Jay Goldberg

src: playingpeoria.files.wordpress.com

Jay Goldberg is an American lawyer and author based in New York City. A graduate of Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, he is a scholar of United States Constitutional Law and criminal law. He is best known for his representation of high-profile clients and cases, including American President Donald Trump throughout his divorces and several real estate transactions. After Goldberg began his career in New York working for legendary District Attorney Frank S Hogan and was appointed acting United States Attorney for the Northwestern District of Indiana, by appointment of then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Goldberg has represented a series of celebrity clients, Bono, Mick Jagger, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, The Rolling Stones, Sean Combs, Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, industrialist Dr. Armand Hammer, investor Carl Icahn, Congressman Charlie Rangel, Bess Meyerson, the Hells Angels, and key figures associated with the American Mafia including Matty "The Horse" Ianniello, Joe "Scarface" Agone, Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes", and Frank Tieri.

Throughout the 1980's, Goldberg often tried cases against then prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani on the other side of the aisle. This included the 1985 trial known as the Mafia Commission Trial where Giuliani indicted the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families", under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder for hire. Time magazine labeled this as the "Case of Cases" and marked the United States Government's most aggressive effort yet to extinguish organized crime at its highest levels in the United States.

He is the author of four books related to the law: Preparation and Trial of Criminal Cases Within the Second Circuit (2009) "Techniques in the Defense of a Federal Criminal Case", (2012), "Preparation, and Trial of A Federal Criminal Case (2010), and "The Courtroom Is My Theatre," a personal account of his storied legal career which has not yet been published (insert NY Post LINK)

Known for his expert cross examinations and eloquent summations, selected documentation from Goldberg's trial work is routinely utilized in law schools today. In a review of Preparation and Trial of Criminal Cases Within the Second Circuit, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Lonschein wrote: "[Jay Goldberg] holds the distinction of being one of the most skilled, if not the most skilled trial lawyer in the United States." In addition to his successful legal career, he completed his military service with rank of Lt. Colonel. He was profiled by Robin Leach on the TV program Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous, and has appeared as a guest legal analyst on news programs including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC and Charlie Rose.

Video Jay Goldberg

Early Life

Goldberg was born January 2, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. As a youth he took a keen interest in sports including baseball, football and basketball but a passion for competitive boxing soon eclipsed an interest in other sports. He spent considerable time at the legendary boxing gym owned by Lou Stillman where he began a long term relationship with Rocky Graziano, a relationship he maintained until his death in 1990.

Maps Jay Goldberg

Education

He attended Brooklyn College, graduating magna cum laude and was elected as early as his junior year to Phi Beta Kappa. After college he considered a career in the law citing the influence of his many visits to the federal and state courts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

During law school he met Regina, "Rema," at a Concord Resort Hotel mixer "single weekends." Rema would later on become his wife. He is married to Rema Goldberg, in at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Rema serves as a jury consultant to attorneys.

Goldberg guilty in plot to kill assistant prosecutor

src: www.gannett-cdn.com

Cases

"Bess Mess" Trial of Bess Meyerson (1985)

Goldberg was lead counsel in U.S. v. Bess Meyerson, where the former Miss America who was then a key city official, and had been a Senate candidate was accused, along with a State Supreme Court Justice of bribery in order to influence a pending case. In a book used in a number of law schools in trial advocacy courses, Prof. Iannuzzi [Trial: Strategy & Psychology (Prentice Hall)] reprinted Goldberg's summation in the Meyerson case and wrote: "The trial ended in an acquittal in large measure based on Mr. Goldberg's summation. His summation is must reading for those studying trial advocacy."

Donald Trump

In Donald Trump's book, "The Art of the Comeback" (Random House), reflected: "What really piqued my interest in Goldberg was that he was a lawyer who, by reputation, was tough and fierce. Goldberg had long been earning the plaudits of lawyers for his outstanding defense work. I called Goldberg and arranged to meet with him that same day. I took an instant liking to him and retained him on the spot to act for me as my lead counsel."

On January 9, 2012, Mr. Trump wrote: "There has never been a lawyer more important to me than you. It is very important to me that you know that!"

Mafia Commission Trial

The Mafia Commission Trial (February 25, 1985 - November 19, 1986), officially known as United States v. Anthony Salerno, et al., was a criminal trial in New York City, United States. Using evidence obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, eleven organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families," were indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder for hire. The case struck a blow against "The Commission," a loose organization of the New York Mafia organizations that met to resolve disputes or discuss criminal activities, sometimes likened to organized crime's board of directors. Time magazine called this "Case of Cases" possibly "the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943," and quoted Giuliani's stated intention: "Our approach... is to wipe out the five families."

Dr. Armand Hammer

Dr. Armand Hammer was The Chairman and Founder of Occidental Petroleum. A close confidante to Vladimir Lenin, Winston Churchill and FDR, he had amassed an art collection valued in excess of a billion dollars. After a fraudulent claim potentially threatened the collection, Dr. Hammer began an extensive and extended search for the best attorney to protect the value of the collection, now primarily housed at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA. The art collection was targeted by the beneficiary of his wife's estate, claiming a fraud had been committed. In a biography of Dr. Hammer, The Dark Side of Power by Carl Blumay (Simon & Schuster), the author wrote, "Armand hired Goldberg to represent him against a pending lawsuit in California which he declared was going to be "the most difficult struggle" of his long life.

Waylon Jennings

After beginning his career as Buddy Holly's bassist in 1959, Country music artist Waylon Jennings' career reached its commercial peak by 1977. Jennings' music was successfully marketed s part of what became known as "Outlaw Country." as " In 1977, Jennings was arrested by federal agents for conspiracy and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. A private courier warned the Drug Enforcement Administrationabout the package sent to Jennings by a New York colleague that contained 27 grams of cocaine. The DEA and the police searched Jennings's recording studio. They found no evidence, because while they were waiting for a search warrant, Jennings disposed of the cocaine. Introduced to Goldberg through Jennings' manager at the time, Neil Reshen, Goldberg was successful in having the charges dropped and Jennings was released. The episode was recounted in Jennings's song "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Outta Hand?" A reference to his feeling that his association with the outlaw country genre was doing more harm than good. Jennings made reference to the movement transitioning into a "self-fulfilling prophecy."

In his autobiography, Waylon (Warner Books), Jennings wrote "Jay Goldberg orchestrated my defense. He's one of the greatest lawyers in the world and when he got into his legal mode, he was an artist. When he walked in the courtroom the government didn't have a chance against him. I even wrote a song about him." Jennings consumed cocaine heavily, reportedly as much as $1,500 per day, until quitting in 1984, with the help of his wife, artist Jessi Colter. Colter and Goldberg's wife Rema became friends. Goldberg remained close with the singer until his death in 2002.

Joseph Rukaj (1998)

Joseph Rukaj won $17.5 million in the state lottery in 1990. On September 11, 1996, a 38 year old Rukaj had been charged with first-degree murder and attempted kidnapping in the shooting deaths of his former lover Rigaletta Nikc, 31, and her father-in-law, Marc Nikac, 58, (sic) Prosecutors charged that the deaths were the result of a family feud over Rukaj's assertion that he was the father of Mrs. Nikc's 5 year old daughter. The prosecution maintained that Rukaj shot the two during an attempt to kidnap her daughter. DNA results confirmed that Rukaj

was indeed the girl's frather. Mrs. Nikc shot Rukaj in the chest before being killed by a gunshot to her head. The victims and the defendant were immigrants from Albania, and the defense

contended that the killings occurred because a centuries-old Albanian code of honor, known as the Kanun, requires retribution for a disgrace. Basing his legal strategy around the higher motivations of Albanian culture and traditionk Jay Goldberg argued that Rukaj had brought shame to Mrs. Nikc by filing a suit in Family Court asserting that he was the girl's father. In retaliation, the defense argued, Mrs. Nikc and her family plotted to kill Rukaj. After the killings occured in the driveway of the victims home, Rukaj drove to the New Castle police station to report that those involved exchanged gunfire. When the police interviewed Mrs. Nikc's husband, Antonio, at the house, however, he told them he did not have a gun. The police did not search the house, but the next day, Nikc admitted to them that he had taken a gun from his wife's side and hidden it behind a ceiling tile, the police said.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn, multi billionaire financier, then CEO of TWA, was sued by the machinists' union and minority shareholders for selling off routes and stock of the airline in order to garner monies for himself. In this multimillion-dollar suit for damages in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, he turned to the author to defend him. After a three-week trial, judgment was entered in favor of Mr. Icahn. Other representations of him followed.

Former Trump lawyer: Stormy Daniels will lose - CNN Video

src: www.i.cdn.cnn.com

Career

New York County DA Frank S. Hogan

Goldberg began his career as an assistant district attorney in New York County right out of Harvard Law School working for district attorney Frank S. Hogan whose office was recognized for over three decades as the premier prosecutorial office in the country.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy

Widely thought to be one of the most active, effective attorneys general in history, but but Goldberg recently revealed in a series of articles that while working as part of an elite team assembled by RFK as attorney general, there were various of crime fighters" charged with the responsibility of selecting areas of the country which needed federal intervention in order to expose and prosecute organized crime members and officials corrupted by them. In his tenure, RFK's direction brought law enforcement agencies together and pioneered new laws to fight organized crime. However, as one senior Justice Department official remarked: "when it came to making a decision, RFK's first criterion was, is it good for my brother?; his second criterion was, is it good for the democratic party?; and his third criterion was, is it good for the country?"

During his first years heading Justice, he waged a concerted war on organized crime and brought with him the experiences of publicly interrogating Jimmy Hoffa, Sam Giancana, and other mobsters, while serving as Chief Counsel to the McClellan Senate Committee on Labor Racketeering. He was committed to waging a full scale attack on organized crime throughout the country, but there was a major stumbling block in the person of J. Edgar Hoover, who -- despite the revelation of the November 14, 1957 raid on the town of Appalachian, New York, where 100 major mob members were nabbed -- still resisted the notion of a national commission of organized crime members.

There was no FBI organized crime squad when RFK came to Justice. So rudimentary was the government's understanding of the extent of the danger posed by organized crime that the names of suspected members of organized crime were noted on index cards and stored in shoe boxes in the offices of the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division.

RFK's view was certain with respect to the risks posed, and he chose to assemble what has been described as "an elite group of crime fighters." The group was fifteen in number, charged with the responsibility of selecting areas of the country which needed federal intervention in order to expose and prosecute organized crime members and officials corrupted by them.

While our group consisted of former state and federal prosecutors, there were younger members recruited because of their extraordinary intellect, included among them, John E. Sprizzo now a United States District Judge in the Southern District of New York, and G. Robert Blakey the architect of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act known as the RICO statute. was acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, Special Attorney and Counselor to the United States Department of Justice, Washington D.C and an Assistant District Attorney, New York County. He has been a past lecturer on trial advocacy at the Harvard Law School. He served on the Congressionally mandated Joint Committee on Local Rules for the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He was a member on the Committee on Grievances for United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

Former President of the Criminal Bar Association Richard Levitt called Goldberg "one of the foremost litigators of this or any generation." On the night Goldberg was recognized with an award from the Criminal Bar Association, former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office S.D.N.Y. Frederick Hafetz said: "I consider you to have the best killer trial skills I have ever seen in my 47 years of practice, and I have worked with the best, courtroom presence, capturing the jury's attention through devastating cross and summations that have jurors on the edge of their seats."Known for his unique expert style of cross examination and eloquent summations, references to his work as a trial attorney from noted court cases are often included in law school educational material.

During the filming of American hero - Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, Goldberg was legal aid to James B. Donovan. At critical moments relating to the planning of the transfer of a captured Russian spy for one of our own, which was later accomplished by agreements between the governments of the United States and the East German authorities, Mr. Goldberg was at Mr. Donovan's side during the planning stage.

Goldberg was profiled on Robin Leach's popular and syndicated television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in a major segment entitled "Toughest Lawyer in Town."

At the Association of the Bar, City of New York he delivered a lecture entitled by others "Giant of the Trial Bar."

In his autobiography, Waylon (Warner Books), country music star Waylon Jennings wrote "Jay Goldberg orchestrated my defense. He's one of the greatest lawyers in the world and when he got into his legal mode, he was an artist. When he walked in the courtroom the government didn't have a chance against him. I even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_You_Think_This_Outlaw_Bit%27s_Done_Got_Out_of_Hand about him."

In a review of Preparation and Trial of Criminal Cases Within the Second Circuit, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Lonschein wrote: "[Jay Goldberg] holds the distinction of being one of the most skilled, if not the most skilled trial lawyer in the United States." Former President of the Criminal Bar Association Richard Levitt called Goldberg "one of the foremost litigators of this or any generation." On the night Goldberg was recognized with an award from the Criminal Bar Association, former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office S.D.N.Y. Frederick Hafetz said: "I consider you to have the best killer trial skills I have ever seen in my 47 years of practice, and I have worked with the best, courtroom presence, capturing the jury's attention through devastating cross and summations that have jurors on the edge of their seats."

Richard Levitt, a prominent lawyer in reviewing one of Goldberg's books, wrote that Mr. Goldberg is "the finest litigator of this or any other generation."

Frederick Hafetz, former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office S.D.N.Y. wrote: "I consider you to have the best killer trial skills I have ever seen in my 47 years of practice, and I have worked with the best, courtroom presence, capturing the jury's attention through devastating cross and summations that have jurors on the edge of their seats."

Judd Burstein, a premier NYC trial attorney, wrote: "I often tell people who compliment me on my trial skills that my mentor, Jay Goldberg, was a far better lawyer that I am. I talk about the fact that he commanded the courtroom like no other, and taught me to analyze a case without any preconceptions - yet always knowing that there was, in the end, a "silver bullet" to be found. You also would not believe how many of his expressions - such as "there are no new cases, only new faces" - that I have pilfered from him. I am not alone in this assessment. Through a very bizarre set of circumstances that I am prohibited from discussing due to confidentiality obligations, Donald [Trump] inserted himself into a dispute on behalf of the opposing party and I had some interactions with him. Out of the blue and I am directly quoting, Trump said the following to my opposing attorney: "Judd used to work with Jay Goldberg. He was the best lawyer that I ever saw, he won cases anybody else would have lost. I used to say: 'How the hell did he do that?'"

In a poll conducted by a New York magazine, selected lawyers and judges were asked to answer this question: "Who Are Manhattan's Most Powerful, Talented, and Fearsome Prosecutors and Defenders?" The survey resulted in this statement: "Goldberg is a lawyer's lawyer, a defense attorney whom colleagues and prosecutors alike cite as exemplary of the mix of qualities that make a lawyer effective." The consensus, as reported in the survey, was that: "Goldberg is the best trial lawyer in town."

In Prof. Seidemann's book: In The Interest of Justice: Great Opening and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years (Harper Collins) two of the twenty courtroom summations selected are those of Goldberg. The book has been described as "America's great courtroom speeches beginning with the summation of Clarence Darrow in the Scopes trial."

Goldfarb, in his book Perfect Villains and Imperfect Heroes (Random House) wrote: of all the "hotshots" Kennedy brought to the Justice Department to fight crime, Jay Goldberg was probably the "hottest." With the same assessment: Navasky, Kennedy Justice (Atheneum Books); Heymann, R.F.K. (Dutton); and Hersh, Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover That Transformed America (Basic Books).

Country music legend, Willie Nelson, for thirty years has chosen him as his lead counsel in a number of complex litigations. He has represented the New York Daily News, the jazz legend, Miles Davis, Bono, P. Diddy, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. He represented Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered and managed the Rolling Stones. He represented Mick Jagger, as well as the Rolling Stones, as co-counsel in a trial conducted in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

New York Magazine's feature article listed Jay Goldberg as having been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in New York, Best Lawyers in America [Naifeh and Smith], Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Law, [Marquis] and in Martindale-Hubbell's Register of Preeminent Lawyers.

On September 22, 2011, he was honored by members of the United States Congress for his dedication and study of the principles of the United States Constitution.