A state judge scheduled to sentence former New York comptroller Alan Hevesi for his role in the pension fund pay-to-play scheme should remove himself from the case, attorneys for Mr. Hevesi argued yesterday. (See the recusal motion and memorandum in support.) In court papers, Mr. Hevesi’s lawyers said the basis for recusal was the conflict created by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone’s long-standing “social and fiduciary relationship with the bitterly estranged father of Mr. Hevesi’s attorney,” Bradley Simon, and the court’s failure to “properly disclose the relationship.”
In October, Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty to approving $250 million in pension fund investments in exchange for accepting some $1 million in gifts. According to the recusal papers, Justice Stone compiled a “confidential record” on Oct. 6, the day before Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty, in which the judge identified potential areas of conflict and potential grounds for recusal. Among other things, he revealed that he is the executor of Mr. Simon’s parents’ wills, a trustee of Mr. Simon’s parents revocable life trusts, and knew that Mr. Simon had been disinherited by his father. In the record, the judge says that he sealed the papers “to avoid disclosing to Bradley Simon that his parents had excluded him from their estate.” Mr. Simon only learned about the record on March 1, according to the recusal motion.
