Dinowitz Dirty Laundry?

Interesting comment posted about Jeffrey Dinowitz in the Riverdale Press.

Perhaps Preet Bharara might want to take a look at what's going on in the Bronx...

http://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/How-does-Dinowitz-earn-his-legal-fees,48164?page=1&content_source=

To the editor:

I am writing you about a story published in your paper on Feb. 10 titled, “Legislators divulge how much money they make.”

I specifically wish to comment about some statements made by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz about sources of income that I believe warrant fuller examination.

Mr. Dinowitz stated that he made $110,000 last year. He got $79,500 as an Assemblyman, a $12,500 stipend (lulu) for chairing the Aging Committee, less than $20,000 as an attorney and “hundreds of dollars” in residual checks for his role in a movie.

Further on in the interview, he remarked that he did his work as an assemblyman “fulltime and then some” estimating that he works 60 to 70 hours per week.

If it is true that Mr. Dinowitz puts in such an extraordinary amount of time as an elected official and works such a demanding schedule, where did he possibly find the time to make approximately $20,000 as an attorney — and what exactly did he do to “earn” such a significant sum? Don’t bother speculating, I’m going to tell you.

Every Monday (excluding holidays) at 2 p.m. in room 600 of The Bronx County Courthouse, politically connected lawyers acting as referees sell at public auction properties that have been foreclosed upon.

Usually, the only bidders are the banks that hold mortgages. The actual process only takes about five minutes, unless in a particular situation there are several bidders, in which instance the process may take several minutes more. For this so called “work,” the referee is paid $500 per property.

These auctions are publicized in this newspaper and other publications usually under the heading “Legal Notices.”

Last year, on July 12, I personally went to The Bronx County Court House, sat in the first row of room 600, and in the course of 15 minutes saw Mr. Dinowitz “earn” $1500 by auctioning off three properties.

What a racket! I would speculate that most (if not all) of Jeffery Dinowitz’s $20,000 of income as an attorney came from his many appointments as a referee.

There are many prominent practicing attorneys in the Riverdale and neighboring areas (such as: Gerald Goldsmith, Lorraine Coyle, Ezra Glaser… ) who only every once in a while, at infrequent intervals, are appointed referees. Mr. Dinowitz is not a practicing attorney and certainly not as qualified or knowledgeable in the law as any of these three or for that matter, countless other more competent lawyers than himself.

Why then does the assemblyman get so many of these lucrative $500 per property appointments?

My educated guess is that a great many of these appointments are “payoffs” made by judges who have had their petitions circulated by the Benjamin Franklin “Reform” Democratic Club, which is controlled by Jeffrey Dinowitz.

This situation stinks to the high heavens and is a story worth pursuing by your newspaper. I would be glad to provide whatever assistance I can.

Alvin Gordon