Posts tagged Maria Araujo Kahn
Prosecutors’ star witness in New York corruption trials wins new sentencing
July 27, 2023 // Hellerstein, in denying Rechnitz's request for recusal in 2020, acknowledged that he had been close friends with Kaplan's father and had known Kaplan since he was born. Hellerstein said that when Kaplan asked for advice about the Platinum case, he had agreed to talk about it because he "felt that I should consider his request as if it were made by my son." Nonetheless, he said Kaplan did not have enough of a connection to Rechnitz's case to warrant recusal. The 2nd Circuit said that was a mistake. "Not only did the district judge have a close, near-paternal relationship with Kaplan, he also advised Kaplan on how to proceed in his pending criminal case arising from the Platinum fraud," the panel wrote. "The judge's relationship with Kaplan was sufficiently close, and Kaplan's case was sufficiently related to Rechnitz's case, that a reasonable person would have questioned the district court's impartiality."