NEW YORK (AP) -- An ex-judge pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing a forged document that granted him unlimited power of attorney over his 91-year-old aunt's estate, prosecutors said.
Also Tuesday, the judge made a final payment returning the money he was accused of looting from his now-deceased aunt Sarah Gershenoff, prosecutors said.
Former Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Garson will not serve jail time, but he must resign from the New York State Bar and agree not to accept any of the inheritance to which he would otherwise be entitled from his aunt, prosecutors said. He will be officially sentenced July 1.
The civil aspect of the case was settled in 2005, when Garson was ordered by an appeals court to pay $163,000 to his aunt's guardian because he could not prove he spent the money for her benefit. With interest, the total amounted to $219,000, prosecutors said.
The court ruled that Garson, who had his aunt's power of attorney, failed to show that his ``undocumented withdrawals'' from her accounts, supposedly to pay her living expenses and buy gifts, were legitimate.
Garson testified that he and a cousin, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson, helped their aunt plan gifts to relatives so her money, about $650,000, would not go to the state or a nursing home. He testified he didn't always get receipts or other records while spending his aunt's money -- at her direction -- because he ``never dreamed'' he'd need to.
Michael Garson never admitted to looting the estate, but still paid back the restitution, prosecutors said.
Gerald Garson was sentenced last June to three to 10 years behind bars for accepting cigars, cash and other gifts from an attorney who argued divorce cases in his court. Prosecutors said he was bribed so he would award the lawyer lucrative guardianships in child custody cases and give him advice on winning divorce cases.
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