Richard Luthmann is Back
After a Period of Government-Coerced Silence, the Rabble-Rousing Investigative Journalist Begins Throwing Truth Bombs
The last substantial piece I wrote for a national publication was about CT sleazoid Christopher Ambrose in March.
Since then, I have been "radio silent" for several reasons I will now reveal.
Who is Richard Luthmann?
Some readers know my backstory. I was a bow-tied NYC barrister who once challenged a fellow litigant to Trial By Combat to resolve a case.
I was also involved politically. I was the Law Chair of the now-defunct New York State Reform Party, once led by radio personalities Curtis Sliwa and Frank Morano. I managed to piss nearly everyone in New York State off from every end of the political spectrum. They found a "trap door" for me.
Not that my own actions didn't hasten my demise as a New York State politico. In 2011, I consulted an article from The Guardian about how the US military made fake online identities as an intelligence tool. As I read, I instantly realized Pandora's Box had opened:
"The discovery that the US military is developing false online personalities – known to users of social media as "sock puppets" – could also encourage other governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same."
As someone interested in law and politics, I saw these fake "sock puppet" accounts as an inexpensive and effective way to shape political perception on social media. And I believed that since the targeted speech was political, the activity would be covered under the First Amendment, akin to protected satire. No one "owns" the public persona of a politician or public figure.
While the jury is still out on whether I am legally correct, my political rivals and enemies used my activity in this arena to destroy me once a late former client who owed me money (and, in my opinion, pill-popping heroin addict) Charlie Balducci leaked the backend of fake Facebook pages I created about NY politicians to Amanda Farinacci, then a reporter at Spectrum NY1 News.
After that, the sharks circled. At the behest, I believe, of Hillary Clinton, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon, and other Democrat Party operatives, the Feds found another client, a five-time felon, to claim I was helping him rip off the Chinese in a scrap metal scam.
I was swiftly discredited and disappeared, much like a Biden whistleblower, using the machinery of government. I am innocent and have filed court documents impermissibly and inexplicably sealed by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, who also issued the flawed Carter Page FISA Court warrant.
The Staten Island politicos also romped on my account, appointing a Special Prosecutor to charge me with over a dozen fake Facebook felonies in New York State Supreme Court. That case remains pending before Brooklyn Judge Donald Leo and the Appellate Division on Monroe Place in Brooklyn Heights.
Luthmann Meets Frank Parlato
I happened upon Frank Parlato and FR, even though we knew some of the same people. After 48 months as a guest of the Feds, I relocated to Florida. I saw an article about my prosecutrix, Moria Kim Penza, written by Frank, so I called him up. I told Frank I believed I had information and evidence that would show that my and Keith Raniere's prosecutrix was a dominatrix in her spare time. And this is, in my opinion, excellent stuff. Even better than the detailed case that could be made from Moira's courtroom get-up of fish-net stockings, see-through fabric, and greasy hair that looked like it had spent its night in a hidden basement dungeon in Grammercy.
I told Frank I knew the needed three witnesses to blow the Moira thing out of the water. I wanted to go public with the story hoping Moira would sue me. After all, truth is a complete defense to libel and slander, and I would have my day in court.
I believe that if the prosecutorial decisions in the NXIVM case, my case, and countless others were made not by a government prosecutor using reasoned judgment but by one who "got off" on causing harm, none of the results could stand if coupled with governmental or prosecutorial misconduct. The role of the Federal Prosecutor is found in law and reason, not whips and chains:
The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor -- indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one. Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88, 55 S. Ct. 629, 633 (1935).
Ultimately, I decided to wait before pursuing the Moira Kim Penza story. Frank said he would take me under his wing and teach me investigative journalism based on his forty years of experience. I joined the National Writer's Union and started writing for FR as an unpaid contributor to build my brand.
I also know there was more at work with Moira Kim Penza. She is a political hack. Her first case out of the US Attorney's Office at her Democrat Party factory of a law firm was to sue Donald J. Trump. I know there are larger forces behind her, the type that "make" federal judges and even senators. I decided to sit back and collect more information for when the time was right.
Frank Parlato published my first contribution in September of last year.
Luthmann Writes About Prisons, Courts, and Hypocrites
They say a good writer writes about what they know. My old life resembled the Warren Zevon song, Lawyers, Guns, and Money. That's what I knew back then. After four years in the American Criminal Justice System and "finishing school," I obtained a Master's Degree in Prisons, Courts, and Hypocrites. So I started writing.
I spent the lion's share of my federal custody at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, easily one of the worst jails in America. So I wrote about the dirty little secret that no one from the Government wants to admit about pretrial detention.
I also wrote about the toxic content in Bureau of Prisons food consumed for years on end by prisoners.
Many of my stories had a hook related to Keith Raniere, who has spent nearly all of his prison time at USP-Tuscon in the SHU.
I even did bonafide legal journalism and commentary about NXIVM and Keith Raniere's cases. I wrote about some of his filings with the Second Circuit.
And I wrote about the Vanguard's habeas corpus petition in Arizona Federal Court.
But my active submissions for Frank Report abruptly stopped shortly after I filed the Christopher Ambrose story on St. Paddy's Day. Many may not have noticed.
Today, I can say unequivocally, and upon the advice of counsel, my rights to free speech, the press, due process, just compensation, and other essential rights were all stifled by the Government, acting in concert with select subjects of several Frank Report articles who were unhappy with the truth becoming exposed.
The truth is always fair, and I will no longer be intimidated.
Ronald Castorina, Kevin Barry Love, Kamillah Hanks, and Christopher Ambrose Use the Government to Stifle Luthmann's Debt Collections; Practice of Journalism Because of FR Reporting
We are in an era of unprecedented Government action to stifle free speech. Some commentators have gone so far as to call the DOJ a "rogue operation" set on "destroying" America. I have experienced Government overreach first-hand.
Until August 5, 2024, I am under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Probation. Certain legal and non-legal limitations make the vast multitude of employment for me impossible. Writing is something that I can do, and if I can find a way to monetize it, I can earn a living.
When I was sentenced, the late Judge Jack B. Weinstein recognized that I would need a way to make a living when I got out and, after an impassioned plea by my lawyers Arthur Aidala and Mario Romano, specifically said in my Judgment: "The defendant is permitted to assist attorneys with legal work but not as an attorney."
To date, no lawyer wants to hire me or any disbarred attorney because, despite Judge Weinstein's authorizing language, they are worried about their own ethical issues of aiding and abetting the unauthorized practice of law and violating court rules. (Except maybe Special Prosecutor Eric Nelson.)
So I had two ways to get going financially. One was journalism. The other was to collect over $500,000 in unpaid legal fees when the Feds snatched me up on December 15, 2017.
In early April, the U.S. Probation Department said I could do neither. I hired a law firm to collect the outstanding debts. The U.S. Probation Department contacted that law firm and told the attorneys that the collections were under "Appropriateness Review."
The Probation Department further told me that I could no longer practice journalism. I could no longer further associate with Frank Parlato because he was "engaged in criminal activity."
A few weeks later, I found out what the real problem was. Ronald Castorina, Kevin Barry Love, Kamillah Hanks, and Christopher Ambrose were all subjects of Frank Report articles. And all of them started calling law enforcement and making complaints about me.
I know that some of the statements were false, even outright lies to federal agents. Kevin Barry Love even verbally assailed the collections lawyers in a recorded conversation that smacks of shades of Michael Avenatti and interstate menacing.
Unbeknownst to me, on April 25, the collections lawyers dropped me as a client and discontinued my filed cases. The U.S. Probation Department and Love had threatened them, so they tucked tail and ran without the courtesy of a phone call or a return of my file.
Castorina is a crooked, perjurious judge who lied and threw me under the bus in an August 2018 grand jury to secure his judgeship (in my opinion, read and decide for yourself).
NYC Councilmember Kamillah Hanks and her live-in boyfriend, Kevin Barry Love, stiffed me on my bill, even after I saved Kamillah's daughter the embarrassment of not walking at graduation. These deadbeats didn't even pay the Court filing fee.
I have never met Christopher Ambrose, but I believe he should be investigated for child abuse and pedophilia. In addition to what has previously appeared in Frank Report, I will only offer this disgusting email obtained from a protected source (call the Attorney Curley of Murtha Cullina LLP or Nancy Stewart, Kelly Burke, and Michelle Peterson at CT DCF, who cannot deny the existence of the email or the report of sexual penetration of a minor):
Castorina, Love, and Hanks owe me collectively close to $150,000. They all called the U.S. Probation Department to use the Government to stifle my protected speech and property rights.
Ambrose did one better. He called the cops to have me investigated for "libel," which is actually a crime on the books in Florida.
A few weeks later, I was summoned to the U.S. Probation Offices and was presented with a document to sign. What happened had become crystal clear.
U.S. Probation, an arm of the Government (and the Democrat Party?), wanted me to agree not to engage in any speech:
"You must cease and desist making slanderous and libelous statements about other people, specifically Chris Ambrose, Kamillah Hanks, Kevin Love and Ronald Castorina."
Ambrose ( Pedophile Hollywood Writer?), Hanks (Black Elected Official), Love (Black Elected Official's Millionaire Sugar Daddy), and Castorina (Openly Gay Perjurer?) all fit within the Democrat Party's core constituency. Was this a favor for party loyalists?
Notice there is no ascertainable standard for what exactly are "slanderous and libelous statements about other people." Thank God they didn't want to stop me from self-deprecation or would have nothing to do.
And thank God I'm not a moron. I wouldn't sign that piece of paper. As quick as I could, I grabbed it, walked out the door, and lawyered up.
Luthmann Hires Counsel
I have hired counsel. Her name is Stephanie A. Jones, Esq., LL.M. M.P.H. She is actually my former law partner and a Yale graduate (though we don't hold that against her). She has examined all the relevant documents, and her advice of counsel is that the U.S. Probation Department has clearly violated my rights.
"The multitude of their written and verbal directives have been patently illegal and unconstitutional, legal nullity, and can be flatly ignored," Attorney Jones wrote.
"First and foremost, the US Probation Office's (USPO) attempt to silence Mr. Luthmann's journalism in light of his articles critical of federal prisons, criminal justice, and the government smacks of impermissible viewpoint discrimination. In Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), the Supreme Court declared:
"When the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.”
"Additionally, the USPO's directive to "stay away" from Mr. Parlato is problematic on several grounds. Mr. Parlato is facing charges and has yet to be sentenced by the Court in the Western District of New York. By assuming and hypothecating the result of a forthcoming federal sentencing, the USPO has usurped the independent judgment of Article III District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara."
"I am further informed that a likely result of Mr. Parlato's matter may very well be a misdemeanor sentence, if not an outright dismissal and vacatur. The point is that a government agency cannot usurp the Constitutional prerogative of an Article III judge, which is exactly what the USPO has done here," Jones wrote.
"In my opinion, these facts do not impede Mr. Luthmann's right to associate with Mr. Parlato, albeit subject to previously outlined reasonable geographical restrictions."
Attorney Jones thinks one of the Government's biggest problems is the USPO's "stop-work" order, which constitutes a de facto taking under the Fifth Amendment.
"A property owner is entitled to compensation for the temporary loss of his property. Any Government action that works a taking of property rights necessarily implicates the constitutional obligation to pay just compensation. See Knick v. Twp. of Scott. Here, the USPO has apparently frustrated Mr. Luthmann's valuable property rights - his ability to collect on valid debts - and tortiously interfered with the attorney-client agreement with his former counsel," Attorney Jones wrote.
Attorney Jones continued, "The U.S. Constitution itself affords persons deprived of constitutionally guaranteed rights a claim for damages. It is abundantly clear that Mr. Luthmann has strong legal claims based on these facts. Additionally, we intend to further explore the improper actions of Kevin Barry Love and Christopher Ambrose to see what part, if any, their statements to Government may have played."
Luthmann Seeks a Hearing
I am entitled to a hearing as a matter of right on these issues. Since Ron Castorina, Kevin Barry Love, Kmaillah Hanks, and Christopher Ambrose all injected themselves into this case, I get to subpoena every one of them.
I won't let the Government play "heads I win, tales you lose." I always had the right to collect these debts, and I can still do it. If the Government has impeded my right to collect, they have to make me whole.
Plus, if these people lied to the Feds, that violates 18 USC § 1001. They would be civilly liable for harmful actions the Government took based upon their misinformation - not to mention they will probably be criminally charged.
I will ask the Federal Court for discovery on everything that Castorina, Love, Hanks, and Ambrose said. Then I will question them under oath and see who the liars are.
I'm back. I'm writing. I'm lawyered up.
Stay tuned.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, commentator, satirist, and investigative journalist with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Miami. Once a fixture in New York City and State politics, Luthmann is a recovering attorney who lives in Southwest Florida and a proud member of the National Writers Union.
“I am a journalist who writes about justice, the courts, government officials, prisons, and reform. You find some questionable players in all these places and often outright crooks. Exposing these bottom feeders from the outside is sometimes the only way to make them pay the price for their injustice and misdeeds.”
“I use satire and opinion to make my point. I have already been told to ‘stop writing about the Government’ by the U.S. Government, so I must be doing something right.”
“If you’re a victim of the system, maybe the press is the right forum for you. If you have experienced injustice and are tired of dropping tens of thousands of dollars without results, maybe it’s time to try the digital pen.”
Contact Richard Luthmann at 239-631-5957 or richard.luthmann@protonmail.com.
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.” (Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, more obscure than public opinion, and more deceptive than the whole political system.)
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The news media is a critical check on the powerful, serving as a watchdog to hold elected officials and other public figures accountable for their actions. The media was first called the fourth estate in 1821 by Edmund Burke, who wanted to point out the power of the press. The press plays a crucial role in providing citizens with access to information about what is happening in government and by shining a light on corruption, abuse of power, and other forms of wrongdoing.