would determine if we are whistling Dixie, or have legitimate complaints! 
Thus, the flood of ARDC complaints and the attempt to silence us.    To shut Gloria up the Illegal seizure of her money, the eviction and theft of her papers and property etc.    To intimidate me, Ms. Black in her pleadings says I am a liar, but fails to disclose a single fact that she claims to be untrue.    When I asked her in Requests to Admit as to specific facts she wrote that the administrator does not have sufficient information to either admit or deny.    I have also requested that Ms. Black and the ARDC join with me in requesting a States Attorney investigation.
It is indeed interesting that this Texas corruption case should come to light and it should involve a Judge passing out guardianships etc, as well as a garden variety Greylord events.    It should be noted that this appears to be a Federal Prosecution.  Where is the State government?    Where is the investigation by local law enforcement?    Why has the local ARDC not acted against the miscreants?   (This pattern was also true in Greylord!)    Next time you see one of political types tell you that he/she is ‘fighting’ for the rights of the elderly – vote against him/her!    If he/she cared a ‘tinker’s damn’ about grandma he/she would be be screaming for an investigation of the Sykes case, the Tyler case, the Wyman case, the Gore case, etc.    Indeed, that would indicate that he/she is concerned the every day a senior citizen has been or is being wrongfully deprived of his/her liberty, property, civil rights, and/or human rights.     Like the Mary Sykes case the weapon is to isolate the senior from her family, her friends, her activities, and her neighbors.  Anyone who objects is the subject of official harassment.
Yes, Tiny Tim, this is 2012 America!   1936 has once again raised its ugly head and the ‘brown shirts’ wearing their new ‘shark skin’ suits are once against goose stepping ****
Ken Ditkowsky

—– Forwarded Message —–
From: GLD <gailwinds2hi@yahoo.com>
To: ‘kenneth ditkowsky’ <kenditkowsky@yahoo.com>; ‘probate sharks’ <verenusl@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2012 11:17 PM
Subject: EX JUDGE testifies in lawyers corruption trial OR How the wheels of predatory guardianship turn
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/07/4016313/ex-judge-testifies-in-lawyers.html

Ex-judge testifies in lawyer’s corruption trial

Posted Thursday, Jun. 07, 2012Updated Thursday, Jun. 07, 20120 Comments PrintReprints
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
A
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The former judge at the heart of a four-year federal investigation of judicial corruption told jurors on Thursday that he accepted kickbacks from several attorney friends, including the South Texas lawyer on trial.
Former state District Judge Abel Limas took the stand in Brownsville as a prosecution witness against Port Isabel lawyer Ray Marchan, the first of a dozen indicted in the case to go to trial.
Limas, the government’s featured witness, pleaded guilty last year to racketeering and is awaiting sentencing. Marchan faces seven counts, including racketeering and conspiracy.
The trial’s details may affirm the public’s worst fears about justice behind closed doors, where scales tipped in favor of money exchanges between lawyers and judges not evidence and procedure.
The intercepted conversations between Limas and Marchan played for the jury were profane, cynical chats between buddies about using the system to line their pockets. The amounts weren’t huge – about $11,000 from Marchan – but Limas testified that Marchan wasn’t the only one giving him money, and that, in total, he had taken more than $250,000 in bribes and kickbacks.
Limas 57, grew up in a rough Brownsville neighborhood and majored in criminal justice at the local university. He worked at the same police department as his dad for four years before going to law school, and said he had aspired to be a judge because it was prestigious and “only good people would get elected.”
In 2000, Limas was elected as a judge in Brownsville and served eight years on the bench. He said his judge’s salary brought in about $8,000 per month. Limas admitted that he liked to gamble, and estimated he made 30 trips to Las Vegas mostly to bet on boxing matches. He said he also had four kids in school and, by 2008, was more than $400,000 in debt.
Marchan, 55, was a respected civil litigator in Brownsville. He had attended Rice University and graduated from Stanford’s law school. In 2008, he was going through a divorce, and Limas said he had heard Marchan was headed for his third bankruptcy.
Limas had the authority to appoint guardians ad litem – lawyers to represent the interests of people – often children, in cases. In part because Marchan hosted campaign fundraisers for Limas, he appointed his friend to represent a child’s interest in a civil lawsuit in 2008.
“It’s a good amount most of the time when it’s a good case,” Limas told jurors. “It’s quick, easy money.” His closest attorney friends, like Marchan, kicked back some of that money, Limas said.
In addition to Marchan, Limas listed three others from memory who had kicked back money from such appointments. Only one, Joe Valle, has been charged in the investigation and sentenced.
The FBI opened its investigation of Limas in late 2007 and had wiretaps on Limas’ cell and home phones in 2008.
Prosecutors say the men decided to help each other make money. Marchan says he was just trying to help a friend.
Prosecutors also showed jurors photographs and copies of banking records they said corresponded with the alleged bribes and kickbacks.
Marchan’s lawyer, Noe Garza, emphasized Limas’ plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for him to cooperate in the case. He suggested Limas had to cooperate to keep his wife, an early target of the investigation, from being indicted. Limas said she was no longer a target.
Garza asked Limas to distinguish between lawyers who paid him kickbacks and bribes and those who loaned him money while he was a judge. On a large pad of paper beside the jury, Garza listed names for each.
Garza suggested Marchan was one of the friends providing loans.
He played a recorded call from June 2008. In it, Marchan asked Limas if he should make out the check as “a loan to your wife or a loan to somebody?”
Limas told jurors, “How to disguise it, that’s what he’s asking me.”
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