Bronx judge oversaw city’s bad investments of inheritance cash
Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman oversaw program that lost $20 million.
Bronx Public Administrator is changing jobs this week.
Lawyer Michael Lippman has made $1.9 million in fees relating to the inheritance accounts.
A top Bronx judge let political cronies reap lucrative fees from dozens of improperly invested inheritances - leaving taxpayers on the hook for $20 million.
The mishandling of the money - overseen by Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman and managed by two aides - let politically wired lawyers and accountants rake in $2.1 million in fees, while heirs of the 37 victimized estates couldn’t get their money.
“They take their fees and the families be damned,” said Robert Southern, who has threatened to sue to get his inheritance from his late aunt, Florence Einstein.
“Are they waiting for us all to die?” asked Sharon Gentry, whose 97-year-old mother-in-law is still waiting for her inheritance from cousin Alice Babineau, who was killed in a 1995 car accident.
A Daily News investigation found the risky investments were first made in 2005 by ex-Bronx public administrator Esther Rodriguez, who resigned under a cloud in 2006, and continued by her successor, John Raniolo.
Public administrators manage the assets of residents who die without wills until the court approves a settlement. They are supposed to invest estate money in conservative financial instruments such as treasury bills.
Judge Holzman appointed Rodriguez and Raniolo to the job and was responsible for monitoring all of the estates. He signed off on all fees and was supposed to make sure the cases moved swiftly through the courts.
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