Is She Dead? Final Post From Mother Who Lost Her Kids Through Family Court to Wealthy Attorney Husband

May 28, 2023

Catherine Youssef Kassenoff may be dead.  She was married to Allan Kassenoff, an attorney with Greenberg Taurig. She may have died yesterday.

Catherine was also an attorney and former federal prosecutor, who put her career on hold to raise her children.

Through her long divorce and custody battle, she lost her job as special legal counsel to the NY governor. She lost her home and lived in her car for a time.

She also lost her kids. Family Court removed them from her life three years ago.

Now it seems, she lost her life.

Recently, she learned she had cancer for the third time – this time it was likely terminal.

She said in a Facebook post yesterday that she is in Switzerland to end her life at an assisted suicide facility. She said her appointment was scheduled that day.

Catherine Kassenoff posted what she says is her final message, of what happened to her and how the family court system in New York failed her children, and her, but staunchly supported her wealthy attorney husband, who spent more than $3 million on lawyers, evaluators and therapists to terminate her relationship with her children. The record shows he was successful.

By Catherine Youssef Kassenoff

Dear Friends, Family and Supporters,
It is with a profound heartbreak, that I hope none of you ever experience, that I am writing my last post ever.
Today, I will be ending my own life. I will be doing so in a dignified and idyllic setting in Europe. There are simply no other options left.
In the last four years of my life, I have woken up every day to a nightmare like no other.
I can no longer endure the abuse and terror of Allan Kassenoff, who has spent the last 4 years mercilessly trying to incarcerate me on false charges, as recently as March 2023.
Allan Kassenoff
I have also endured the emotional devastation of being without my children for so long, homeless from Allan’s repeated ex parte evictions of me from the homes I own and rented, deprivation of my property and obliteration of my life savings, the loss of my two dogs, the loss of my career and reputation, and the concomitant humiliation and ostracism from all this.
Perhaps if I had the physical endurance to keep going, I would.
But with a new, terminal health issue that will soon be severely limiting my physical strength as well, and with no protection from our courts, I cannot keep running from Allan.
I was recently diagnosed with a virulent and life-ending cancer — after having had breast cancer twice in my life already.
I cannot go through debilitating chemo, surgeries and radiation again, this time with a dire prognosis, and with Allan fighting me “until he dies” and no court intervention whatsoever.
Those were his exact words to me in an email he sent on March 19, 2023….
So please understand why I did not share this news widely: if Allan had known about my health issues, he surely would have tried that much harder to end my existence.
On January 26, 2022, I was falsely arrested on reports made by Allan Kassenoff in October 2021, December 2021, and then on January 25, 2022.
After I proclaimed my innocence and fought these allegations, I won.
On March 16, 2022, all his bogus charges were dropped and his bogus ex parte orders of protection were vacated. His claims for “contempt” – seeking my incarceration – were also dismissed with prejudice.
But history has shown that Allan will never stop until I am gone.
Allan Kassenoff
As recently as March 18, 2023, Allan again tried to have me arrested while I was watching our 9 year old daughter skate. He got off the ice and came at me.
I told him to “get away from me” four times. He wouldn’t. He taunted me instead. He then reported me to police, claiming falsely that he had a “restraining order” when he didn’t, and when I had every right to see my daughter skate.
I captured his confrontation of me on video… along with the 911 call and the police report in which he falsely told police I was capable of “killing” him or my own children.
Based on the false 911 call he initiated, police officers came to the rink. Allan stood in the background with our daughter, laughing and pointing at me while I was questioned, waiting with her to see if I would be taken away in cuffs.
Fortunately, I wasn’t arrested. The police realized he was lying. But this is how I have lived for years: like a hunted animal, worried about when Allan will make the next false report.
He sees all this as a game, and the courts have not stopped him; they too are scared of him, or maybe they just don’t care.
While they handed out ex parte [Temporary Orders of Protection] TOPs against me like candy, on his say-say, they would not even enter a TOP against him after two days of testimony from police and the rink manager that he lied to try to procure my false arrest – again.
For a long time, I believed I could make my children’s lives better by fighting to stay in them, even if it was for just moments at a time. As time went on, the “in-between” of those moments became interminable, unbearable.
I would long for the girls; to try to think of all the things they might need, even though I was held at such a distance I did not even know what those things might be. I imagined who their friends were, where they went, who they spent time with, what their dreams were. I had nothing more than my imagination to work with because for the last 3 years, I was excised from being their mother.
I could not tuck them in bed at night, take them to school, host their sleepovers, make their breakfasts, or take them on vacations.
Allan wouldn’t allow any of that. The court gave him everything he wanted. I often shook from the pain of it.
In recent weeks, I realized that my presence in their lives only brings them pain and suffering. That is because they must answer to a father who does not view me as human.
He erased every element of their being that had anything to do with me: French, Christianity, tennis, e.g. They have learned to identify with him, to survive.
So, they now declare how they “hate Christmas” and call me “Catherine” instead of “mom.” For him.
In the end, they must reject me. For him.
I can see the pain on their little faces when they have to manage the unspeakable conflict that only my oldest seems strong enough to manage and fight through to see me.
It is a look that has haunted me for a long time. I don’t want to see it anymore. I just want theirs and my pain to end.
Their father has spent years and millions of dollars – over $3 million – to eliminate me from our girls’ lives.
He has liquidated savings to do so. He will never relent. He will spend their life savings. He will demonize me mercilessly, and he has made them suffer if they even want to see me.
They have been diagnosed with depression and worse. As long as I am alive and want to see them, they will be damaged over and over again with every attempt I make.
What is the point of that?
The last thing I want to do is make my own children suffer.
Even in death, Allan Kassenoff will never stop. After I am gone, he will falsely tell everyone that I am “mentally ill”, that I am a criminal and liar.
But I am none of these things and have proven it. I don’t have a criminal past; I am a former federal prosecutor and special counsel to the governor of NY.
I showed the undeniable abuse he perpetrated on numerous videos, showing I did not lie about that; and I have the testimony and reports of various doctors to prove my mental health. See the link.
Indeed, under Swiss law, a person wishing to end their life can only do so after meeting a very high bar and being found competent, not suffering from mental impairments.
The Swiss doctor and my therapists, Dr. Anna Filova, MD and Dr. Stephanie Brandt, MD, confirmed this.
Allan’s need to convince others otherwise comes from his shame about the truth: that he was a domestic abuser. By trying to cast me in these negative ways, he thinks he can clear his name.
Photo from Allans Facebook of him with his deceased dog
He cannot: the videos, audios and other materials will follow him forever. You will find police testimony about his abuse, medical records of his abuse, affidavits about his abuse, and more in the link.
Shame on Greenberg Traurig, who knew all this, and did nothing to stand up for the rights of domestic abuse survivors like me and my daughters.
My girls deserve so much better than the life they were given by their father and the family court system that was supposed to – and miserably failed to – protect them and me.
The court system favors the moneyed party, and if that party is an angry litigator, God help the other parent.
I was a good and loving mom who sacrificed my own career trajectory to have children, whom I finally conceived after many years of fertility treatments. I did not abuse alcohol, children or drugs. I never had so much as a brush with the law (until Allan tried to have me arrested). I put my kids before everything in life. I did not lose my entire life to a fair and just process.
I exposed both a corrupt forensic evaluator named Marc Abrams and a corrupt attorney for the children, Carol Most, both of whom were removed in disgrace from my case. But the system did not fix what it broke after that came to light.
Dr Marc Abrams
Childrens Attorney Carol Most

It turned my custody battle into a money-making churn.

Allan filed this divorce action in May 2019. Until recently, there was still no final trial scheduled in this case.
What a complete disgrace – to use the misery of a family so that the various court personnel involved can get rich: Dr. Adler, whose PsyD somehow qualified her to charge $600/hour to “reprogram” the girls; Dr. McGuffog, who charged $450/hour so that the father could sit in on my daughter’s sessions and who told my daughter she had to “pick between me or your mom”; Dr. Abrams, who made over $40,000 to testify for the father and was removed from the Panel of Forensic Custody Evaluators in disgrace; and Carol Most, who just billed a staggering $270,000 after being removed from the case for gross ethical misconduct.
I hope in death I will accomplish what I could not in life. I hope our legislators, judges, media and others will take notice of the price I am paying today, the horrors of family court, and how the court destroys families to profit. I hope the public will stand up and say “no more.”
Your children deserve better. So did mine.
Catherine Kassenoff
My primary contact is Wayne Baker (federallitigator@gmail.com), should you have anything to share with him, and who has all my documents from the divorce case, etc.
Please don’t let my demise be in vain. Reach out to him to organize yourselves. Use the facts of my case (which Wayne also has access to), and make change. Don’t let our children grow up to re-experience this trauma as adults.
All my materials in support of what I write above are available at this link, which I urge you to share everywhere before Allan finds a way to shut down this Facebook page. Please don’t let the world or my children forget the real Allan, who appears on dozens of videos I have posted here on Facebook.
Please preserve them for my children when they are ready to remember and learn the truth about him.
Please stand up against abusers like this who enjoy tormenting others. For the sake of my children and other mothers who live through this terror of domestic abuse, I ask that you please keep telling my story so that the truth is known far and wide:
Finally, a special thank you to those in my life who always put my children first and who supported me unfailingly: My Mother, Jennifer Culley, Keri Christ, Stephanie Brandt, Jonathan Davidoff, Wayne Baker, Katherine Klein, Katherine Sinsabaugh, Liz Kurtin, Lizzie Harding, Brian McQuillen, Rory Doyle, and my wonderful lawyers Andy Frisch and Evan Wiederkehr.
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Frank Parlato
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
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[…] Kassenoff posted on Facebook that she planned to end her life on May 27, in Switzerland via medically assisted suicide. It has […]

It’s the most dangerous cult of all.
It’s the most dangerous cult of all.
2 years ago

The Family Court cult
we all Must and Shall obey
all over the world.

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[…] resignation comes in the wake of Allan’s wife and mother of his three children, Catherine Kassenoff’s Facebook announcement on May 27, 2023. She said she planned to end her life in Switzerland at an assisted suicide […]

Humble
Humble
2 years ago

I’m curious who shut her Fb page done?

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[…] Frank Report published the story of the Faceboo0k post, and several follow-up stories. It went viral and was followed by numerous others, […]

litigate for catherine
litigate for catherine
2 years ago

Please make an effort to report this cae to CPS, the attorney General for a Criminal Rico filing, to the New York DA. Keep fighting for the children and the now deceased mother. We need to do this in an orderly systematic way. Answering Allan and assisting him in fruther abuse will do no good in the long run. Write letters, report this travesty to the proper authorities.

a note from Catherine
a note from Catherine
2 years ago

“This is a story that ends with my own assisted death in Switzerland. Its lead up has been published for years on Facebook, in Ms. magazine and in other media. The New York Court system is responsible for this outcome and should be held accountable for ruining the lives of my children, me, and so many other similarly-situated protective parents (mostly mothers) who have tried to stand up against abuse but were labeled ‘liars,’ ‘mentally ill’ and then treated like criminals.”

— Catherine Kassenoff, May 27, 2023

https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/05/catherine-kassenoff-death-child-custody-divorce-court/

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

With someone like him he needs to be bundled into the boot of a car and beaten within an inch of his life. Over and over, every time he abused you or the kids. That monster needs to shake with fear instead of inflicting that same misery on others. Hell is too good for that piece of crap. We see him.

Bunny
Bunny
2 years ago

It’s time for some good old boy justice since the courts are failing these children

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Frank Parlato

Unfortunately wimps like her ex never have to deal with due process and now that she is gone how will he ever have due process. Scum like him never suffer. His due process should be of the old testament-fire & brimstone! Sometimes the judicial system doesn’t work.

Monica
Monica
2 years ago

This is a common theme for Ireland. The government was removing kids from their poor families and sending them to US, Canada, and Australia. These kids were used as indentured servants. This was common practice until 1965. Only the poor we’re targets.

Afraid of future ligation
Afraid of future ligation
2 years ago

This is happening in Ireland at an astonishing rate. I am out after 6 years of a similar court battle. The cult that is the parental alienation is destroying women in this country. No body is listening. The UN has issued a report detailing how the courts are being used to silence domestic violence but yet…. Week on week more women are told to shut up or they will lose the children and their homes.
It is all coming from the US and like fools, Europe follows suit.
I was assaulted, abused and worse yet, so we’re my children and only for donations from friends and family I would never have been able to fight the false allegation PA.

https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A/HRC/53/36&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=False

This needs to change and soon!

Laura
Laura
2 years ago

She was alienated from her daughters, so am I! My kids are living with the abuser and the court ordered to stay away from them 2 years! Reem Alsalem is against Parental Alienation though many mothers are abused in the most cruel manner and have children taken away from them! I am an alienated mother! And there are many other mothers like Catherine and me!

Marci
Marci
2 years ago

If a donation would help, please let me know how. May Catherine RIP, and her beautiful daughters are protected from the man that obviously has no love for them.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

He is a narcissist, a bed person manipulative liar and dangerous!!!!

Lisa Grimes
Lisa Grimes
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

A monster who is totally empty inside, an extreme malignant narcissist possibly a psychopath with no conscience. Such a sad story. I’m an alienated mother caused by CPS. I took my case to the Michigan Supreme Court and lost 2 to 1. I’ve lived with this PA for 16 years of no contact with my daughter. I don’t believe in God anymore. Divine Intervention is just a phrase. I’ve known too many mothers like Catherine, who just can’t take the pain anymore. It is a soul wrenching pain like no other. To never see your children and they’re alive. I’m on board now to fight narcissism (Dr. Ramani Durvasala), and PA (Charlie MCReady). We must continue to fight this evil that is lurking everywhere in our world. Peace to all.

Lorena
Lorena
2 years ago

He should have just left if he was with another woman, didn’t want the kids or her but couldn’t resist being on top. May he fall and crumble with no way of rising again as for Catherine may she be okay and if not rest in peace 🥺

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Omg, this is just absolutely heartbreaking, to deny a good mother on her death bed. may her fight and death not be in vain rip Catherine 💜

Sharon Carlton
Sharon Carlton
2 years ago

This is terribly sad. I’m so sorry for all you had to endure. God bless you dear Catherine, your girls, and your family. May Allen get all he deserves, and go to hell for all he has done.

Janet E. McFeely
Janet E. McFeely
2 years ago

It’s disgusting and demoralizing that our children are able to be used as pawns and have no hope of being saved by a system that is supposed to protect them. These poor children have lost the most important person in their lives, the ONLY one advocating for their best interests. They will forever be longing for their mother and be scarred both emotionally and psychologically. The future of our culture just keeps getting darker as our children have no safe haven and no protection from the insane animals that are stealing their childhood and innocence at an increasing rate. It’s time to rally to protect our children, their innocence, our future. Money CANNOT be the determination factor on who wins. Something needs to be done IMMEDIATELY. And Catherine’s children need to be saved

Ali
Ali
2 years ago

Its exhausting mentally & physically going through the white plains family court – so many twisted allegations & lies and the lawyers bleed you dry rather than the $ going to the kids i couldn’t have imagined doing this and fighting cancer – she is a true warrior

Sarah Barker
Sarah Barker
2 years ago

We must coordinate about this and do something for this mother and bring this joke of a father and those that enabled him for money to justice! Please reach out to me on Twitter @sarah_g_barker to formulate a plan to get on this. I live half the year in CT close to New York as well

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

H

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

All of you commenting on this are deranged psychopaths that love nothing more than bringing down someone else to make you feel better about your mistakes. The saddest part in all of this is all of You sharing and posting and destroying and defaming the life’s of people and children that have nothing even to do with this. You are all the greatest tragedy of our time these new people in todays culture who are incapable of independent thought and succumb to the hive mind mentality. You are all disgusting

Emmi
Emmi
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Yeah, you’re a POS. Don’t worry Allan. When we’re done, we’ll ensure a full investigation into your blatant abuse of your ex-wife, your children, and the US Judicial System. Hopefully we can get the children away from you as well. I hope nothing more than your life burns to the ground. You deserve what’s happening to you and more.

Ali
Ali
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Clearly Allan wrote this you’re going down

Monica
Monica
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

What’s disgusting is what happened to Catherine and her children. We’ve seen the videos, the reports.

Stephanie A. Jones, Esq., LL.M MPH
Stephanie A. Jones, Esq., LL.M MPH
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

This response is directed to “Anonymous” who referred to those of us deeply concerned about Catherine, as psychopaths. In the exposure of this horrific and systematic murder of Catherine, initiated by the loathing and intentional drive to this point of desperation by her ex-husband, aided and abetted by the host of filthy government systems operating in cacophonous concert, Frank Parlato is once again braving telling the truth. Make no mistake: there are costs to being an indefeasible and indefatigable protector of truly desperate souls whose stories would otherwise would be as buried as Catherine most likely will be. His trenchant efforts have been thanked by the imprisoned, fellow-women-branding monsters in the Seagram’s heiresses’ funded litigation against him This is a man of exceptional talents in city-planning, mergers and acquisitions, and high level strategy, all endeavors which would yield high incomes, yet he persists in bringing the often disturbing bright light of factual reporting to stories that simply must be told, or they will continue. And unlike you, Anonymous, when Frank Parlato writes? He puts his name to his words. As do I. If you want to speak as you have? Put your name to your baseless, histrionic babble. I. Dare. You.

Janet E. McFeely
Janet E. McFeely
2 years ago

👏 Bravo

Ali
Ali
2 years ago

Anonomous is clearly Allan – hey focus on your children and get off the blogs if your such a great father – lets replay the video where you cleatly state i cant deal with these kids & walk out the door – how do you think Catherine felt having zero energy from battling cancer 2x only to have it come back & then dealing with your daily rants & abuse everyday – you broke her & you’ll break your kids – theres no way you can handle 3 girls going into tween years Allan you piece of garbage

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Why would anyone share their name with a bunch of deranged, low-IQ savage idiots like you?

Bunny
Bunny
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

We all know who you are. Her husband. You even talk exactly like him from her videos

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Wow anonymous ego is something really outta this world. He’s such an insecure pathetic little man that he can’t stand people talking about him. A true sign of an egomaniac with an inferiority complex. It makes sense with whimps like him, as those types are such control freaks that have to resort to abuse of women. Such weak little men. It’s too bad that wimps like him aren’t placed into a Boot Camp type behavioral rehabilitation program with real men where the Cadre are real, honorable ex military preferably Airborne/Ranger/Paratrooper type Non-commissioned officers such as myself where we run weak little men like him into the ground for 90-180 days with 4 hrs per sleep per day and see how weak they really are. Wimps like him usually suffer from small male genitalia, premature ejaculation because they only care about themselves. Wimps like him are the first to break and cry like babies.

Jane E. McFeely
Jane E. McFeely
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

You are disgusting and will be the downfall of our future. How can you NOT ADVOCATE for these poor defenseless and now traumatized children. How much more proof do you need. And it affects us all. Each traumatized child is our future. It should not be their burden to carry. Stop being delusional.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Quiet down Alan. We’re working here.

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Is this the pathetic ex commenting? Karma is real and one day his kids will hate him and have nadda to do with the parasite.

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[…] Frank Report broke the story just hours after her post said she had an appointment with a Swiss facility for assisted suicide: Is She Dead? Final Post From Mother Who Lost Her Kids Through Family Court to Wealthy Attorney Husba…. […]

Leanne Massey
Leanne Massey
2 years ago

This was a true injustice for this Momma!! Oh the heartache she felt. This is sickening on a completely different level. May her precious soul rest in peace and may God hold those babies close and allow them to see the truth.

Carolyn
Carolyn
2 years ago

Please look into carolyn Mc Guffolks pay per play . It’s not ethical and it’s not right .

Carolyn
Carolyn
2 years ago

What to say ? How tragic and unnecessary. Not at all surprised by the Carolyn Mc Guffolk twist . Take a deep dive into Ms. Mc Guffolk history of graft and criminality . Lots to see …..

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[…] Allan Kassenoff had faced a series of traumatic events before she died. (Source: frankreport) […]

Disgusted
Disgusted
2 years ago

Trauma caused by by him

Big picture politics in what will be China when our families, economy and nation are gone.
Big picture politics in what will be China when our families, economy and nation are gone.
2 years ago

Sure American family court lawyers and vendors make millions.

They also destroy children and families. 👈 That seems to be the reason it’s allowed.

Gilbert
Gilbert
2 years ago

In the USA the Family Court System in especially Democratic Party controlled States supports and upholds the evil-money and ugliest deceit in every way possible first.

Monica
Monica
2 years ago
Reply to  Gilbert

When I lost my children, George Bush was the president

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Monica

Time magazine: “… Barbara Bush began referring to the two men as “the odd couple.” Jeb Bush, the Florida governor, announced that he was going to refer to Clinton as “Bro” …“

Whether or not Aleister Crowley met Pauline Pierce in Paris in 1924, Barbara Bush definitely married a Skull and Bones cult member who directed the CIA. What followed next was continued warmongering all over the world, satanism in Hollywood and then in Target, a two-gendered Baphomet trend and presidents George W. and Mr. Biden. The days of politics for entertainment purposes is over. Both sides are a show. Don’t be fooled by the “divide and conquer” tricks.

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Monica

Has nothing to do with the president

Hi
Hi
2 years ago
Reply to  Daniel

I was trying to say it doesn’t matter what party is in office as some people were saying it’s democrats causing the problem

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Gilbert

Every state, democratic or not, has an abysmal CPS system due to corruption and underfunding. Which the republican senate voted to further cut in the proposed default bill. Get off of Fox.

Coolnessguys
Coolnessguys
2 years ago
Reply to  Gilbert

F off man. This guy is a classic trump supporter. Why dont you go back to watching CP like the rest of your republican buddies

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Gilbert

Stuff it. Dollars to donuts this asshat is a Republican.

Michael H
Michael H
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Seriously lookher ex scumbags last name, he’s Jewish. Most American Jewish especially Attorneys are Democrats which is a fact. No anti Semitisim here but statistically Jewish Americans do not vote GOP, just like African Americans they vote Democrats in.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Michael H

Michael H men of all different religions are abusers. The attorney against me was Irish Catholic and he was ruthless, an alcoholic and a drug abuser. His father was the same. So don’t blame or bring Jews into this. It is a sick culture that is responsible

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

In the USA the Family Court System in especially Democratic Party controlled States supports and upholds the evil-money and deceit in every way possible first.

Monica
Monica
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

This has nothing to do with a Democratic Party. I was in court since 1991 and they were Republicans and Democrats throughout the years. I endured this for 18 years. Don’t blame a party on this this is a heinous system destroying children

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

This isn’t a party line. Politicians don’t put money into the state run family court system. This is the good ole boy lawyer networks at play. 💯 he was one of them had the money to pay them. That is how it works. If you can afford the money to outspend the other party you win.

courtwatcher
2 years ago

Looks like Allan Kassenoff got to these documents and deleted them, thank goodness I saved a few, in the memory of Catherine Youssef Kassenoff. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZitsXgychSTNxN4FXFjjoip93w4E6EaN?usp=drive_link

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[…] cannot confirm if Catherine Youssef Kassenoff died in Switzerland last weekend. She was a former federal prosecutor and attorney in a four-year divorce and custody dispute with […]

Heidi
Heidi
2 years ago

I’m sure both women and men around the world will agree on a few things. There is a profound and significant amount of emotional and psychological pressure on the falsely accused. Weather it is parental alienation or abuse. Catherine and parents like her are aggressively and relentlessly attacked. It completely exhausting mentally, spiritually and physically. No matter what evidence you present it is either ignored or swept under the rug. It’s years of relentlessly fighting to prove the truth or falsehoods. You are stuck in the machine called family court with no end in sight. The decent lawyers are often chewed up and spit out. You are constantly weeding out the ones who are adding to the problem. Unless you have gone through the family court system, you have no idea how damaging it is to everyone including the children. Catherine was a mother and a warrior. May her children understand how hard she fought for them. How much she had an effect on others trying to stop the machine called family court. Thank you Frank for the article and all your hard work to stop the harmful machine called family court.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

I’m so heartbroken by this. Allan should be criminally charged.

Janay Bender
Janay Bender
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

I agree! Allan should be criminally charged. And lose his law license.

Holly Amirault
Holly Amirault
2 years ago

I am heart broken and pray that this beautiful Mother’s loss does not go in vein along with the countless other Protective Moms and children that have lost their lives to the most wicked, evil unjust Family Court System and their Narcissistic Psychotic husbands! This is close to my heart and am fighting in my own way but what else can be done?
Just like the corruption at all levels of our government how do we stop this! God bless you for caring!

What can we do to help?
What can we do to help?
2 years ago
Reply to  Holly Amirault

Good question: How do we stop this?

Beatriz Saldivar
Beatriz Saldivar
2 years ago

Take a look at ALIENATION INDUSTRY ~ https://www.alienationindustry.com/ good place to start helping us stop this horrific child trafficking, collusion of therapist, GALs, lawyer and judges turning a blind eyes & deaf ears, is to take a look at this website and share with your network– I’m one of many moms just like Catherine– that my child was also taken away and I still have no access, no possession to my child. Have spent almost $1m and I’m only an exhibit A similar to Catherine– there are 1,000’s of moms (mostly moms) are impact a few fathers. But we need to ABOLISH REUNIFICATION CAMPS and a system that is failing our children, and destroying families like mine for a lifetime.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

We see the symptoms. What are the causes?

Legislators and law enforcement don’t see what family courts do to children and families?

Tim S
Tim S
2 years ago

Yes the industry is evil but it is not mostly women, that is a lie. How does someone come up with $1 million to fight for custody? Please post actual statistics that men win custody more than women. That is a lie. Post up and don’t start making accusations that I’m siding with the pos husband of this poor woman but women win custody over men and that’s a fact.

Jan
Jan
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim S

Wrong abusive men win custody 85% of cases. You don’t realize that some men are not going to abuse the mother of their children in a custody battle so they are more reasonable

Jim
Jim
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim S

Tim S you haven’t done your homework

John Z
John Z
2 years ago

Try watching this!

https://youtu.be/KLCsbtS9dUA

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Holly Amirault

My heart is breaking for her and her ex is a weak little wimp but the system is broken both men and women are getting their children stolen. Here is a great documentary that will scare the he’ll outta any parent. It’s all about money.

https://youtu.be/KLCsbtS9dUA

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

The courts are doing the same thing to me and no one stops any of it http://www.change.org/arrestRenaHughes

Erased Mother
Erased Mother
2 years ago

What a brutal story. Yes the system in US, UK and AU fail so many. I always thought the legal system was about Justice, sadly it is not. Whomever plays the dirtiest wins as there is no perjury in family court. I hope you are now at peace and left this world with dignity. I pray for your girls.

Pathos
Pathos
2 years ago

America is not a free country it a sick country that routinely does this to families for the oh mighty dollar

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Pathos

The mighty dollar and control of the world. Weak people can’t fight tyrants.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

There is no escaping Karma. If this is all true, what awaits him will be of Biblical proportions.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

YES! Agree

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Kids love their parents no matter how f-ed up they are
It’s human nature
My wish is that children who are abused by their families and this bs system, find the strength to heal and love themselves in spite of all the cock roaches, rats and Vermin

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Unfortunately, cockroaches, rats and vermin aren’t the problem.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Unfortunately it appears that our government is not protecting it’s citizens. Years of reported problems in family court. Ignored for financial gain. We are no longer land of the free or home of the brave. Legalization of abuse and uneithical law practice.

Jan
Jan
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

If I was terminally ill, and I had a husband like him- I’d take him out before I died. Nothing to lose at that point, and at least I would die knowing that this POS clown would no longer continue to abuse these girls. I’d just say to him ” If I’m checking out of this world- so are you! See you in Hell you little bitch!”

John D
John D
2 years ago
Reply to  Jan

Fuggin A! I love your thinking! Now that would be poetic justice and karma!

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

I’ll tell you what, if I was born into such a shit show, I’d dig a hole under my bed until I got out. What we need to do is create safe shelter for runaways . I would gnaw my arm off..
To
Save
My
Life

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Kids can’t even run away without the police for I g them back to their abuser. The tentacles of corruption reach into every public entity designed to protect children— instead the abusers are protected and kids sacrificed.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

This story is same as my daughter’s. Her ex also took her kids unlawfully by lying and bribing to the judge in Middlesex county court in NJ. The retired judge gave sole custody and all assets to the abuser 3 years back. For the sake of money the Judges ruin a mother’s life. Some newspaper should publish this story and help stop this corruption in family courts.

Who named the towns where the worst family courts are?
Who named the towns where the worst family courts are?
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Is the Middlesex County Court in New Jersey where all the worst cases go?

How many other American states have a “Middlesex County” and/or a Middlesex Family Court?

Connecticut’s “Regional Family Court” docket at the Middlesex courthouse handles the most dangerous cases.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

What kind of sculpture is that, right in front of a church?

728 Main St
Middletown, CT 06457

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mortonfox/3318493156

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

The problem is the corruption is also in media, so the refuse to cover stories that expose the truth such as mine I reported it for 6 years no one did anything http://www.change.org/arrestRenaHughes nevada attorney general is just as corrupt as the judges

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Deeply sorry to her child

Happy Memorial Day.
Happy Memorial Day.
2 years ago

Dear protective parents,

This has been a war against families. Family courts were designed to be battlefields.

Thank you for your service.

Julia

It’s just a few who benefit from full-blown wars with casualties.
It’s just a few who benefit from full-blown wars with casualties.
2 years ago

“Either we’re going to go to trial, or we’re reaching an agreement — I don’t want to talk anymore,” Adams’ lawyer told Flo Rida’s lawyer.

“You want war? I’m ready for war,” Flo Rida’s lawyer shouted back.

“I’m waiting for a number from you,” he added. “I was in the Marine Corps. I’m used to war.”

https://www.insider.com/rapper-flo-rida-agrees-to-child-support-package-disabled-son-2023-5

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Thank you for honoring Catherine. We need to ask ourselves why no other news agency has brought this story to light.

It is tragic, but brings forth current issues impacting the lives of children and protective parents.

Few brave people willing to be a target themselves for the good of our children.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

The media is complicit. They enable the corruption and abuse, and them profit off stories when people actually die from.the abuse they tried to get the media to write about.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

I feel every bit of this.

Sharon
Sharon
2 years ago

♥️♥️♥️♥️🙏those children are still 50% genetically Catherine’s. They have her fighting, intelligent and logical spirit. I hope justice will be served for their sales, if not their beautiful mum’s.

Becky
Becky
2 years ago

This is awful

Coercive Control and Post-Separation Abuse Victim-Survivor since 2007
Coercive Control and Post-Separation Abuse Victim-Survivor since 2007
2 years ago

Allan Kassenoff has made his Facebook profile private, but before he did I had a chance to look at his many, many posts. He reminds me so much of my own abuser. He views his children as his property, and as weapons in the use of his destruction of Catherine. He is callous, flippant, and image-conscious. Catherine’s only mistake is that she was tricked into marrying someone as malignant and vengeful as he was, and that he became wealthy and powerful enough to do the things he did. Some of us are just luckier that our exes has fewer tools at their disposal. I hope that someday Catherine’s daughters understand just how much their mother loved them, and how dangerous their father is. I hope they can build healthy and safe lives for themselves once they reach adulthood. Protective moms going through the same hell, like me, will keep telling Catherine’s story. Rest in peace, amazing mama.

Marilyn
Marilyn
2 years ago

Praying for the children. Praying the xhusband is exposed.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Marilyn

He just was exposed

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

My heart breaks for her and her children. As someone who is going through something so similar and the court system fails horribly by protecting the narcissist and continue to allow his bad behavior. He has and is mentally destroying my daughter and making ppl believe there is something wrong with her when in reality it’s his failed parenting. But like her the courts fail the mothers who try so hard to parent their child like should be done. I hope anyone and everyone who is going through this stands their ground and continues to fight in the end our kids will see who the real caring parent is. My heart breaks so bad for this woman and I pray for one day that man gets his day when he has to answer to all he has done to this woman and her children 😢😢

Sad for Catherine
Sad for Catherine
2 years ago

The family law court is a vehicle enabling abusers to continue their abuse. Fit mothers lose custody to abusers on a continual basis. Mothers are jailed, lose custody, pay child support to rich abusers because the family law court turns a blind eye to the safety of the children. Mothers are helpless and are treated exactly like the women in the Salem witch trials. Allan Kassenoff drove the mother of his children to suicide by his constant attacks.

Kevin M
Kevin M
2 years ago

I feel for you but statistics show women get main custody over men by a higher percentage and you’re being dishonest. The court system is broken, maybe your pos ex has connections in the system but men lose their kids more than women and it’s rare that women have to pay alimony, child support over men. If you have actual statistics that prove your statement is true post up, just don’t come on here and make false statements because you lost and your ex probably had connections. Most men don’t have those rich connections.
https://youtu.be/KLCsbtS9dUA

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

More and more pain inflicted by family court. Yet, MANY judges and lawyers refuse requirements for training of domestic violence issues? Why don’t they want training?

Concerned
Concerned
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

They don’t act on what they can learn from the training. They are biased towards the abusers

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Concerned

How many lawyers and judges are biased toward the abusers — and why would they help abusers?

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Stephanie A Jones, Esq. LLM, MPH
Stephanie A Jones, Esq. LLM, MPH
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Because the majority of lawyers and the majority of judges (the latter need not always be the former) are dissociated—as in the technical, neurologic state—from themselves. This is what happens when either “sharp, useless” people (Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” Great movie!) go into law as a default and / or for money AND / OR they go into it for the love, the purest of passion for Justice, for the aspirations of our Founding Fathers, only to find that … they’ll never pay off their student debt unless they sell out. Another dynamic is that those at the very very top of the class get baited by big firms, which, by my experience in several, do not support keeping that fire burning in one’s heart. And bait they do! I made thousands a week in the summer of 1992 at the then second largest law firm in the world, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. It’s nearest prison camp (oops office) was about 1:40PM from my home. I had two small children, a single Mom. I did not want to go a week at a time without them. So Jones, Day arranged that I would drive up on Monday morning, drive home on Tuesday night. Not work Wednesday (so I could, you know, be a Mommy). Drive up Thursday, drive home Friday. Thereby not missing one day of my children’s lives. And, of course, no cut in pay. And, of course, an apartment fully outfitted for Monday and Thursday nights. So you think I stayed with them? OMG. The back-stabbing, the duplicity, the Stepford Smiles. Those who SHOULD be fighting the system are reared in the SYSTEM and graduate from their cash-amassing law firm days debt-free, and then go into freefall morally, had they not been before. I turned on my heel. Spitting over my shoulder. Because we ARE the company we keep. Take cash from dogs (yes even well-heeled Westminster show dogs)? Get up with fleas.

Systemic intention in family courts, too.
Systemic intention in family courts, too.
2 years ago

While,

“ … We the People of the United States v. Mr./Ms. X.” ?!?!

What the penal system here fails to realize–in what seems to be systemic intention–is that those who stand accused are, they, themselves, members of “the People.” …”
[ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/oitnb-americas-obsession-its-biggest-problem-returns-jones?trk=public_post ]

in family courts,

Family courts v. Mr./Ms. X.” ?!?!

And, what the family court system here fails to realize–in what seems to be systemic intention–is that the children and families family courts destroy are, they, themselves, members of “We the People” who are supposed to have a say in how OUR family courts work.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Because they do not need training. They are allowing themselves to be bullied by the abusive parent. It’s like those who tried to appease Hitler . . .

Sad and disgusted
Sad and disgusted
2 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Many identify with the bullies.

Carol Most-needs to be disbarred
Carol Most-needs to be disbarred
2 years ago

Carol Most needs to be removed as an attorney for Catherine’s children and any children.

Catherine has documented everything. Her case is a model of what happens to so many protective parents in the secrecy of family courts- where the “disease” of parental alienation- diagnosed by narcissistic attorneys purely for profit- destroys parental bonds, maligns a healthy parent, and drags them through the mud for years- while holding their children hostage with the abusive parent.

The courts know the game.

We need to demand accountability. There is no Justice through the courts. None.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

If people are following up on that, they might be interested in seeing Jennifer Dulos’ last motion to the court via her attorney. I think it was dated May 10th. In that motion, she asks the court to look into what the evaluator and guardian litem did in her case. She was obviously concerned about what they were doing and she asked the family court for help.

In that case too, there was so much evidence and the state still didn’t protect her or her children.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Where can we write to to get carol disbarred?

Did Mr. Burke and Mr. Effron send weapons to dangerous wars?
Did Mr. Burke and Mr. Effron send weapons to dangerous wars?
2 years ago

Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

How many died in the “Family Court” war since the Hartford Courant published this article three and a half years ago?

Do attorneys involved in these cases see no need to advocate for family court reform?

This is from February 2, 2020 …

“Four months before his estranged wife went missing, a frustrated and financially strapped Fotis Dulos wrote a scathing letter to judicial authorities opposing the reappointment of the judge handling his then two-and-a-half-year-old divorce case.

“I feel like a passenger in a runaway train that is headed to nowhere,” Dulos wrote in the Jan. 30, 2019, letter to the Judicial Selection Commission and obtained by The Courant.

“I have very little faith left at the judicial system, and I am reaching out to you as a last resort.”
The letter by Dulos criticizing Superior Court Judge Donna Heller lays out Dulos’ frustrations with the family court system and with his wife’s attorney, Reuben Midler.

It reveals not only his anger at not seeing his children “for more than one percent of the time in 2018” but also his frustrations with the cost of the divorce.

“My soon to be ex-wife has waged war against me by employing the law firm of Wayne Effron and specifically attorney Reuben Midler,” Dulos wrote. “I have been representing myself because I cannot afford legal fees of $70,0000 per month as she does. The result is I have been railroaded.”

Dulos complained that Heller allowed Midler to “always get his way” and controlled the proceedings. Midler could not be reached for comment.

Records detailed the financial drain of the bitter divorce.

The court-appointed guardian for the couple’s children, Michael Meehan, who Farber Dulos wanted removed from the case, was paid $175,000 through December 2018, records show. Dr. Stephen Herman, a child psychiatrist who authored a custody report, was paid more than $40,000 despite leaving the witness stand during cross-examination by Midler, and refusing to finish his testimony, which could make his report moot in family court.

Herman’s report has been sealed by Heller, although search warrants released recently indicate that Stamford/Norwalk State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo obtained a copy through a search warrant. At the court hearing when the report was sealed, attorneys for Dulos intimated that Herman’s report was favorable toward Dulos.

There also are costs for a family therapist, three psychologists and court-approved monitors, paid about $150 an hour, who were required to supervise Dulos’ visits with his children. Records show Dulos had at least 20-25 supervised visits with his children since Farber Dulos filed for divorce in 2017.

“Judge Heller has ruled against me over and over. I am not an alcoholic, I am not a drug addict, I am not an abuser,” Dulos wrote. “I am a good father and my children adore me.”

Dulos was angry that he was unable to see his children. Heller had restricted his contact with them after he lied about them having contact with his then-girlfriend Michelle Troconis.

Troconis has been arrested three times since the disappearance of Faber Dulos. In the most recent arrest Jan. 7, she was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the disappearance of Farber Dulos. Her case is pending.

“I speak to them on the phone once a week on a recorded line!” Dulos wrote, referring to the arrangement he had to talk to his children.

It’s unclear what Dulos expected to get from writing the letter, although he does ask the commission to take a closer look at his case and claims that he is being discriminated against because of his Greek origin.

Heller was unaware that the letter was written and told Dulos she should have been informed. She also told Dulos at a court hearing that it didn’t matter anyway.

“And — so I’ve been approved for reappointment. I’ll put it that way. So whatever complaint Mr. Dulos made, the Judicial Section Commission has approved me for reappointment. But I did not have any knowledge of it, and I think I should have been informed,” Heller said, according to court transcripts of a March 2019 hearing.

But a day after that hearing, Heller issued her new custody orders, which increased the amount of time that Dulos could see his children to every other weekend and Wednesday evenings as long as a court monitor was present.

The last time Dulos saw his children was on May 22, when he spent more than an hour at their New Canaan home eating dinner in the backyard while Farber Dulos and the nanny for the children, Lauren Almeida, were inside.

Dulos spent more than an hour outside the home but never went in, according to Colangelo. “

Blood on the faucet
says more than Colangelo.
Family court is war.

https://www.courant.com/2020/02/02/i-feel-like-a-passenger-in-a-runaway-train-that-is-headed-to-nowhere-a-frustrated-cash-strapped-fotis-dulos-fought-against-judge-overseeing-his-two-year-contentious-divorce/

weapons of war
weapons of war
2 years ago

Is Harold Burke a weapons dealer and a good guy, anyway? Did parents in New York State child custody disputes not have the “constitutional right to a full and fair trial” before he made that happen? Catherine Kassenoff must have thought or known that Burke was one of the good guys.

“Published Jun 14, 2016

On June 9, 2016 the New York Court of Appeals recognized that parents involved in child custody disputes have a constitutional right to a full and fair trial.
In S.L. (Anonymous) v. J.R. (Anonymous) New York’s highest court held “that parents have a fundamental right to custody of their children” while reaffirming that in child custody cases “the best interests of the child” remains a primary concern. This case is the culmination of nearly five years of effort challenging and overturning a legally and morally defective procedure that has deprived mothers and fathers of the ability to seek or retain custody of their children.

A parent’s fundamental rights and a child’s best interests are not mutually exclusive. And while this point may seem self-evident, certain trial and appellate courts in New York have had a long-standing practice of denying parents trials in custody cases. Essentially, the judges hearing these cases, aided by misguided court appointed counsel for the children, have picked the winners and losers without ever affording parents their day in court. Those days are now over.

We have a system of justice in which “truth” is ascertained through an adversarial process where witnesses are questioned and evidence presented. Our Constitution guarantees this process. And until such time as a better process is created, this is the system we have.

Depriving any parent of an opportunity to present evidence, call witnesses, or challenge evidence is not antithetical to the best interests of a child. Rather, the best interests of child are best served by encouraging parents to thoroughly present and challenge evidence.

Trials are messy. Trials are time consuming. Trials are noisy. This system of justice – our system of justice – has no place for judges unwilling to do the hard work of trying cases fairly and impartially and then actually making a sound and reasoned decision.

Judges who decide cases by avoiding trials do a disservice to litigants and to society at large. Decisions based upon solid facts in evidence are respected. Decisions summarily issued leave all of us skeptical that justice has been served.

When I took this case I warned my client that the odds were against us. Appeals really are for losers, but only until you turn it around.“

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/appeals-losers-harold-burke

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago
Reply to  weapons of war

Does anyone know why Catherine didn’t include Harold Burke in:

“Finally, a special thank you to those in my life who always put my children first and who supported me unfailingly: My Mother, Jennifer Culley, Keri Christ, Stephanie Brandt, Jonathan Davidoff, Wayne Baker, Katherine Klein, Katherine Sinsabaugh, Liz Kurtin, Lizzie Harding, Brian McQuillen, Rory Doyle, and my wonderful lawyers Andy Frisch and Evan Wiederkehr.”?

Teresa
2 years ago

Dropbox link not working. Here is our US Supreme Court filing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q1I0eGsDOdnHhLLtpgyw1x0C1wqV781_/view?usp=drivesdk

“family courts” and wiretaps ...
“family courts” and wiretaps ...
2 years ago

“… Plaintiff and Defendant were married in November 2006 and have three minor

children (“the Children”). In August 2010, Plaintiff filed an action for dissolution of marriage,

which was withdrawn in September 2010. The parties then proceeded to reside together until

May 2019, when Defendant filed a divorce action captioned, Allan Kassenoff v. Catherine

Kassenoff, file no. 58217/2019, in the Supreme Court, Westchester County, New York (“the

Divorce Action”). Defendant was and remains represented by Dimopoulos and the Firm in that

proceeding.

The three-year period prior to the filing of the Divorce Action was contentious

and marked with physical and emotional abuse by Defendant and repeated police involvement.

In the months preceding the filing of the final Divorce Action, Defendant began making near-

daily threats of divorce against Plaintiff. In February 2016, Defendant assaulted Plaintiff in their

home, for which Plaintiff was treated at a nearby hospital. That same year, Defendant

unilaterally declared an “open marriage.”

Throughout the marriage, Plaintiff owned and utilized a number of electronic

devices for personal and professional use. For portable communication, she used a periodically

upgraded Apple iPhone to which number (917) 836-5200 was assigned. Additionally, Plaintiff

utilized various features specific to Apple products such as Facetime, SMS text messaging and

the Apple calling features that she transferred to each succeeding device she acquired. Plaintiff

also incorporated other outside applications such as Google and Yahoo that enabled her to

transmit and receive email messages via her hosted Gmail and Yahoo email accounts.

In order to protect her iPhone from tampering or unauthorized access, Plaintiff

activated and maintained the iPhone’s passcode feature on each iPhone she used. The Apple

iPhone passcode is a four-to-six-character user-selected numeric sequence that unlocks the

device when it is turned on.

Throughout the marriage, Plaintiff did not share her iPhone passcode with

anyone, including Defendant, nor did she permit Defendant to directly access her device.

At all relevant times, Plaintiff utilized Verizon Wireless for all her iPhone

services, including text messaging, email, phone calls, Facetime and internet browsing services.

Plaintiff’s hosted email accounts addresses were ckassenoff@yahoo.com and clkassenoff@gmail.com.

Plaintiff was the primary account holder for her family’s Verizon account through which

Defendant used a shared family telephone plan; Defendant was a secondary user.

Notwithstanding that one Verizon account was maintained for both parties, neither party had

access to the other’s iPhone passcode or credentials so as to enable access to the other party’s

communication applications.

At a point in time prior to 2016, Plaintiff and Defendant purchased a MacBook

Pro laptop computer for their joint use (“the Laptop”). Each established separate user accounts

that were separately password protected. Accordingly, each user could only access the data and

applications established under each respective account. Although the Laptop was jointly

accessible, Defendant subsequently used the Laptop far more frequently than did Plaintiff.

Apple products are designed to be interconnected such that applications and data

accessible through one device can also be accessed from other connected Apple devices. In order

to accomplish this, Apple requires that users obtain an Apple ID and password. Once this is

obtained and activated, each device that has been integrated can access Apple services and all

personal information and content associated with the account holder.

In 2016, Defendant stated that he wanted to purchase a particular song for his

iTunes music library that he compiled on the Laptop. He asked Plaintiff for, and she provided,

her Apple ID and Password to him for the express purpose of enabling him to make this purchase

from the Apple iTunes Store. Defendant did not receive or obtain Plaintiff’s authorization to use

these credentials for any other purpose beyond this one-time purchase of music.

While in possession of Plaintiff’s Apple ID and Password for this one time

purchase, Defendant activated the “Find My iPhone” application on the Laptop with respect to

Plaintiff’s iPhone. This application enables an individual to track the location of other connected

Apple devices.

Plaintiff was not aware that Defendant had activated the Find My iPhone

application on the Laptop.

Defendant continued to use Plaintiff’s Apple ID and Password in other ways,

including to “sync” Plaintiff’s iPhone with the Laptop. Once synchronization between devices

has initially occurred data can be subsequently directed by using access to the iCloud to

automatically and remotely transfer files and data stored on the iCloud to interconnected devices.

After the syncing of Plaintiff’s iPhone with the Laptop, Defendant accessed and

intercepted Plaintiff’s text message communications over the course of several years, an activity

that Defendant has admitted to doing. Through such synchronization, Defendant received copies

of Plaintiff’s text messages at the same time Plaintiff received the message.

Plaintiff never authorized or consented to the use of her Apple ID and Password

beyond the limited purpose of allowing Defendant to make a one-time purchase of a song on

iTunes. At no time did Plaintiff agree to the “syncing” of her iPhone with the Laptop or with any

other device. At no time did Plaintiff agree that Defendant (or anyone else) could access and

intercept her private, confidential, and privileged text message communications, emails, or other

data.

At all relevant times herein, Plaintiff considered her text messages and other

electronic communications to be private and their contents confidential. Said communications

included text and email messages with her attorney, Cynthia Monaco, Esq., an individual who

Defendant, himself a lawyer, knew was a lawyer. Plaintiff also had numerous private and

confidential communications by text message with family members, friends, and others.

The electronic communications Defendant accessed and intercepted from

Plaintiff’s iPhone included Plaintiff’s private, confidential, and privileged electronic

communications with various third parties, including her attorneys. Plaintiff did not know that

Defendant had intercepted her electronic communications by using her iCloud account to

synchronize the Laptop with her email and text message accounts.

Given that Defendant was receiving real-time incoming and outgoing text and

email messages, including attorney-client electronic communications during the period of early

2016 to the filing of the Divorce Action in May 2019, Defendant had access to communications

that discussed matrimonial litigation strategy, domestic abuse, and related issues and concerns.

Immediately upon the filing of the Divorce Action, the Firm, through Dimopoulos

as Defendant’s counsel, brought an ex parte Order to Show Cause in the Supreme Court of

Westchester County which sought to exclude Plaintiff from the marital home and grant

Defendant temporary custody of the Children.

Attached to Defendant’s supporting papers were multiple screenshots of actual

text messages transmitted by and between Plaintiff and Attorney Monaco discussing legal

strategy. Defendant’s affidavit included at least eleven text messages dated from September 2018

onward and several that were listed as “undated” (“the Text Messages”).

This ex parte application was granted and Plaintiff was immediately removed

from the marital home and Defendant was granted temporary sole legal and residential custody

of the Children.

Plaintiff’s opposition to the order to show cause was heard on June 7, 2019 at

which time Plaintiff’s counsel informed Dimopoulos that the text messages attached to the order

to show cause were privileged attorney-client communications that Defendant had obtained

without having obtained Plaintiff’s consent or authorization.

Despite Plaintiff’s counsel’s express warning that these electronic

communications were privileged, confidential and private, Dimopoulos did not withdraw the

Text Messages. Instead Dimopoulos continued to use and disclose these communications to

additional individuals as the Divorce Action proceeded.

In the Summer of 2019, Defendants provided the Text Messages to Child

Protective Services who was investigating Defendant for child abuse.

On or about September 6, 2019, Defendants again published the Text Messages in

submissions to the court in the Divorce Action.

On or about October 7, 2019, Defendants provided the Text Messages to Dr. Marc

Abrams, the court-appointed custody evaluator in the Divorce Action.

On or about March 16, 2020, Defendants again republished the Text Messages in

a filing in the Divorce Action.

On or about March 25, 2020, and shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was

declared, Dr. Abrams, in reliance upon Text Messages provide to him by Defendant,

recommended to the court that Plaintiff be excluded from her home and lose custody of the

Children.

On or about March 27, 2020, Defendants obtained an ex parte order excluding

Plaintiff from her home and granting temporary sole custody of the Children to Defendant;

Plaintiff was rendered childless and homeless overnight.

It remains unclear how many private, confidential or privileged communications

Defendant and Dimopoulos have accessed and/or intercepted, used or disclosed; Plaintiff is only

aware of those electronic communications that have been published and shared with the court

and third parties associated with the Divorce Action on an ongoing and continuing basis.

Accordingly, the full extent and timing of Defendant’s and/or Dimopoulos’ disclosure of

Plaintiff’s electronic communications is not known.

Defendant obtained Plaintiff’s electronic communications either by intercepting

them while they were transiting through her iCloud account or downloaded said communications

while stored in Plaintiff’s iCloud account, and in so doing violated provisions of the Electronic

Communications Privacy Act. To the extent that Plaintiff’s electronic communications were

intercepted, as opposed to retrieved from storage at the internet service provider (ISP) level,

Defendant, Dimopoulos and the Firm have also knowingly used and disclosed electronic

communications protected by the Wiretap Act provisions of the Electronic Communications

Privacy Act. …”

Too little. Too Late.
Too little. Too Late.
2 years ago

“… For the week of May 29, 2023, the Court will hold all civil conferences, hearings, and/or oral arguments in the above-numbered Action by telephone. Counsel shall call the following number at the designated time: Meeting Dial-In Number (USA toll-free): (888) 363-4749 Access Code: 7702195. Please enter the conference as a guest by pressing the pound sign (#). For initial conferences, counsel shall submit a proposed case management and discovery schedule via ECF by 5 p.m. on the evening before the initial conference. SO ORDERED.” — Judge Kenneth M. Karas, May 26, 2023

https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/7:2022cv02162/576673/57

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Any special flames?
Any special tombs for this?
They’re family court wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Unknown_Soldier_(France)

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