Richard Luthmann
- Jail Time for Legal Fees: Mom Locked Up in Family Court Scandal!
- Judge Erika Tindill Orders Contempt Over Legal Fees in Shocking Family Court Ruling
- Family Court Debtor’s Prison Exists in America, Nishani Naidoo’s Case Shocks Legal Experts
- Story First Broke on Frank Report
By Richard Luthmann
On the August 21, 2024, episode of “The Unknown” podcast, investigative journalists Michael Volpe and Richard Luthmann shed light on an alarming story about Family Court Debtor’s Prisons and the case of Nishani Naidoo. The story, originally reported on this outlet by Frank Parlato, revolves around Naidoo, a corporate lawyer with degrees from Harvard and Columbia, who found herself behind bars for unpaid legal fees during her contentious divorce proceedings.
The case was overseen by Connecticut Family Court Judge Erika Tindill, who ordered Naidoo to pay $37,512.50 in legal fees to her ex-husband’s attorney, Gary Cohen. Naidoo, who had not been able to work as a corporate lawyer while managing the divorce and caring for her children, requested time to pay the fees after selling a rental property. Despite her ex-husband’s and his lawyer’s objections, Judge Tindill unilaterally sent Naidoo to jail on contempt charges, starting on August 14, 2024.
The podcast highlights the disturbing re-emergence of debtor’s prisons in the U.S., particularly within family courts. Despite debtor’s prisons being officially abolished in 1833, cases like Naidoo’s show that individuals, especially women, are still being jailed for failing to pay legal fees in civil matters, not for committing crimes.
Volpe and Luthmann discuss several other similar cases, including that of Jim Sisco in Virginia and Dr. Tewari, David Weigel, and Guy Simonetti in New York, where family court judges have sent individuals to jail over unpaid legal fees for their ex-spouses’ lawyers.
This discussion emphasizes the urgent need for reform in family courts. The current system continues to strip individuals of their civil rights and send them to jail for civil debt, a practice that should have ended nearly two centuries ago.
Transcript
Michael Volpe
Alright, let’s get the next story up. One of our friends broke this, and let me find it. Frank Parlato writes at the Frank Report. That’s frankreport.com. But you’ve written about this, so give details of this story. What’s going on here? It’s titled, Mom jailed for not paying X’s lawyer in Connecticut family court.
Richard Luthmann
Yeah, so what we have is a situation where we have a protracted divorce proceeding, and it’s in front of Judge Erika Tindill in Connecticut. And Nishani Naidoo, she’s a corporate lawyer. She’s a Columbia Law graduate, Harvard Law undergrad, a very accomplished woman. But basically, her job of late has been to be a caregiver for her children and manage this divorce. She hasn’t been able to go out there and be a corporate lawyer. She’s been dealing with the family court drain, for lack of a better term. So, the lawyer for her husband put in an order to try to get money.
Richard Luthmann
Part of the, I think, the $140,000 that was awarded, fees to the lawyer, to Gary Cohen. Attorney Gary I. Cohen in Stamford, Connecticut. I think $37,512.50 was the number, and the judge ordered the fees to be paid immediately. And what Ms Naidoo said is ‘Look, you decreed me one of our the vacation home, you know, one of the secondary homes, it’s up for sale.’ It’s a rental. I think it was a rental property. It was a rental property. ‘It’s up for sale. The closing is at the end of August. When it closes at the end of August, I can pay. I’m not working as a corporate lawyer. I’m not doing this – trying to deal with the aftermath of this case, which has destroyed my professional reputation. So, I’m trying to deal with taking care of the kids.’ And so Judge Tindall says, ‘No dice.’
Richard Luthmann
Now, what’s important about this is she says ‘no dice’ over the objection of Attorney Gary Cohen and over the objection of the ex-husband. Judge Tindill, sua sponte, on her own, sent Naidoo to family court debtor’s prison in Connecticut. She jailed her for contempt starting August 14th. Last week. She just got out on Monday when she was able to get bonded okay. On Monday. But she sat in jail over the weekend in Connecticut, which is not a nice place to be, okay. And basically your life is in your own hands in certain places, especially Connecticut and other jails.
Richard Luthmann
You know, Rikers Island is one that comes to mind where it doesn’t matter who you are. If you get jailed for jaywalking or looking the wrong way as a judge, you go to the same place where the people are there for murder. You get the general population prior to, so this situation is, it’s a crazy situation of how we have debtors prison in family courts. We have, you know, in criminal court, you actually have rights. You would go in, you would see the judge, and the judge would let you out, released on your own recognizance, or you’d be able to get bail.
Richard Luthmann
Here, the judge is throwing you away, not for doing anything wrong or for anything suspected of doing anything wrong. But because you haven’t been able to pay. It is not a child support payment but a lawyer’s fee. This is a legal thing. And had Naidoo walked into the District Court of Connecticut, or as anybody else walks into a federal bankruptcy court and filed a petition for relief for bankruptcy and included that attorney’s fee as as a debt, they would be an automatic stay. The federal courts say you were not allowed to do anything.
Richard Luthmann
Now, this is the crazy part that they’re doing and end-run around the system and allowing for this debtor prison to happen. We wrote about the article in 1833, when debtor’s prison was abolished in the United States. 1831 before we had states of the Union, they had the President’s written communication to Congress. And 1831, in December, when he delivered it, Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory…
Michael Volpe
One of my favorite presidents.
Richard Luthmann
He said in 1831, we needed to get rid of these debtor’s prisons because they infringed upon personal liberty. This is 1831, and it took Congress until 1833 to get their act together and fully abolish it. But the ACLU has been on top of this, where we have debtors prisons in many contexts, including in the family court context. It seems to be particularly, in particular, people are going to jail and sitting there for days and weeks and months on end for meaningless amounts, in some cases, $200.
Michael Volpe
I’ve got an article up that I wrote late last year from Virginia; here, it’s a custody case. But here, the stint had to do with unpaid bills, which the court ordered Jim Sisco, that’s the guy, to pay his ex-wife’s lawyers. The same thing. And by the way, the judge who ordered him to go to jail was Penney S. Azcarate. You may recognize her. She presided over the Depp v. Heard trial, so got a big reputation as a great judge, and Depp-Heard sent this guy to jail for not being able to pay his ex wife’s bills, his ex wife’s legal bills.
Michael Volpe
And that’s Jim right there. It was the same kind of thing where he had the money; it may not have cleared or something like that, and instead of working something out, they sent them to jail. I think, the same kind of thing about five days. But if you think it’s completely unique, it’s not. Right there. A case out of Virginia, same thing.
Richard Luthmann
And we and I talk about it in my article that I recetly published on the Frank Report, and my article talks about the pattern that we have here with that out of control judges. One of the investigative reports that just came out in New York was by NBC4’s investigative journalist Sarah Wallace with more evidence. She showed that at least six individuals in front of a certain Family Court judge, Judge Waterman-Marshall, in New York City, Manhattan, have over six legal complaints to the Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Richard Luthmann
One is Dr. Tewari, a pediatric anesthesiologist who specializes in helping special needs children. This man cannot hurt a fly, yet he was for what he went to jail for the fact that there was $137,000 that he said, ‘I haven’t been able to liquidate it yet. I need time to liquidate the money. And I have money, but I it’s not liquid. I can’t pay that fee right now to the lawyers.’ And so…
Michael Volpe
It wasn’t his lawyers. It was his ex-wife’s lawyers.
Richard Luthmann
It was his ex’s lawyers. That’s right.
Michael Volpe
We’ve already found three cases where someone went to jail, not even for unpaid child support, not even their own lawyer’s fees, but for the opposite lawyers fees.
Richard Luthmann
That’s right. I also mentioned David Weigel in that article. David Weigel went to Rikers’ for a weekend over a paperwork mishap. It shows that this use of sending individuals to jail for contempt in the civil sense of family court is a process that has been abused.
Richard Luthmann
I also have a disabled, retired 9-11 responder and NYPD detective named Guy Simonetti. He was threatened to go to debtor’s prison at Rikers Island. He’s basically in a walker, okay. He’s in his mid-60s, and the judge in Staten Island, named Ron Castorina, one of the great rogues of our time, threatened to send this man to Rikers Island. Okay, so you have it; it’s happening all over the country.
Michael Volpe
A guy in Rikers who’s got unpaid bills, and he’s going to be sharing the cell block with some murderers, rapists, armed robbers.
Richard Luthmann
In Rikers, especially Michael. And with Rikers, you get to bring a calculator into the store, and you get to calculate the $950 or the retail theft, right? And then if you get arrested, they take you in, you see the judge, and they let you out because there’s no cash bail. If you assault the shopkeeper on the way out, they’ll still let you out. No cash bail. So whoever’s left in Rikers at this point, they’re not nice people. So you have debtor’s prison in the same general population with people that will stab you just for the hell of it – not for any good reason then that they don’t like the look on your face.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, editor, and investigative journalist.
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Having intimate knowledge of this case, let’s just say Nishani has ignored court orders constantly and finally paid the price. I’m happy I got to read what was done in court and knowing the backstory, deserved. Yep anonymous and for good reason.
You are so misguided even though you claim you have intimate knowledge of the case.
If the law in CT allows the arrest and imprisonment of citizens for not paying an attorney their over inflated fees whomever lives there lives in a police state.
Debtors prison isn’t allowed under the US Constitution and because of the Supremacy Clause state laws can’t create such courts.
In my home state individuals can only be held in indirect contempt if they aren’t paying related to support orders. Attorney’s fees don’t count. The only thing the attorney that is owed the money can do is file a lien against a person that owes them money so if they sell real property they become 1st lien holder over the mortgage company.
You people in the N.E. are so backwards in your thinking.
Rich-
In LIEU of having someone remanded into custody for failure to pay a spouses expenses which the spouse is entitled to under the law….
What do you suggest a judge to do?
Seriously.
Lazy judges lump expenses and fees in and characterize them as alimony and child support. Make separate categories and uphold the law. Send deadbeats to jail for not paying for their kids, and not just the rich ones. If the spouse is screwing the other spouse on alimony payments when they can clearly pay, use the contempt power. All the other bullshit, like lawyers and GAL’s fees, should be subject to the same enforcement as any other creditor. The second the lawyers realize they have to wait in line and might not get paid, the Family Court churn will slow down if not stop on 95% of cases.
How common is it to use the Family Support Order to find litigants in contempt for not paying attorney’s fees, GAL, etc. Those fees are often outrageous and have nothing to do with the ability of a person to pay (unlike alimony and child support which are calculated based on income). In the Naidoo case, the judge put the sole provider of the children in jail (and caused her to lose her job) because she wasn’t able to pay the legal fees the judge imposed on her within the time frame the judge ordered her to pay. This is very frightening! The family court system is for the benefit of the “professionals” who work in the system and not the children or the family at all!
Disturbed-
How common? Very. Look into it.
Clearly, she could pay and refused to.
***
You speak like someone who has been burned(self-deluded).
She was not refusing to pay. It was a time line of payment. Where the funds would come from. Why make someone liquidate a retirement account? She would have access to funds after the sale of property. She may have not exactly done what she was ordered to do what the court said. . The judges lack of flexibility on the time line of payment. People are reporting the lack of child support being enforced. Child support going to pay for child. The attorney fees for the other party. The payment of Court so called professional seems to take presidency over child support a alimony .This is the point.
You hit the nail right on the head. an “ability to pay” hearing is in order before contempt sanctions can be issued!
Rich-
So what you are saying in effect;
Sara Young’s inability to pay a lawyer fee is bullshit?
“All the other bullshit, like lawyer and GAL fees”
Rich I am glad you have turned over a new leaf, but seriously man you talking out your mouth and your ass.
Rich-
No rebuttal?
I am waiting.
I sincerely would like to know what you have to say about the subject!
Seriously!
Not open to debate or discussion?’
Rich!!!!
Burying your head in the sand doesn’t make you right..
This is such a non-story it is ridiculous. Oh my God, people actually get locked up for contempt of court?? Get a grip guys.
The real question is: “What is the recourse when the judge is crooked or just plain wrong?”
This is a real story because the media is the place to air these grievances. The courts don’t self-police and the political branches of government are impotent. Unless you are advocating for the East River as the “Great Equalizer”?
The judge wasn’t wrong in this case.
Did you ever ask Naidoo what kind of retirement accounts she has that don’t allow her to withdraw?
She is trying to say she doesn’t have a 401(k)? Yeah right.
She was obviously in wilfull contempt.
The judges’ actions here are above reproach.
I understand you guys write these articles on the behalf of rich people because they throw money your way, but this is just so ridiculous and transparent.
I guess you must be writing this for low IQ people or maybe it’s just SPAM stuff you don’t really expect anyone to look at besides the person you’re writing it for to justify your paycheck.
So GENIUS, can a court order an individual to choose to assume a debt, a tax, or a penalty? The answer is no. A court may levy or impose a debt, tax, or penalty, but the court cannot compel an individual to act in such a way that it is incurred. That is basic DUE PROCESS.
When you take money out of an IRA (it’s not a 401(k) because she’s not presently working), there is a 10% penalty if it’s not for a qualified purpose. Naidoo has a great argument because the Judge was compelling Naidoo to act and incur legal penalties.
Judge Erika Tindill is not “beyond reproach.” She is a “DISGUSTING ROACH,” the vermin underbelly of the justice system. She doesn’t know the law. She’s LOW IQ. and you’re the MORON who’s defending her for violating the constitution.
And it’s ain’t about the money for me. There are plenty of much more lucrative areas to write about than family court. This is about justice and the lack thereof in Connecticut and beyond.
Be careful Luthmann, you may be called racist for your comments 😁
I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world…
https://x.com/nowthisimpact/status/1156334404257689600/video/1
Naidoo did file an appeal. Tindall refused to respect the automatic stay and so was proceeding in defiance of the automatic stay! It also makes no sense why they could not wait 2-3 weeks to get paid. Naidoo was selling the property she got and she kept telling Tindall and Cohen that Cohen was getting paid in full as soon as she closed which was going to be in 2-3 weeks. What was the need to put this mother in jail – and cause her to lose her job and leave her children stranded – when she kept telling them that they were getting paid as soon as she closed. This is mafia tactics. Do what I tell you to do NOW because I am the boss. And if you don’t, I will hurt you and your family. This is not how family court is supposed to work. It is how the mafia works.
“Do what I tell you to do NOW because I am the boss”
That is what Naidoo was trying to tell the judge.
Why should the court have to wait two OR three more weeks— And by the way, a house closing could fall through at any time, So it was still uncertain how long it could take, when Naidoo could call a bank right then and have the money the next day?
Calling this a case of debtors prison is a farce. It’s all about willfull contempt.
Eh, no.
“Ms. Naidoo, please go outside and rape the donkey tied to the fence.”
That is the legal equivalent of Judge Tindill’s command. It is illegal and something the Court has no business ordering a litigant to do OR PUNISHING THEM FOR NOT DOING.
The elephant in the room is that Judge Tindill is a political appointee. She knows the law about as well as Kamala Harris. She’s an out of control judge who doesn’t know her place in the American Constitutional structure.
And you’re worse because you’re defending her solely because she is a judge. Tindill’s intellectual crimes are clearly idiocy-related. Yours smack of treason because you clearly know better but choose to ignore fundamental rights and natural law.
I just looked into it more… Naidoo Could’ve avoided the 10% by simply taking a short-term loan against her 401(k). And She would have no problem quickly repaying the loan since she was selling the property.
She was months and months late for this deadline to pay based on the transcript just posted at FR.
It was willful contempt, plain, and simple. She has the means to pay and refused to do it.
Judge Tindall did the right thing.
Oh, and raping a donkey and treason?
Sounds to me like you’re off your bipolar meds Richie.
Uh,10% of $30,000 is a lot less than the $15,0000 penalty Naidoo got hit with for her willful contempt. Looks like a narcissist finally had to face some consequences.
Some people would sell their wife or daughter to save a few shekels. Others draw a line in the sand and say, ‘There is a line I will no cross.’
Luckily, the U.S. Constitution’s due process clause embodies the fundamental principle that the government cannot order a person into a course of action that will result in fines, penalties, taxes, or debts. There has to be a free will choice.
Naidoo got hit with $15,000, which the Court did (but the basis is spurious because Naidoo had no other LEGAL OPTIONS). The Court cannot compel anyone to take on penalties or debt.
The basis for the contempt was a willful defiance of the Court’s Order AND AN ABILITY OF NAIDOO TO PAY. Take away the IRA, which the Court cannot legally compel, and Naidoo has no present ability to pay.
Maybe Judge Tindill should be “liquidated” from the bench through the removal and impeachment process. But people of that ilk sell children before the have to feel any personal pain. And that is Judge Tindill’s business. She is a merchant in misery, delivering children to the highest bidder without regards to their or society’s best interests.
“Judge Crater, call your office.”
There’s this thing called an “appeal,” Richie.
No wonder you were disbarred — you aren’t just a felon, you’re an idiot.
Appeals are worthless if the fix is in with the entire justice system. Like in Connecticut. Ask Paul Boyne.
And I’m not an idiot. I’m just someone who will relish when this thing gets cleaned up.
How will it get cleaned up? Seems like the entire system Ed’s outside intervention to clean things up in CT courts. Given how corrupt the rest of the country is, what do you think is the possibility of that?
Especially in family cases, appellate courts give a lot of deference to the trial court.
Remember, family courts are courts of equity, not of law.
Last i heard from Paul Boyne he said it was all the work of Da Jewz!!!!!!
Are those the “dirty swine” you want to clean up, Richie?
CONNECTICUT FAMILY LAW HORNBOOK (2nd Ed.), By Paul Boyne
.
ORDER HERE
I like the new Rick and Mike commentary. Richard, those glasses are much better. The other ones took over your face. It’s alot easier not to go distracted by them. Frank, I’m glad the rating is back. I’m not loving the new layout, but I keep showing up to read the articles anyway.
Hey Luthmann do your Where’s Waldo glasses and batman t-shirt give you slick game with the ladies?
Why do so many fat guys wear batman t-shirts? Does the logo do a good job of covering up the man boobs?
Says the anonymous 400 lb 40 year old virgin keyboard warrior typing from his mom’s basement…
The only reason you don’t live in your mommy’s basement, Rich, is that the water table is too shallow in Fort Myers For anyone to have a basement.
I’m off paper now, dopey.
Hey!
Is this Rich’s boss at the 7-Eleven?
Man you have a hard-on for the guy.
Try Grinder…
Hey NiceGuy!
Do you and Rich wearing matching Batman t-shirts when you girls 69?
“David Weigel went to Rikers’ for a weekend over a paperwork mishap”
“paperwork mishap” is an odd way to describe Dave punching Georgina in the face Jersey Style and giving her two black eyes 🤜👀🤛
Got to hand it to Dave! He knows how to keep his bitch in line!
Show your proofs. I have evidence that shows it was complete and utter Daniel Nottes manipulation.
Richie, we know where you keep your “proofs”.
Right between the documentation of your post-rape rectal tearing and the Joker action figures your mom bought you for Hanukkah
Luthmann is German for “army man.” Sadly, my namesakes were not part of the tribe.
It’s German for a man from Luth.
The new format on the blog is great!
So Cohen got $140,000 but he wanted more, so he put the mother in jail for not coughing up the $$. Sounds like the mafia is running the legal system!
If someone took out a loan for $37,512.50 to buy a vehicle and defaulted, the car would be repossesed, the persons credit would take a hit, but they would not end up in jail.
If someone does not pay a lawyer, they go to jail.
Welcome to Connecticut: where child sex trafficking is legal, but not paying a lawyer is a crime.
Even the IRS is not this ruthless!!
It’s not just any lawyer……it’s GARY COHEN!
Any Jewish lawyer does the same
Italian Catholic lawyer Alex Cuda flipped Jennifer’s law and got Ambrose the kids. That’s far worse than whatever Gary Cohen has done.
Why are you mentioning Gary Cohen’s ethnicity/ religion but not doing the same for Judge Tindal or Alex Cuda?
why is the fact that Gary Cohen is Jewish material to your “argument”?
Speaking of Cuda . How much non profit funding is the firm receiving for mediation? Non advisarial divorce procedures and the new pathways procedure? Forcing medication.or else . Forced agreements or suffer the Twisted Jennifer law giving domestic violence victims the message settle or else. Is the money helping you sleep at night as the Ambrose children are forced to live with a parent they don’t want to? Have reported abuse.
How do we even know Gary Cohen is Jewish? I’ve known people who have very Italian last names, that are Jewish, and I’ve known one or two Cohen’s who are not Jewish. Isn’t Judaism determined by whether the mother is Jewish? So, if Gary Cohen’s father was Jewish but his mother was, say, Nigerian, that would make Gary Cohen a non Jew with an ethnically Jewish last name.
Why does it matter what religion this great legal mind subscribes to?
If someone took you to court to sue you and the judge ordered you to surrender a vehicle in your possession to them for whatever reason, You could be locked up for contempt of court if you refuse to turn over the vehicle.
The picture you posted of Gary Cohen prominently displaying the liver spots on his forehead is fantastic.
Looks like tarter sauce to me.
Well he is known to be quite fishy …
We know you love him, warts and all.
It’s not about loving him. It’s about admiring how good of a lawyer he is and wishing he would train me!
“good” at what?
Destroying childhood, motherhood and/or fatherhood?
He isn’t a good lawyer. If he was a good lawyer, he wouldn’t need to use “influence” to win his cases. If you want to “Be Like Gary” maybe get a job as a waiter at Capital Grille where you can learn first hand how he peddles his influence.
I’ve seen him at Capital Grill. All the waiters and bartenders call him Gary and are excited when he is there because he is humorous and a good tipper.
Lots of lawyers like to trash Gary Cohen because they are jealous. He is at the top of the heap, so to say, and everyone wants to unseat him.
if you are indeed a court insider, then please tell us how he allegedly uses his influence to win cases. If you are indeed a court insider, and are privy to such alleged corruption, why haven’t you provided what you know to Frank Parlato, Richard Luthmann, and the FBI? It is clear that you are not a court insider but rather writing out of your anal crevice!
There is only one legend. There is only one Gary Cohen!
The FBI so far has ignored the evidence sent to them.
Well I am sure the Frank Report would not ignore the “evidence.”
Post it or shut up!
Well if frank is willing. He should call the person who has hundreds of cases files
Plenty of it. I’m not paying $600. For it to be ignored. It’s going to somebody who is actually going to do something.
Gary Cohen fan … let me give you some of the evidence in this case and you be the judge. I do not think Gary Cohen is not a good lawyer. Something else … something fishy … is going on here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WjtqiGpgm9iXfnuDCiGXZFITXQF8jBN_/view?usp=sharing