Luthmann Filing Fights Back: Claims McMahons' Corruption Behind Prosecution and Judicial Misconduct

By Dick LaFontaine, M. Thomas Nast, and Frankie Pressman

Richard Luthmann, an investigative journalist for this outlet and former attorney, is back in the spotlight, launching a blistering attack on New York’s judicial system in an affidavit filed in the Appellate Division, Second Department, Brooklyn.

He argues that his 2018 indictment and prosecution were not only politically motivated but also the result of judicial corruption designed to destroy him.

Richard Luthmann

In his latest legal filing, Luthmann minces no words, taking aim at Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, his wife, Supreme Court Justice Judith McMahon, and their judicial allies.

“The McMahons are the most corrupt pair of political vultures this city has ever seen,” Luthmann states bluntly. “They’ve politically weaponized the courts to crush anyone who dares to challenge their power. Well, I’m not going down without a fight. This is Braveheart, Gladiator, Spartacus, and Lawrence of Arabia all wrapped into one. I know how this ends, and God is protecting my soul.”

Political Vendetta: Luthmann Targets McMahon’s Corruption of the NY Courts

Luthmann has made no secret of his disdain for Michael McMahon, the Richmond County District Attorney, whom he calls "Nancy Pelosi's Whistling Bootlicker."

He blames McMahon for orchestrating his politically motivated prosecution, which was handed off to Special Prosecutor Eric Nelson after Attorney Tom Tormey's initial review revealed no case against him.

Attorney Tom Tormey

“Tormey wouldn’t be part of McMahon’s dirty political contract,” says Luthmann, accusing McMahon of rigging the system to push through a case without legal merit.

“Eric Nelson is McMahon’s puppet, just another cog in the McMahon political machine. He’s the useful idiot they call when they need to turn a non-case into a lined-up political hit job.”

Judith R. McMahon

Luthmann doesn't stop there. He alleges that McMahon’s wife, Justice Judith R. McMahon, manipulated the judiciary to advance her husband’s political agenda.

"That woman is a menace to the justice system," he claims. "Judith McMahon used her position to control indictments, securing them against innocent defendants by manipulating the assignment of judges. She thinks she has absolute power and can ‘shut up’ the press. She’s a disgrace to the bench, and I’ve got the tapes to prove it.”

Luthmann paints a picture of a judiciary infected by political corruption, where backroom deals and family vendettas shape defendants' fates.

“What they’ve done to me is just the tip of the iceberg. The McMahons have been running this racket for years,” he declares. “They think they’re untouchable, but they’ve never faced someone like me. I don’t give a f—-. They took my past life, and now I am reborn with a singular and resolute purpose. I’m going to expose them for what they are—corrupt, power-hungry frauds.”

An Illegal Transfer and Judicial Malfeasance

At the heart of Luthmann’s current legal battle is the improper transfer of his case from Richmond County to Kings County Supreme Court, a move he says was orchestrated by the McMahons to ensure his conviction. Richmond County Supreme Court Justice Marina C. Mundy, whom Luthmann describes as “conflicted but not corrupt,” made the transfer. Still, Luthmann argues it was illegal, violating his constitutional rights.

“This case was ripped out of Richmond County in the dead of night without any legal justification,” he says. “It was all part of the McMahon master plan. They move in the darkness, the hour of the legal rapists. They raped the law.”

According to several seasoned criminal defense attorneys, the Administrative Transfer Order signed by Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Deborah A. Kaplan is highly irregular.

Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Deborah A. Kaplan

“I’ve practiced criminal law for over thirty years, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Luthmann has a point that transfers like this need either an explicit waiver of Court of Appeals permission,” said a Staten Island Attorney speaking under conditions of anonymity because they “have to deal with Mike [McMahon].”

Luthmann says Kaplan did the McMahons a “favor” and trampled his rights in the process.

“Deborah Kaplan is Judy McMahon’s asshole buddy,” Luthmann said. “She’s the one who helped kill the earlier McMahon investigation into Charlie Troia and the ‘Special Narcotics Part’ in 2018 and 2019. It smacks of a corrupt conspiracy.”

Luthmann's scathing critique also targets Acting Kings County Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo, who presided over the case after the illegal transfer.

Luthmann has little good to say about Brooklyn Judge Donald Leo.

“Leo isn’t a judge—he’s a spineless political hack,” Luthmann declares. “He’s nothing more than the McMahons' lackey, doing whatever they want to stay in their good graces. The man wouldn’t know the law if it hit him in the face. He’s not fit to judge the contents of a bento box.”

Luthmann accuses Leo of issuing rulings tainted by bias and inaccuracies, solely to secure his position in the political pecking order.

“Leo lied in his legal opinions, just to curry favor with the McMahons and secure his own future on the bench.”

Luthmann appears to have a point. He knows the legal and political landscape, and his claims appear to cut to the bone:

Judicial Malfeasance in Kings County: The Role of Donald Leo

26. After the illegal transfer, the case fell into the hands of Acting Kings County Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo, a political hack more concerned with securing his future on the bench than ensuring justice.

27. Leo, a former prosecutor with ties to the McMahons, has been angling for political favors for years.

28. His legal rulings in this case are riddled with errors and blatant biases. However, his biggest problem is his outright lie that he has no judicial aspirations greater than being an appointed NYC Criminal Court / Acting NYS Supreme Court Judge. Leo said:

With full transparency, Court regretfully disappoints the defendant in pointing out that it has never indicated any political aspirations nor harbored any ambitions past its current position of Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.

29. Bullshit. This panel only needs to look in the mirror. In that same mirror, every priest sees a pope. Those who say they don’t are lying. But Leo didn’t say “The Court,” only “Court.” Maybe he’s giving himself a linguistic out. Maybe “Court” is a Pickleball Court.

30. Leo saw this case as an opportunity to curry favor with La Cosa McMahon and other political elites. Luthmann knows for a fact that Leo practically blew Frank Seddio to try to get on the Supreme Court ballot in Kings County. Once the guard changed in Brooklyn, Leo was shit out of luck. Now, he needs all the friends he can get. Another borough? Court of Claims? Who knows what is in his head?

The one and only “Boss” of Brooklyn, Frank Seddio.

31. But Leo’s blatant disregard for the rule of law by writing such unadulterated bullshit in a Decision and Order only underscores the need to vacate the proceedings and remand the case to Richmond County, free from such political interference. *4 Luthmann will take his chances with the Republicans.

*4 Luthmann would have filed a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Conduct, but that is an exercise in futility. Long-time Chief Counsel Robert H. Tembeckjian is a slob and a political hack with his head way up the Executive Branch’s ass for budget money and the Judiciary’s ass to curry favors. He’s probably friends with all of you. Nothing ever happens there unless there’s a “contract.” They issue two-sentence denials ignoring perjury, lies, and child rape. But call someone a “fag,” and they assemble a modern-day Warren Commission. Ask the old Brooklyn Surrogate. What a joke.

The question is in plain English, whether the Appellate Division will ignore him because he’s being an “asshole.” We asked him.

“King George III’s advisors, because King Geoge was about as batty as Joe Biden is right now, King George III’s advisors though that Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, and John Hancock were more than assholes. They thought they were treasonous assholes that should be put to death. They had Natural Law on their side and so do I, so I think I’m in good company,” Luthmann said.

A Legal Nullity: Kings County Had No Authority

Luthmann insists that the Kings County court had no authority to hear his case, making the entire proceeding a legal nullity.

“They never even bothered to get my consent for the transfer,” he explains. “No waiver of my constitutional rights, nothing. That means the whole thing was illegal. Kings County had no business hearing my case.”

According to Luthmann, the improper transfer violated New York’s Criminal Procedure Law, and he argues that the case must be remanded back to Richmond County, where it belongs.

“They violated my rights at every turn,” he says, citing People v. Correa, a New York State Court of Appeals precedent supporting his claim that unauthorized transfers void subject matter jurisdiction. “This is a textbook example of a mode of proceeding error. You can’t fix this with an apology. The proceedings are null and void.”

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Luthmann’s affidavit also includes a scathing critique of his own defense counsel, whom he accuses of failing to challenge the unauthorized transfer and neglecting to inform him of it or his relevant constitutional rights.

“For whatever reason, my lawyers let this happen,” Luthmann said. “They didn’t object when it got sent from the state's reddest jury pool and electorate to the bluest of the blue. When it says ‘all proceedings related to the matter, including trial,’ Fifth and Sixth Amendment alarm bells should have gone off in everyone’s mind for due process, judicial assignment, and jury rights, among other things.”

Luthmann left his legal team of Mario Romano and Arthur Aidala an out.

“Maybe they didn’t see Judge Kaplan’s Order, because I never did until very recently. I’d like to think this was a mistake because Kaplan’s Order is McMahon-foisted anathema to American criminal law.”

Luthmann points to Strickland v. Washington, which sets the standard for claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, arguing that his legal representation fell far short of what’s constitutionally required. He says he had a right to have the “wheel” in Republican Richmond County decide his judge and Staten Island voters comprise any potential jury.

“If I had competent counsel, we wouldn’t be here,” Luthmann insists. “Anyone would’ve challenged the transfer immediately if they knew about it. I can’t believe Artie Aidala and Marior Romano, the new President of the Bay Ridge Lawyers Association would have let me walk into the viper’s den without so much as a warning. They’re not the type to tuck their tails and run. But with these characters of ill repute involved, I question everything.”

Luthmann believes that if the lawyers were afraid, it was the McMahons. He says he’s seen it before.

“It couldn’t have been of [Judge] Leo. He’s a little bitch. It’s probably the McMahons and the machine they represent. It’s the same corrupt machine that indicted Eric Adams for getting ‘uppity’ about immigration. It’s the same greedy white folks, the Democrat Party plantation owners, who continue to pursue Trump with all the power of government. But I’m not afraid of those crooks. I’m stupid like that,” Luthmann said. “They already came heavy. Now they must live with the fact that years of pressure and pain turned iron into steel.”

Corruption at the Top

In his affidavit, Luthmann spares no one, even directing his ire at the Office of Court Administration (OCA) and the Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC), which he claims are complicit in covering up judicial misconduct.

Robert H. Tembeckjian

“The OCA is a joke, and the CJC is even worse,” he declares. “These organizations exist to protect the powerful, not the people. The McMahons pull the strings, and the OCA and CJC dance to their tune. No one is interested in justice—they just want to protect their own.”

He accuses the OCA of conducting a superficial investigation into the McMahons’ misconduct and doing nothing to hold them accountable.

“They buried the investigation because they’re all in on it,” Luthmann says. “The system is rigged from top to bottom. But they haven’t reckoned with me yet. I’m not going anywhere.”

A Man on Fire

Luthmann portrays himself as a man on a mission, hell-bent on bringing down those who have wronged him.

“This isn’t just about me,” he explains. “This is about exposing the whole rotting, Marxist-leaning system. The McMahons and their cronies think they’ve won, but they’ve only just begun to feel the heat.”

“The People’s Republic of New York”

“If I were them, I’d be afraid,” he warns. “I’m like a man on fire, and they’re about to get burned. I will get my reckoning, whether through the courts or through the press. One way or another, justice will be served.”

Luthmann says he has many forms of relief available to him if, as he expects, the New York courts remain corrupt.

“I’ve said it before. From Plato to Machiavelli to Hannah Arendt, the aim of politics isn’t truth; the aim of politics is distributive justice. But when the courts become politicized and lose the truth as their Guidestar, the state loses its monopoly on justice. They break the social contract. That’s John Locke,” Luthmann said.

“Prerogative can be expressed through the courts, the political branches of government, the press, and many other ways. It is an expression of Natural Law.”

Luthmann refers to the power to do good without or even against the law during contingency and necessity, a foundation of the Enlightenment political philosophy and the American Constitution.

“The rule of law is frayed and becoming unhinged in the People’s Republic of New York. This is what happens in all Marxist states. When you abandon God and truth, the law loses its absolute legitimacy. Natural law dictates that legitimacy is restored,” Luthmann said. “What these statists, like the McMahons, don’t realize, or even worse, know and don’t care about, is that without truth, justice can as easily be ‘legitimately’ dispensed in a courtroom, as in the media, the public square, on the side of a road, or in the bathroom of the Vince Lombardi Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike.”

Relief Requested

Luthmann seeks a complete vacatur of the conviction and for the case to be remanded back to Richmond County. He also requests the appointment of a legal advisor to assist him in his appeal, stating, “I’ve been fighting this battle on my own, but I’m ready to take it to the next level.”

“This isn’t over,” Luthmann says. “Not by a long shot.”

With his latest legal filing, Richard Luthmann makes it clear that he’s not backing down. He’s determined to expose what he calls a system rigged by the McMahons and their allies, and he will use every tool at his disposal to achieve his goal. Whether through the courts, the media, or other means, Luthmann promises to get his reckoning—and if his fiery rhetoric is any indication, those who have wronged him should be very, very afraid.

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