A Manhattan prosecutor recruited her friends within the DA’s workplace to rig a prison case in opposition to her estranged New York Instances scribe hubby as a part of a nasty custody battle — and received the NYPD in on it, a scathing federal lawsuit claims.
Assistant District Legal professional Amanda Goun conspired to have her husband, health-care reporter Joseph Goldstein, busted on trumped-up assault and child-abuse expenses in 2022 to win custody of their two younger youngsters — and even coached the children to lie about their dad’s reputed abuse, alleges the Manhattan federal grievance reviewed by The Put up.
“Rather than accept the determination of the responding NYPD officers who had thoroughly investigated the matter, defendant Goun chose to leverage her position of influence and authority as a DANY prosecutor to pursue false criminal felony charges against Mr. Goldstein,” the daddy’s go well with claims.
The go well with was filed by Goldstein on Could 16 and names Goun, two different prosecutors within the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace and two NYPD workers as defendants.
Goun and the opposite prosecutors, Kelly Keating and Lawrence Newman, who now works for the Brooklyn DA’s Workplace, didn’t reply to Put up requests for remark.
A rep for the Manhattan DA’s Workplace declined to debate the case.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and referred it to the [city] Law Department,” the consultant stated.
A consultant for the Brooklyn DA’s Workplace declined to remark, noting the alleged conspiracy happened earlier than the workplace employed Newman out of the NYPD’s authorized division.
The NYPD didn’t reply to Put up requests for remark concerning the grievance, which names division workers Detective Rachel Lutz and police Officer Carmen Fabian as co-defendants.
The go well with says Goun and Goldstein met in 2014 and have been married in August 2015. As soon as that they had youngsters, Goun left her Manhattan DA’s Workplace job to boost the children earlier than returning to work in 2018 with a job on the Suffolk County District Legal professional’s Workplace, the lawsuit says.
In 2022, Goun was again within the Manhattan workplace — as the wedding started to splinter, the courtroom paperwork say.
On Sept. 2, 2022, Goun filed for divorce — and in line with the lawsuit, broke into Goldstein’s house in Brooklyn, the place the pair had beforehand lived, to “obtain evidence to use against Mr. Goldstein in the divorce proceeding.”
On Oct. 8, 2022, the troubled marriage devolved right into a spat at their house whereas their two youngsters, ages 4 and 6, have been contained in the house, courtroom paperwork declare.
Goun known as 911 and advised cops that Goldstein slammed a door on her and bruised her arm — however her account of the encounter modified after she conferred with Lawrence about easy methods to make felony expenses stick throughout a cellphone name from the scene, the lawsuit alleges.
The grievance claims that Goun embellished her account, finally telling cops that she not solely harm her arm however fell to the bottom, prompting a felony assault cost in opposition to Goldstein.
Goun later alleged that Goldstein additionally bodily abused their youngsters, with the lawsuit claiming that each youngsters have been coached to say their dad had been tough with them up to now.
Goun’s claims started an eight-month nightmarish ordeal for Goldstein throughout which a Manhattan decide issued an order of safety retaining him from his youngsters, along with his estranged spouse allegedly utilizing the trumped-up expenses to combat for custody of their youngsters, the go well with alleges.
Goldstein’s go well with accuses Newman and later Lutz, the NYPD detective, of working with Goun to file a “false” grievance primarily based on Goun’s account, with Keating and Fabian allegedly enjoying a job within the case by upgrading expenses in opposition to Goldstein.
The reporter dad was charged with assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a kid whereas claiming in his go well with that his youngsters have been coached to again up the child-endangerment cost.
That case was ultimately moved to The Bronx on the request of the Manhattan DA’s Workplace, which sought to keep away from any attainable battle of curiosity as a result of Goun labored there, the go well with says.
The fees in opposition to Goldstein have been ultimately dropped, and he gained partial custody of the kids, in line with the courtroom doc.
A family-court probe into Goldstein’s alleged abuse of his youngsters was additionally dropped, which the town’s Administration for Youngsters’s Companies deemed the child-abuse complaints unfounded, the go well with says.
Embittered by the alleged conspiracy in opposition to him, Goldstein filed his 62-page lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and the return of property he claims Goun stole.
He declined remark to The Put up.
Goun and Keating are nonetheless employed by the Manhattan DA’s Workplace.
Newman resigned from the workplace for unrelated causes about two months after the spat between Goldstein and Goun, taking a job with the NYPD authorized counsel’s workplace. He was then employed by the Brooklyn DA, the place he presently works.
