Michigan Supreme Court Justice (and former prosecutor) Diane Hathaway has resigned from the state’s highest court after a judicial agency accused her of “blatant and brazen violations” of judicial ethics that include allegations of bank fraud, tax fraud, money laundering and lying to investigators. The alleged facts are quite shocking and lead to the question of why Hathaway has not been charged criminally. In 2008, Hathaway launched a successful Democratic campaign to unseat conservative Chief Justice of the Court, Cliff Taylor. Her heavily negative campaign accused Taylor of failing asleep on the bench and declared “If you see justice in the name, he really belongs in the hall of shame.”
Federal prosecutors have been looking into Hathaway’s alleged effort to hide income and wealth to avoid a $600,000 mortgage debt. She is also accused for engineered a very shady short sale on a $1.5 million lakefront home.
The unprecedented action against Hathaway was taken after an investigation into the dealing of herself and her husband, attorney Michael Kingsley. Hathaway is accused of claiming to a bank in 2010 she was retiring — and would lose her $164,610 annual salary. In this way, Hathaway allegedly claims financial hardship to dodge the debt to ING Direct on her home. However, hardship is hard to make out with massive assets so investigators say that she and her husband transferred two homes to Kingsley’s children and Hathaway gave a third stepchild $195,000 cash to buy another home. Yes, you guessed it, she then moved into the home. Their prior home was transferred to Kingsley’s daughter on a short sale and then got it back in an exchange for $10.
There is a federal effort to seize the home as part of a civil forfeiture process. This is particularly ironic since Hathaway served as a Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor, 1987-1993, including service as Chief of the Drug Forfeiture Division.
Hathaway’s background including attendance at the Henry Ford Hospital School of Radiological Technology, 1972-74 and then attending Wayne State University, 1980-81. She received a BS in Health from Madonna College. She then received a law degree from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) in 1987.
Source: Detroit News
Just how did you be capable of construct such a excellent audience involving commenters to your internet site%3
what’s the Missouri plan?
Michigan needs to look South and adopt the Missouri Plan.
You could be right AY.
josephsdream2012 1, January 8, 2013 at 5:07 pm
And more to the point:
[1] 12-06-08 Courts and Judges as racketeering enterprises under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) – key element in the current financial crisis
[2] Bribing of state and US judges by Bank of America must be serious concern. …
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
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Of course those are legal conclusions.
However, the LAPD was held to be a criminal enterprise by a federal judge who ordered their takeover by the DOJ to clean them up.
When I mentioned that here the first time it caused a stir until I provided clear and convincing evidence with a copy of the court’s opinion.
If you know what I mean.
well what I don’t understand is why the various state attorney regulation counsels get complaints of crimes, fraud etc. and then do nothing with them.
And more to the point:
[1] 12-06-08 Courts and Judges as racketeering enterprises under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) – key element in the current financial crisis
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96504009/
[2] Bribing of state and US judges by Bank of America must be serious concern. …
http://www.scribd.com/doc/52846502/
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
josephsdream2012 1, January 8, 2013 at 4:49 pm
It is of course only the tip of the iceberg:
What did the experts say?
The United States
* “…it’s difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history
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Good point.
There does seem to be a cultural disease developing, which manifests as sociopathology or worse, psychopathology.
As a society we forgot the danger that denial caries along with it, and we now see it making incursions everywhere, like the cases you cited.
Here is another case concerning official play pretend.
It comes from North Carolina, the state that passed a law forbidding sea level rise more than 8″ in any official state document.
Now, they have transformed oil into a renewable resource:
(Scientific American). The judge in this case was obviously in a form of denial that allowed play pretend fantasy to take over her cognition, as did the government official in NC.
It is of course only the tip of the iceberg:
What did the experts say?
The United States
* “…it’s difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history… where you have literally tens of thousands of fraudulent documents filed in tens of thousands of cases.” Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School
* “Foreclosure fraud: The homeowner nightmares continue”CNN (April 7, 2011)
* ¨About 3 million homes have been repossessed since the housing boom ended in 2006… That number could balloon to about 6 million by 2013…¨ Bloomberg (January 2011)
* “…a system in which only the little people have to obey the law, while the rich, and bankers especially, can cheat and defraud without consequences.”UProf Paul Krugman, MIT (2011)
Los Angeles County, California
* “Los Angeles County got the best courts that money could buy”. KNBC (October 16, 2008)
* “Innocent people remain in prison” LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006)
* Los Angeles County is “the epicenter of the epidemic of real estate and mortgage fraud.” FBI (2004)
* “…judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit.” Prof David Burcham, Loyola Law School, LA (2000)
* “This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states… and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted.” Prof Erwin Chemerinksy, Irvine Law School (2000)
Lock her up in Quantico, take her clothes and wake her up every hour to keep her from killing herself. American justice for an American judge who is a thief. This is America, give her the Bradley Manning torture.
Raff,
There is a certain God like phenomena that overcomes 99% of all judges in Michigan…..
Paul:
Definitely Obama’s next Attorney General.
The guy who owns the bar should be made director of the IRS.
ay,
it is scary to try to understand the mentality of this judge and how did she expect to get away with these crimes? I understand a need for money, but this is like sticking up a gas station. I am going to retire, but then I don’t!?
Bill,
You’re right…. I cannot defend her actions, she should have known better. What is interesting so far is no one has mentioned her husbands Floridia home in this mess…..
Dredd,
Right you are… It’s very sad indeed… If you’ll recall a recent case mespo cited…. The sct is for all intensive purposes a corporate governance board….
Darren,
I agree with you…. What is interesting is they are nominated by the party….. And run Nonpartisan ….. A screwy concept….. I believe this came about in 1963 or so…..
Darren, I agree. However, in Wi. it is “nonpartisan” elections and there are always a Dem and Rep only just not in their title. It’s the same way in KC where I formerly lived. Of course, better than Chicago where there is only one party!
How can there be objectivity when you have judges running in elections as Democrats or Republicans? This should be a non-partisan position.
Sad case.
In Idaho we just had a case where a man who owned a bar was sentenced to several years for tax evasion. He ran a gambling operation in his bar, syphoned off the profits to mexico where he developed some commercial property.
Over the past few years we have had a man named Timothy Geithner (perhaps you know him as Treasury Secretary), he “forget” to pay some income taxes. His punishment? become secretary of treasury. Here is a prominent person who manages their property in a unique way to benefit themselves and what will be her punishment? Perhaps she can be appointed to a Federal court?
I thought justice was blind? Do we wonder why there is so much distrust in our country? You tea baggers? you liberal scum? we call each other names and meanwhile the leaders of both sides of the aisle take us for fools.
Anoynmous Yours — You refer to her transgressions ( $600k worth of fraud) as merely “short comings” . .boy do you Democrats set a low bar! Perhaps Detroit’s beloved ex-Mayor KK is simply misunderstood.