Rabbi Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy
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NEW YORK — A rabbi and his daughter pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they conspired to bribe a judge who is at the center of a court corruption scandal.
Brooklyn Dist. Atty. Charles J. Hynes called the conspiracy pleas of Rabbi Ezra Zifrani, 67, and his daughter, Esther Weitzner, 37, the first step toward convictions of more central figures in the scandal.
The rabbi and his daughter said they gave an alleged courthouse fixer $5,000 to influence Weitzner’s child custody case before state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson. Garson has been accused of taking bribes to fix divorce cases in a scandal that has led to seven arrests and calls for reforms and closer scrutiny of Brooklyn’s courts.
Zifrani and Weitzner will perform hundreds of hours of community service and help prosecutors pursue other figures in the alleged scheme.
Defense attorney Ephraim Savitt said the bribe stemmed from Zifrani and Weitzner’s desperate attempt to win custody of her five children.
Garson pleaded innocent in September to bribery charges alleging he took cash and gifts, including a box of cigars, to fix divorce cases. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
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