It was the “Ex-Wives Club” yesterday at the trial of two Brooklyn court employees accused of taking bribes to steer divorce cases to disgraced Judge Gerald Garson.
The two women testified yesterday that the defendants – retired court clerk Paul Sarnell and court Officer Louis Salerno – were in cahoots with Garson to fix cases for their husbands’ lawyer, Paul Siminovsky.
“Paul Siminovsky had free run of the courtroom,” said Lisa Cohen, 39. “He was exceptionally friendly with the court clerk and the court officer.”
Sarnell was indicted in the case after investigators discovered that Cohen’s husband, Elisha, had bought him airline tickets to Fort Lauderdale as a bribe. Copies of those tickets later turned up in the possession of noted Brooklyn “fixer” Nissim Elmann, who is also charged with bribery and bribe-taking.
Cohen also testified that she heard Elmann tell a client: “I can take care of your divorce. I have a judge in my pocket, Judge Garson.”
Another divorcée, Sigal Levi, testified that she had heard Elmann make a similar claim about having Garson in his pocket.
Levi’s husband, Avraham, pleaded guilty earlier this year to paying $10,000 to Elmann to help fix the divorce case.
Levi also testified that Garson’s courtroom was a nest of corruption.
“Siminovsky was constantly in and out of Garson’s chambers,” she said. “They were talking loud about lunches and horse races. Everyone could hear them.”
She added that Garson’s law secretary, Larry Rothbart, once threatened her to settle the case. “He said, ‘You have to settle because if not, you might lose your license as a teacher and you might get in trouble with the IRS and you might rot in jail.’ ”
The trial of Sarnell and Salerno was rocked by bombshell evidence Wednesday, when secret videotapes made by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office showed Garson accepting cash from Siminovsky to help a client in a divorce case.
“I’ll award him exclusive use on [the house],” Garson is heard telling the lawyer on tape. “She’s f- – -ed.”
The trial is considered a preview of the evidence that prosecutors say they have on Garson, who is charged with taking bribes from lawyers. He is expected to be tried next year.
Sarnell’s attorney, Dominic Amorosa, suggested Elmann was lying about his pull with Garson, Sarnell and Salerno.
While cross-examining Shaun Winter, a detective with the Brooklyn DA’s office, Amorosa asked, “So you accept that Mr. Elmann is quite a liar?”
Winter replied only, “Embellisher.”