Fed probe targets
B'klyn judges' club
BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The Brooklyn judicial corruption scandal has caught the eye of the FBI, which is probing targets that include a private club where most of the borough's Supreme Court justices are members.
The chummy gathering of jurists and lawyers, known as the Torah Club, meets five times a year at a synagogue across the street from federal court in downtown Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Breslow confirmed the "continuing investigation" in court papers filed recently in the case of lawyer Edward Reich, a former president of the Brooklyn Bar Association who is charged with taking bribes as a court-appointed referee.
Reich was president of the Torah Club at the time of his arrest in December 2003, when the feds tried to squeeze him for information about dirty judges.
According to an FBI affidavit, Reich insisted he knew nothing about corruption in the courts.
"I was not ever involved with the bribing of any judges and could not supply the government with information in that regard," he said.
The FBI report summarizing Reich's debriefing sketches the the feds' probe, including their investigation into claims that Justice Melvin Barasch took a bribe in a civil case, and their interest in the Torah Club.
"Reich stated that he has not heard nor has he been part of any discussion of payments made" to Barasch, FBI agent Robert Katzman said.
Reich told the feds he was president of the Torah Club, which he described as "a place where its members can come and have a meal," and that "no business is discussed at these meetings," the report states.
The FBI wanted Reich to wear a hidden wire, but he declined.
The report says Torah Club members include half of the judges of the Appellate Division and almost all of the state Supreme Court justices in Brooklyn, including Barasch.
Reich has been indicted for allegedly accepting $11,000 in bribes while acting as a referee appointed by Brooklyn Supreme Court justices to handle foreclosure sales. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the top count.
At a hearing yesterday, Reich had a new lawyer, Michael Washor. Reich's former lawyer, who had come recommended by the FBI, "was in over his head," Brooklyn Federal Judge John Gleason said.
Washor asked Gleason to suppress Reich's statements to the FBI at his upcoming trial.
Originally published on January 6, 2005
