FR is publishing a series on Kassenoff v. Harvey, a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
The following is the third in our series.
Allan A. Kassenoff, for himself and on behalf of his children, ages 14, 12, and 10, and his attorney Constantine ‘Gus’ Dimopoulos, are suing social media influencer Robert Harvey for $150 million for claims of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, cyberstalking and tortious interference with a business relationship.
The lawsuit alleges Harvey, who has more than $3.1 million followers on TikTok, published a series of videos falsely accusing Kassenoff of being an abusive father and spouse, which allegedly led to Kassenoff losing his reported $1 million per year job as a lawyer at Greenberg Traurig and his children suffering emotional distress.
His lawyer, Dimopoulus, also claims Harvey’s videos caused harm to his legal practice.
Harvey’s lawyer, Jonathan Davidoff, responded, calling the lawsuit a SLAPP suit intended to intimidate or silence Harvey by burdening them with the costs and stress of a legal defense without merit to the actual claims.
Davidoff plans to bring an anti-SLAPP motion to persuade the judge to dismiss the lawsuit as frivolous or meritless.
Allan Kassenoff Tells His Version of the Marriage
At the center of the Kassenoff lawsuit is the backstory of Allan’s marriage to his late wife, Catherine Kassenoff, whom he married in 2006.
On May 27, 2023, Catherine announced on Facebook that she was taking her life that day at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.
In her farewell post, as she had many times before, Catherine described her marriage to Kassenoff, portraying him as an abusive husband and father and master manipulation of the legal system to terminate her relationship with her children.
Family Court awarded Allan custody, accusing Catherine of alienating the children from Allan and terminating her parental rights.
Catherine claimed Allan was the true alienator.
In the lawsuit against Harvey, Allan gives his version of events, painting his wife as a scheming, unstable, deceptive, and vengeful woman.
Allan Kassenoff’s version of their marriage
It began on November 13, 2006, and ended with her death on May 27, 2023, after four years of a contentious divorce battle in Westchester County, NY, which still had not resulted in a final divorce decree.
Allan says Catherine converted to Judaism before marriage and agreed to raise their children as Jewish.
After getting married, Ms. Kassenoff started in vitro fertilization (IVF) without trying to conceive naturally. In 2008, she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. She went into remission.
In 2009, after several failed IVF attempts, the Kassenoffs decided to adopt. While in the process of adopting, Allan said he found out why Catherine believed she had difficulty conceiving.
Years before, Catherine got an abortion after getting pregnant with he ex-boyfriend. The abortion, Catherine said, led to problems getting pregnant (after marrying Kassenoff), which led to her having to undergo IVF, which led to her first bout with cancer.
Allan claimed Catherine blamed her ex-boyfriend and wanted revenge because he was going forward with his seemingly happy life after he had caused her so much suffering.
She wanted to make him “pay,” Allan said.
In early 2009, Catherine planned a “sting” operation where she would go to a hotel room with her ex-boyfriend, videotape it, and send the recording to the ex-boyfriend’s wife to destroy him.
On February 11, 2009, Catherine’s friend, attorney Wayne Baker (who is also the executor of her estates), emailed Allan detailing Catherine’s “plan” and her alleged justification for it, noting that he was “impressed that [Allan has] been going along with all of this.”
Allan said he told Catherine her “plan” was insane and told Baker he was not “going along with” it.
According to Allan, Catherine later went ahead with her “sting.”
Allan claimed he found a DVD showing Catherine meeting her ex-boyfriend and entering a hotel. Later, through Allan spying on Catherine’s emails and texts, he found explicit messages between Catherine and her ex-boyfriend, which suggested there was more than a sting, but that they had been carrying on a long-term affair throughout the Kassenoffs’ marriage. And that Catherine’s real motive in sending a video to her ex-boyfriend’s wife was not vengeance but rather her hope that his wife would divorce him and he would return to her.
Allan pointed out to Baker that Catherine never told him that she blamed her ex-boyfriend for her inability to get pregnant or how that led to cancer. In fact, Allan said he was puzzled how an abortion could lead to cancer and why it would be the ex-boyfriend’s fault.
Later, Catherine blamed her cancer on the 9-11 disaster and collected more than $300,0oo from a government fund for victims.
Despite this unusual set of circumstances, including the fact that his wife planned to have sex with her ex-boyfriend and film it, Allan went along with the adoption plan.
On July 15, 2009, a baby was born in Tampa, Florida, and adopted by the Kassenoffs. A month later, the Kassenoffs had the infant AK in New York and hired a nanny since both Catherine and Allan were lawyers and had full-time jobs.
It was then that the problems got worse and worse.
See our next in the series on Kassenoff vs. Harvey.
Obviously Catherine was a vindictive witch. She tried to destroy her ex boyfriend’s marriage when she herself had already moved on and gotten married. She was clearly an obsessively vindictive person. That’s not normal. She lost custody for very good reasons.
How is it that Harvey can be sued by showing these videos and making his own personal opinion/comments about them, when he was not the first person to post these videos, Catherine was, and not only that… Allan also leaked videos so how is it that Harvey is responsible for all of this?
He isn’t.
If Allan was so worried about public perception of his persona and also losing his job maybe he should have checked himself before behaving the way that he did towards his wife On camera….
Harvey did not take these videos he did not produce the videos he just simply shared videos that were already provided to the public by Catherine….
Maybe he should be suing Catherine…. Oh that’s right he can’t because he drove Catherine to the point of wanting to kill herself by removing her children from her life and then constantly harassing her anytime she tried to exercise her constitutional right to parent or 3 daughters…
Also let’s not forget that the removal of Catherine right to be able to see her children and communicate with her children freely was a violation of her constitutional rights to parent her children, It was also a violation of the children’s federal rights to a relationship with their mother.
Catherine has never been found negligent she has never been found abusive she has never been found indigent…. All requirements for a parent to lose access to their children…
She lost access to her children because of hearsay statements by Allan backed up by a notoriously known corrupt Marc Abraham, and a paid off Mott.
Allan Claims that Catherine was financially successful but let’s not forget who made millions a year and it wasn’t Catherine….
Read the lawsuit filing and you’ll understand how Harvey can be sued.
Allan was such a good father, he filmed Catherine because … she was wearing underwear?! 🙄
The videos and court transcripts indicate that Allan was far from a good father. Doesn’t mean that he was abusive or that Catherine was not worse but the videos reveal a lousy father at that time. (hopefully he got some help)
The Westchester County family court system:
could have offered that help to them both and didn’t;
funded and enabled legal and medical malpractice;
ruined the childhoods of those three children;
took millions of dollars from that family;
covered up deceitful collusion;
ruined every good thing; and,
didn’t apologize.
Who allowed it?
She was filming him so he held his phone up too.
We need to be aware of people attempting to pass laws with funding. If we continue to pass laws with a currupt system we are just going to continue the Merry go round ride.
Attorneys are quasi-public figures to begin with. Especially former federal prosecutors. What attorneys do in court, even as litigants, is fair game. Part of having the benefits of the law license is the drawback of making yourself a public person. John Q. Public need not have a registered address and agent with the state. Attorneys automatically do.
If I were Harvey, I’d be looking to argue that an actual malice / reckless disregard standard applies.
Additionally, there is always the “you suck” defense.
When Angel Hernandez sued MLB, he said he wasn’t getting post season assignments as an umpire because he was Hispanic.
When MLB went to court, they agreed. Hernandez wasn’t getting post season assignments. But not because of his race. It was because he sucked as an umpire.
Harvey can pursue the same line of defense. He’ll get everything he wants to show how shitty of a lawyer Alan Kassenoff is independent of Harvey’s reporting, which didn’t cause the firing.
It will be pretty glorious poetic justice if it goes that far.
Hi Richard, wouldn’t that defense contradict Harveys claims that Allan had succesfully manipulated the FC system?
Good luck persuading a jury that a lawyer making 1,000,000+ a year was a shitty lawyer.
Ladies of New York. Check into Ed Haskin. He is a men’s rights activist influencing your court system. Economy and child welfare. Key player in the get ride of mommy program.
I frankly don’t want to hear anymore about Catherine’s unresolved love affairs or Allan’s alleged tryst with the nanny. Protective mothers across the country are in anguish over the loss of their children. Yet they can’t get media attention that they desperately need because they are not rich lawyers living in fancy neighborhoods. It’s enough of this vaudeville act. Catherine came into the marriage with pain and perhaps Allan did too as they both had prior marriages. But enough already with this airing of such personal issues in public. We need to come together to help the protective mothers. Can Robbie Harvey use his large following to get hearings on Capitol Hill to help all the mothers. And maybe he should take down the Kassenoff videos and call a truce with Allan with the promise that he, Robbie, will champion legislative reform. And maybe Allan can join this quest to reform the courts. I’m sorry that there was so much suffering on both sides. It’s time for healing. Please God let’s come together. I truthfully do not want to hear any more of this salacious material. It’s overdone, its decadent, and its futile. May God bring healing to everyone.
Catherine was a rich lawyer, and she got plenty of attention on her case. Her real problem was that she could not control her own hatred for and anger towards Allan. Catherine had joint custody, then supervised visitation. She lost both of these because she violated court orders numerous times. She could have gotten them back if she had only stopped lying, manipulating and stalking her children, posting their personal information online, threatening and attacking every person involved in the case. This “mother” of three lied about having terminal cancer for God’s sake!
The sad truth is there were no nefarious conspiracies or bribes involved. There was simply a mentally ill woman who could not see how her behavior was harming her children and therefore lost custody of them. Just like her friend Lizzie and numerous other people claiming “court corruption” on the internet these days.
Good luck Allen. He never thought he’d be exposed. These court criminals never do…
Thankful to people like FP and Harvey for taking on what is destroying childhoods- but no one else is willing to report on.
Much like Sound of Freedom, family court is child trafficking occurring daily and in secrecy.
Mothers who speak out are threatened and punished into silence. They are criminalized, homes and money stolen – never to see kids again.
This was Catherine’s story.
Keep suing Allen. Act like madman Ambrose and sue everyone and anyone you can who dares to expose who you are.
You’re not suing your lawfirm for wrongful termination though. So there’s no credibility to his claims. And his girls know the truth.
My general opinion:
Bloggers are journalists as well. They do the same thing as journalists, but in a different medium and perhaps in a different way, just because they are called something else. Blogger-journalists and those who create podcasts must also enjoy freedom of the press.
Because the news won’t repeat. Facebook censors. Reporters brave enough go on x orTic Tok. It’s a valid source to report options on court cases. People’s welfare including children are public concerns. Chicken welfare is a public health concern. The courts and DCF need oversight by the people. It should not be left to allow for people in powerful positions to abuse it. Hidden from the public. We vote to have a say in matters. We should know what those matter are.
Really Allen? Except your part and stop running into court having temper tantrums. This is your second marriage. Self reflection would be appropriate at this time. Karma coming at you.
I really like that FP writes that Allan’s testimony is merely him “claiming” what happened but yet when writing about Catherine, everything stated is undeniable fact.
Such integrity in journalism.
Can’t wait to read the replies on this one
Not defending the journalism because this is all just tabloid gossip but both parties are presented the same way. And all accounts present very damaged people, particularly this Wayne guy-WTF. It may turn out that the most sympathetic person in all this is Robbie Harvey
Nope. The testimony of Karen has been present as indisputable fact and Allan’s as merely claims.
That’s what got the non-thinking masses to descend upon Allan.
Stop embarrassing yourself Frank! You clearly aren’t an investigative journalist since you can’t properly read a legal complaint ! Your reported synopsis of the claim is not what’s written in the complaint & once again misinformation is being disseminated ! SLAPP was intended to keep the courts from being backlogged w/ defamation suits that had no merit ! SLAPP was not intended for influencers , creators of social media , & even journalist to have free reign & NO ACCOUNTABILITY for what they post , comment, or spew false narratives as facts w/out due diligence & then scream “Freedom of Speech!” Frank & Robbie Harvey , you are NOT above the law abusing our rights to Freedom of Speech to incite , defame , & even interfere with peoples business relationships !
OK 👆🏽 this one is Allan.
To Anonymous re: “claiming” vs “stated as undeniable fact:” this is not Frank’s whitewash for one party or the other, in this case or any other. When claims are presented with irrefutable evidence in support, he states these plainly as fact; when claims are alleged, he refers to them as such. This is no smokescreen; this is responsible investigative journalism, which necessarily evolves in real time, as more information is revealed.
Abusers do all their own alienating- parental alienation is the tactic they use to continue to have access to victims and eliminate people who protect them
Actually, contrary to the title of this blog entry no one “needs to know” any of this. A bad marriage broke up and a contentious divorce proceeding ensued. What public interest is being served holding up this matter to the light so that voyeur “influencers” can manipulate the story for personal financial gain?
Actually, contrary to your post, your interest as a member of the public and commenter on this blog would say you are in the “need to know” bucket.
And we never saw a death certificate either
There is no death certificate. Cathy must be going batty not being able to milk anymore chum bucket level media attention from her stunt. I’m sure she’s filling old Robbie’s inbox with a flurry of legal advice, it’s her only outlet now but if it’s revealed he’s communicating with “dead” Cathy he’s doubly screwed.
How our courts determine chold custody is everyone’s business. We don’t have star chambers in the US. Courts need to be scrutinized. We must be aware if courts are doing it right. This is very important.
You’re right Volpe and Allan going ahead with an adoption(!!) after he and his wife and another man are involved in such a scheme (which is criminal).,even if Allan was allegedly was against it,show that neither Catherine or Allan were fit to have children. All these people are psychos. And what kind of screening did the adoption agency do.
Probably a a bank account screening