48 Hours - Behind Chamber Doors

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Frieda Hanimov feared she would lose custody of her children because she suspected New York State Supreme Court Judge Gerald Garson was corrupt. She went to authorities and agreed to wear a wire. One woman's fight for her kids led to a full-fledged anti-corruption probe. “48 Hours" Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 8/4/2007. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're talking about corruption in the court system and the pawns that are being played with here are children. The very fabric of the legal system is at stake here. There is a question. If I walk into a courtroom, am I getting a fair shot? Am I getting a fair shake? I'm Michael Vecione and I am the chief of the Rackets Division in the Brooklyn District Attorney office and I was in charge of the investigation begun by Frida Hanamov who started this by walking into our office and telling us that she was about to lose her children

because a judge had been fixed. I felt something is wrong but I couldn't prove it. I just couldn't prove it. I said what kind of America is this? I'm Frida Hanimov. I went undercover for the district attorney office to nail a corrupt. judge. I'm not a police officer. I'm not a detective. I'm a mother and a nurse. That's beautiful. I'll do anything, anything in the world to keep my kids, even if I have to

fight with a tiger. I'll do it. A Supreme Court judge being paid off, being bribed, you can't get much more serious than that. So he decided to put a recording device on her. This is the neighborhood that we took Frida to. I'll meet them about five, six blocks away from the warehouse. We'd meet her, wire her up. Talk to her, prep her about what she's going to say when she goes in. When you get off from your car, you see this big, huge warehouse. I mean, not a place that we were very happy about sending her into, but it was necessary.

She was not the type of individual who would normally put a recording device on. She was pregnant, and to have a pregnant woman who had no experience doing this, it was harrowing on us as well. And this big steel gate will open up. My heart was really going fast, and then the boom, they closed it after me. I said, oh my God, I have no way out even if I want to run away. She could have been harmed, she could have been hurt, she could have been killed. The truth is when I went inside, I didn't care about myself. This is the last chance I have to keep my kids.

Chamber of Secrets. And this is a big mahogany door that I bought. Welcome to Frida Hanamoff's American Dream. You see when the skylights. The skylight we put in. This was once her big house in a swanky New York neighborhood. It's all beautiful. It's a world away from the poverty where she grew up.

Frida's parents fled Russia, emigrated to Israel, and at 19, Frida, a young nurse, made her way to America. Just a few weeks later, she met the man she would marry Yuri Hamanov. His business was diamonds. They would have three children, Yannif, Sharon, and Nati. life was good. I love this house very much. I walked all my life just to get to this house. And boom, one day.

After 13 years of marriage, Yuri announced to his wife that his business was failing. The dream house had to be sold, and they would move to a small apartment in Brooklyn. Frida says her husband told her they had to pretend to divorce. She claims it was part of a scheme to hide their assets. assets. Then he even gave me diamonds that he told me that it's what over six million dollars. Oh look at that. They shine. Oh they do. They're gorgeous. Yes. But one day, Yuri didn't come home. He just disappeared with his clothes. You could not reach him nothing. And those diamonds? Zircon. Zircon. Yes. The diamonds were.

were fake. But the separation papers Freedah signed were real. And she says she had unknowingly signed away her rights to any of her husband's assets. This is a crime. What he did to me is a crime. She hired a lawyer to try to stop the divorce and pinned her hopes on the wisdom of a New York State Supreme Court Justice, Judge Gerald Garson. He will see that this is a setup, a woman that married to her husband, who is a wealthy husband, a mother of three kids, will get her right. But when she walked into his court, her hopes were shattered.

He threatened and he yells. Judge Garson is screaming at you? Yeah. And the judge tells me that I better settle this case, and I don't have any chances. And he told me that if I'm not going to settle that, I'm going to be in jail. The judge chastised her for renting an apartment she co-owned with her husband without his permission. He said you'd end up in jail.

I'm going to end up in jail. So stunned by the judge's behavior, Frida says she saw no choice but to agree to the divorce. Did you take your tablet this morning? Yeah. I said, to hell with money. I'm a nurse. I'll make it.

How is school today? As long as I have my kids, I just continue with my life, you know, it's not the end. Sure enough, two years later, Frida fell in love. She got married and got pregnant. She says her ex got jealous. She became very obsessed with me. Frida says her ex-husband Yuri began trying to convince the children they would have a better life with him. Her 13-year-old son, Yonif, liked the idea.

Look, mommy living in this small apartment and she doesn't have any money and this and that. You're going to live like a millionaire with me. One night when Frida had just come home from work... My ex-husband called the police on me. They knock on my door, and he goes to me, your son said that you hit him with a belt. Yonif was standing outside with his father and told the police his mother had beaten him with a belt

three days earlier. My son had a mark on his face. He had a red mark. So the husband pointed on my son and said, you see the red line? This is Mommy hidden with a belt. How did you think he got that red mark? They kids, they jumped, they pay basket,

They do things. I never hit my kids. Never, ever. My kids are well, well, dressed, well, very clean. Honors in school. I'm proud to be their mother. Frida was arrested. They put cuffs on me.

And my son saw that. And he went to the police and he said, no, no, let me go. It was misunderstanding. Then he went to my ex-husband and started hitting him and saying, Daddy, you lied to me, you lied to me. You said, you said, They're not going to hurt mommy. They put me in a cell with, I will say, 30 to 50 people.

Me shaking, pregnant, I'm scared. Sitting and crying and I can believe that my son did this to me for no reason. I never hate my son. Then the news got even worse for Frida. Her ex-husband filed for custody. He wanted all the children. And the man decided to decide.

And the man deciding the fate of her family, none other than Judge Gerald Garson. When Judge Garson called me in his chamber room, he asked me who I would want to live with, my mother and my father. So I told him my mother. I told him my mom. He just said, you never know what's going to happen. It's up to me. He told me that he was an adult. He was the judge, and he decides, whether I like it or not. So I thought, like, what's the point of me even coming to the chamber room to talk to the judge if he didn't even want to hear what I wanted to say? So I said, I'm not going to sit and wait.

I'm not going to lose my kids. Frida was desperate and heard about a man who could help, a businessman who was boasting around town that he could influence the judge. His name, Nisim Elman. And I said, let me call him. And he tells me that this judge is in his packet. In almonds pocket. In almonds packet.

Frida says he told her he could prove it by dialing the judge himself while she listened in. Frida says she heard a man say that she was going to lose her children in 30 days. She hung up the phone terrified. Oh my God, this judge is corrupted. I'm going to definitely lose my kids. I start crying and I'm trying to dial back to him and he's not picking up the phone. Frida began calling every law enforcement agency she could think of.

I need action right now. I'm losing my kids. I called the district attorney office. She was in a pretty frantic state at the time. Kings County Assistant District Attorney Brian Wallace was the first investigator to take Frida Hanamoff seriously. There was a businessman named Nisim Elman who claimed that he had influence in Judge Garson's part. Of course my antennas went up. We're not talking about a traffic ticket here.

or someone jumping a turnstile, we're talking about corruption in the court system and the pawns that are being played with here are children. Prosecutor Noel Downing was working with Brian Wallace in the Rackets Division. Michael Vecione, their boss, knew that proving corruption in the courts would be difficult and explosive. We explained to her that we needed to, in essence, test her

to see if what she was telling us was the truth. Put Wires Army. I'll prove you that this judge is corrupted. We couldn't cover her inside the warehouse. It's a rather stark and daunting place. It's kind of brick and closed up. So once Frida went into that location, she was on her own.

Her allegations were that a Supreme Court judge had been bribed. She was about to lose her children. I don't care about myself anymore. anymore. I just want my kids back. Frida Hanamoff, three months pregnant and on an undercover mission to expose corruption, headed to a warehouse in downtown Brooklyn to meet businessman Nisem Elman. See, we didn't really know what Nisem Elman was about. We didn't know what he was capable of.

How's her demeanor? ADA Michael Vecione assigned detectives Jeanette Sbordoni and George Terra to Frida. She was a tiger. She was protecting her cubs. This is a digital recording device. This is the device that we use to give to Frida, to have recorded conversations with Nissan Elman at his warehouse. As they wired her up, their nerves were wound tight too.

It was balsy of her to go in there. We pulled up and we watched her go in. And we really didn't know what we were. was going on inside that warehouse. You're walking. It's dark. You're listening to your step. Quiet, but you can hear echoes.

I was scared, but I never show it. Like, you know, my heart will go fast. Frida found Nissen Elman right here in his office. He make phone calls of front of my eyes to the court, asking how is the judge? Their conversation was mostly in Hebrew. You have a problem. The problem you have.

The situation can be saved. It's possible. Your husband paid money. A lot of money and he has the upper hand. Like what he wants, he'll get. Okay? He also doesn't care about wasting the money because he knows that you don't have the money.

And Elman said, you're losing because your husband paid off the judge. He is going to build a case against you that is even worse than you think in order to take the children. Elman tells Frida the judge is looking at papers submitted by her ex-husband. If the judge signs that paper, your children, forget about the children. They are taking your children away.

Frida pleads with Elman. What do you want me to do? I'm losing my children. Elman shows Frida his cell phone with Judge Garson's phone number on the screen. If you are saying that Garcin is corrupt, will he reverse everything? for me? He will do everything for me. He will do everything for me.

The problem is here, how much you can sacrifice. Elman, an electronic salesman, guarantees she'll win custody of her younger children, Sharon and Nottie, but it will cost her. Essentially what he's doing is he's bringing in the clients. Prosecutor Noel Downey. And he's selling to them a product. And I'm not talking about a stereo here. The product that he's selling them is that I have, that being Niesa Mellman, I have Judge

Garson in my pocket. And if you come on board with me, you give me a certain amount of cash, I'll get it done for you. Two weeks later, wearing a wire again, Frida visits Elman to negotiate a price for her children. And the DA gave you the money to give. All marked money. All marked money to give Elman.

The price to keep custody of Sharon and not. $9,000. I won't guarantee for the money. It is guaranteed by 1 million percent. It's not 99 percent, by a million percent. And Frida says it worked. Judge Garson had appointed this lawyer, Paul Semenovsky, to represent her children. And suddenly, Semenovsky was treating Frida very differently.

So you're giving Elman money and you're seeing a result. I'm saying results. Okay, guys ready? I felt like they're not talking anymore about my little kids because it's so obvious they're going to be mine. In the beginning, I was so dangerous, remember? Now I'm a very good mother. All of a sudden, I get visitation for my oldest son after six months.

She saw such a difference of how people treated her from top down. So she gives Elman the money and boom, everything changes. Simanovsky particularly became a lot less strident in terms of his feelings towards her. Simeonovsky, good morning to me all of a sudden, and the judge is going easy on me. I felt very good. He's pouring over a lot of the transcripts. It was up to the DA now to figure out how an electronic salesman

could possibly be influencing custody decisions. Okay. They put a tap on Elman's phone. You see, I look at these people left and right just for your hand to come up with money. On tape, he assures lawyer Paul Semenovsky that he's working to get him money from various divorce litigants. I don't give a shit about them. It's all business, and I want you to be as rich as he could. Sounds good.

It's a surveillance tape of him hugging Elman. very tight relationship. Simonowski also has a very tight relationship with the judge. Investigators believe they had figured out the food chain, literally. This is the infamous archives bar. That's where- The bar restaurant where Simonovsky and the judge

would meet often for drinks and dinner and much of the money was spent on the judge. They were very well known at the archives because they were there just about every afternoon. Very friendly, a lot of laughing. They were buddies. I'm talking about an attorney who would bring the judge out to lunch, to drinks, to dinners. Not once, but we're talking several hundred times.

It makes no sense. Paul Sibonowski would pick up the tip. It was a given. Always. He spent over 10 grand on Judge Garson's stomach. Everybody knew they were buddies. People know that this lawyer... This lawyer is before this judge on a case.

It's wrong. It's inappropriate. It's unethical. If this was what was going on in public, authorities wanted to know what was happening behind closed doors. Were judicial decisions being bought? Officers from the district attorney's office

worked in the middle of the night long after Judge Garson had left for the day. They searched his robing room looking for a place to hide a camera. They found this hole in the ceiling. On a cold December night, detectives from the district attorney's office made their way into this room, Judge Garson's chambers. A tiny camera placed in his ceiling.

This actually is the camera that was planted. This is the camera? Yes. And it went through the ceiling, wires going down. Yes. We had a microwave dish that would read the these signals being sent back to our office. This was our plan.

And this is where we had the recording devices that recorded the judge's chambers, both video and audio. And you were watching this in real time? Yes. We had people who were monitoring it all day long and into the evening. Just weeks after Frida Hanamoff, terrified she was going to lose her children, started working under cover to try to prove whether Judge Garson was taking payoff. the district attorney began surveillance of the judge and his meetings with lawyer Paul Semenovsky.

Yeah, where you, what are you doing now? Maybe it's a work, but... Semenovsky kind of has the run of the room, and, I mean, nobody else really has this kind of access. It's totally at home. Oh, absolutely. Without question. And he is not candid about reaching into the candy dish at any time. Here you have this attorney Semenowski getting,

inappropriately cozy with the judge who he's appearing before that he has cases with. One of Semenovsky's clients was this man, Avraham Levy, a estranged husband of this mother of five, Seagal Levy. Detective secretly listened in as Judge Garson tells Semenovsky that his client, Avraham, will win the family house. As for Segal Levy... The bottom line is still like her. She'll walk away with nothing. She's f***.

Look at the coach at me. You're in an easy way. And your shton doesn't deserve it. You're right. At a later date, Judge Garson instructs Simonovsky how to write a memo on the issue. The only other case is, doing the course of the marriage, why his house.

The judge is telling him what to say in court and things like that? The case was on trial. On trial that very week, that very day. So he says, when you go back and The courts say this. Argue A, argue B. You're going to win. The wife's not going to get anything.

Don't worry about her. And it says some pretty disturbing things about her on this video table. According to investigators, the judge and the lawyer said things about other women, too. The way he spoke about women was really just beyond sexist. I think it borders on disturbing. Investigators say they heard Paul Simonovsky tell Elman what Judge Garson said about Frida. The judge was admiring her lips. In a sexual way?

Yes. And what she could do to him with those lips. Here she is, pregnant, pleading for her children. And this judge is talking about her mouth in a sexual way. Yes. But the worst thing that was going on in Garson's chambers, according to investigators, were the kickbacks in the form of lucrative work. You see Simonowski's assignment numbers almost triple.

All that whining and dining of the judge paid off for Simonovsky, according to investigators, in a big way. If a child needed representation in a custody case, Judge Garson would assign Simonovsky as the law guardian, and the divorcing parents or the taxpayers would foot the bill, often tens of thousands of dollars. So here you have the judge. getting filled at lunch with booze and food and hey thanks Saminowski here's a

guardianship for you judge Garson's behavior was especially appalling for Joe Hines the district attorney in charge for him this investigation was personal I saw the way the courts treated my mother when she was being beaten up by my father I have a very very special interest in making damn sure that that kind of stuff doesn't continue frankly I was shocked that it was going on at all I thought that there had been significant changes in the way the courts had acted towards women, litigants, and their kids. The district attorney thought he had the goods on Semenovsky, but he wanted Judge Garson. He told his staff to offer Semenovsky a deal and get him to flip.

They would recommend Semenovsky served no prison time. It was an offer he couldn't refuse. Semenovsky took the deal. He would wear a wire and go see the judge. We said, well, will he take a gift for the advice? And Semenovsky told us absolutely. And we knew that he was a cigar smoker. The DA bought a $275 box of cigars.

One afternoon after Semenovsky went to lunch with the judge and after he paid for the lunch again, he came back to the robing room and gave him the box of cigars and said, this is thanks for your help in the Levy case. Next, Semenovsky brought Kempark. cash, $1,000, a thank you for referring a case in another court to him. He'll see him reach into his pocket, and he takes out $1,000, and he hands it to the judge.

The judge takes it, and he puts it into his pants pocket. Now, Semenovsky leaves, and the judge takes it out of his pocket, and you see him counting it, takes a couple of bills, and puts it into another pocket, and puts some in an envelope. Judge Garson calls Semenovsky back to his office, tells him it's too much more. money and tries to give it back. Semenovsky insists, in the end, Garson keeps the money. What we had all suspected he would do, he actually did.

Joe Hines, the district attorney in his case, would like nothing better than to tag Jerry Garson with the fact that he accepted a bribe. Attorney Ron Foshetti represented Judge Garson and told us the judge's behavior may look bad, but there is nothing illegal about any of it. He never fixed a case. He never accepted any money on any cases whatsoever. The $1,000 that you're talking about was a referral fee that Paul Seminowski said, you referred me a case, I received a fee, and here's the $1,000, which returned to give back. A judge is supposed to take referral fees? Absolutely not. And he tried to give it back three times.

He didn't try to give all of it back. Yes, he did. The whole thousand dollars. You see him counting it out. Put in an envelope, open the drawer, gave it back to him. That's our position. He ended up taking it. Yes, he did. Okay. Refer to the law of entrapment, I'm sure. Furthermore, Fichetti says, Garson showed Siminovsky no special treatment in exchange

for all those meals. The only bribe he's accused of taking is the fact that he had lunch and dinner with Paul Simonowski in order to have favorable treatment for Paul Simonowski and give him Lord guardianships. Now, I tell you, I mean, that is so ridiculous on its face. face. A person like Jerry Garson, the Supreme Court judge, is not going to throw in his robes for a hamburger. The judge is on tape telling and coaching Simonowski and how to win a case in front of him.

Well, I disagree with that. He's giving him lessons. He's telling him how to write the memo. That's not correct. That's on the tape. What happened was, I understand that. It made a decision regarding the property in that case. And when he was doing is telling Paul Simonowski, in his own words, that he had ruled in his favor, and you're going to win.

You're going to win. He says, And that's wrong. He says, your client's going to win, but he doesn't deserve it. Well, I can't. It sounds as though he's saying, I shouldn't be doing this, but because of our relationship, I'm going to. That's not correct. But that's what it sounds like.

That's not correct. But 48 hours after Judge Garson took that money, detectives picked him up and brought him to a place they call the Gullog. It's a stark military area here in Brooklyn, and there's bob wire around the place. He still had the $1,000 in his pocket. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more.

So if you're looking to join a passionate community of the Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, Stay curious. He is 10-10 wins. Sources revealed that a Brooklyn State Supreme Court judge is under arrest on corruption charges. He's identified as 71-year-old Gerald Garson. He was not a low-level judge.

When Judge Garson saw what investigators had on tape, they say he offered to cut a deal. But in the end, it fell apart. And nine months after Frida Hanamoff went undercover. It took a lot of guts for her to do what she did. The authorities arrested Judge Garson and charged him with receiving a bribe. Accepting all those free lunches could put the judge behind bars for up to seven years. And when investigators raided Nissom Elman's warehouse, they found a treasure trove of documents. When we cracked open these file cabinets, now mind you, this is an electronic salesman in the middle of Brooklyn.

When these drawers are opened, you feel like you're in a satellite file room. room for the matrimonial court. They arrested Nisom Elman, and also retired court clerk Paul Sarnow, and Judge Garson's court officer, Louis Salerno. They were accused of taking bribes to steer cases to Garson's court. This surveillance tape shows Salerno accepting a bribe, a bag full of electronics, right on the courthouse steps. It's a conspiracy, first off, and foremost.

And it all starts with Frida. It certainly does. But it doesn't end with Frida. There are many women who say that because of Judge Garson, they lost custody of their children. Okay, guys. Ready. Remember Sagal Levy? The woman who's divorced Judge Garson was discussing in that undercover tape?

Segal had always suspected corruption. In fact, she's the one who's tipped to Frida about Nissam Elman started Frida on her crusade. aide. Judge Garson was arrested before he ruled on Segal's case, but her estranged husband has pled guilty to conspiring to bribe the judge. My ex-husband told me numerous time how he went to the right people to take care of me. He paid Elman $10,000, but ironically he says he's the victim and that he only did it because Elman threatened him that he would lose everything if he didn't pay up. I knew about Seagal's divorce probably before she did. I knew her name that it was going on.

You're Lisa Cohen here. Yes. Lisa Cohen knew because she and her husband were friendly with Nisom Elman. You socialized with Nisim and his wife. Yes. I knew that he had the judge in his pocket. I knew that he was very friendly with the judge, as well as he had a very intimate rapport with Paul Simonovsky.

How did you know? From the horse's mouth, he told me. What did he tell you? Any favor you need, the judge is my friend in my pocket. He said that to you. Blatent. And so when Lisa and her husband went through their own divorce later that year, she was terrified. I received the notice in the mail to appear in Supreme Court, and sure enough, Judge Garson's name was right there.

And what did you think? I said, that's it. I'm doomed. I'm fixed, and it's all over. Lisa's ex-husband hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but Lisa still believes his friendship with Elman hurt her. She believes that Judge Garson shorted her on child support. Judge Garson has not been charged with fixing any decisions, but an administrative judge was appointed to review his divorce and custody rulings. Let me tell you something about this job. What a great thing is about the job? I don't know if the I have to want until I get you. I don't give a shit easily.

The man alleged to be the gatekeeper of Judge Garson's corrupt court, Nisim Elman, sat down with us for his first interview, his lawyer, Gerald McMahon, by his side. Do you think in your heart that you did anything wrong? No. You didn't do anything wrong?

No. No. I tried to help these people. Did you ever, bribe Judge Garson? Absolutely not. Were you bribing Paul Siminovsky? I was not under impression that I was bribing him. In fact, Elman has been charged with conspiracy to bribe practically everyone in Judge Garson's court, from employees Salerno and Sarnel to lawyer Semenovsky to Judge Garson himself. But Elman says he never really knew the judge. I was really showing off like I'm a big shot.

And that was my biggest mistake. When you told Rita that if she didn't pay, she was going to lose her kids in 30 days, what are you saying you meant? Leslie, one of the things that when Frida goes to Mr. Ellman and she's asking him these things, there's no question that his responses, his comments, her on many occasions. If they were true would be criminal, but they weren't true. None of those

things were true, not a single one. Did you say I'm calling the judge? Did you mislead her? I might have done that just to come down. Hi, how are you? Elman says he lied to Frida when he told her her ex-husband was bribing the judge. And in fact, there is no evidence her ex slipped anyone any money. And he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Still, Elman convinced Frida her ex was up to no good and took $9,000 from her. Every penny, he says, he gave to lawyer Semenovsky. Didn't you keep some of the money yourself? Absolutely not. Not even one cent. He destroyed children's lives and I don't have answers from my children. I just don't. You think he did it purely

simply for the money? Greed. But Elman and his attorney believe that if anyone's motive should be in question, it should be Frida's. Frida Hahnemoff is not a crusader trying to clean up corruption in Brooklyn, nor is Joe Hines. Frida Hattamoff is a useful tool to Joe Hines so that he can get publicity for this case. You are suggesting that she is not a very truthful person. I'm not suggesting it. I'm stating it categorically. She's a liar. He calls her a child abuser who found a way to get the charges dropped.

Did she hit her child? Well, no, none of us believe she did. She felt that the husband had been manipulating her child, which is what happened. See, cheese. But Frida still has to convince the court that she's the better parent to raise her oldest son. Hopefully, I'm going to get my son today. Nearly two years after Judge Garson's arrest, she's still fighting. for custody.

Well, sick, I just want to get over it already. For almost two years, Frida Hanamoff has been fighting to get custody of her eldest son, and today could be the day. Finally, Yannif, who still says his mother hit him, agrees to live with her because he wants to be near his school. So after a very long wait and a very short hearing... I got my son back. My heart is like...

Jumping up and down. This is that every mother's dream. to have her kids back. This is a big win for me, a big win. I'm glad. You got it. It seems that women all over the country have heard about what she's done. People start calling me.

Oh, I had the same stories. You, I lost two kids. Another woman calls me. I had one kids. They thought I'm a DA. I can help them, but I'm just a mother who fight the system and I won. And you've been likened to Aaron Brokovich.

That's what they're saying. And who was the low guardian? Every month, Frida meets with other women. If she hears what she thinks is evidence of corruption, she calls her new friends in law enforcement. Well, I was there once. If I can help those women, why not? In the wake of Judge Garson's arrest,

court administrators formed a new commission to reform New York's divorce court, and Frida was right there. In this part of New York, at least, things are changing. The district attorney credits Frida with forcing the leadership of the court to re-examine how they pick judges

and how they handle custody cases. Has Frida done that? You bet she did. Now, Hollywood has come calling. A movie company bought the rights to Frida's story. The script line is simple. A Russian immigrant, for whom English is a third language, exposed a potential sewer of corruption.

in an American court. And now the women who thought they had no voice at all will get to be heard. Do you know the word tenacious? No, it's this. It's a person who grabs hold when they want something and doesn't let go. So call me that there.

So call me this name. Tenacious. However tenacious Frida was, it would take nearly five years before the case against Judge Gerald Garson would go to trial. A jury found the judge, judge who handled more than a thousand matrimonial cases while on the bench, guilty of receiving

bribes. Garson stood before the court, ashamed. I am profoundly sorry for the public scrutiny presented upon a judiciary as a whole. What we have to say now is for my family, my wife, my children, and parents, children, and friends. friends and I know that my own acts and shortcomings have changed their lives forever. I apologize for all you. They paid that and have caused you. But the former judge refused to apologize to all the women who say they and their children were his victims.

Gerald Garson served 30 months in prison. He later died in 2016 at age 83. Paul Simonovsky pled guilty to a misdemeanor Nisem Elman pled guilty to all the charges against him. Luis Salerno was convicted of receiving a bribe, and Paul Sarnel was found not guilty of all charges.