Judith McMahon, a former administrative judge and spouse of Staten Island's district attorney who was transferred to a new court part in Manhattan amid accusations from a court clerk that she improperly intervened in criminal matters at the courthouse, returned to Staten Island for a new assignment earlier this month.

A spokesman for the state court system said an investigation has been completed into the revelation that Michael Pulizotto, the former chief clerk at the courthouse on Staten Island, surreptitiously recorded conversations with judges and court employees. Court administrative officials, however, are not disclosing the findings while Pulizotto pursues a lawsuit against the court system.

In his lawsuit, Pulizotto alleges that Judith McMahon, formerly the administrative judge for civil matters on Staten Island and the wife of Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon, and courthouse employees retaliated against Pulizotto and harassed him because he turned over evidence of corruption to the inspector general and to federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

McMahon was administrative judge for both criminal and civil matters until 2015 when Michael McMahon announced in 2015 that he was running for district attorney. At that point, Judith McMahon's role was altered to give her administrative duties over civil matters, which was intended to avoid the appearance of any conflicts of interest.

But Pulizotto alleges that after Michael McMahon was elected district attorney, Judith McMahon intervened into courthouse business that pertained to criminal matters, at times on her husband's behalf.

For instance, Pulizotto alleges that, in 2016, Judith McMahon worked together with her husband to form a new narcotics part and put acting Supreme Court Justice Charles Troia in charge. Pulizotto alleges that the district attorney would list narcotics violations as the top count, even in cases where charges included violent felonies, so that cases would go before Troia.

Pulizotto also said that Judith McMahon told him that Supreme Court Justices Mario Mattei and Wayne Ozzi were “too defense-oriented” and that they could be sent off Staten Island because of her husband's displeasure with the judges.

Among the recordings Pulizotto made during his time working as a clerk at the courthouse was a conversation with acting Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rooney, who was put in charge of administrative duties for criminal matters on Staten Island after McMahon's role was reduced.

In the recording, which was submitted as an exhibit in Pulizotto's retaliation lawsuit, Rooney apparently said to Pulizotto that “someone is going to drop a dime” on the diversion of criminal cases to Troia's court and that it will “come back to haunt her.” The judge is not heard on the recording mentioning either of the McMahons by name. 

The narcotics part, which handles felony drug cases, was shuttered but has since been reopened and Mattei now presides over the part.

Word got around Staten Island about Pulizotto's secret recordings and, he alleges, Dennis Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association, and other employees began to harass and intimidate him.

In one incident in September 2017, Quirk set up a giant inflatable rat outside the Staten Island courthouse; Pulizotto, who is openly gay, also alleges that Quirk made defamatory comments about alleged sexual activities involving Pulizotto and another courthouse employee. Pulizotto filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Quirk, but dropped the suit in January 2018.

After Pulizotto filed suit, McMahon and Rooney resigned their administrative posts and McMahon was transferred to a court part in Manhattan. Pulizotto was also transferred to a new position at OCA headquarters at 25 Beaver St. in Lower Manhattan.

On Feb. 1, McMahon was sent back to Staten Island, though she did not reclaim her previous administrative role, Lucian Chalfen, an OCA spokesman said. He declined to comment on the case further, citing pending litigation.

Supreme Court Justice Desmond Green still serves as administrative judge for both criminal and civil matters in the Staten Island courts.

In a motion to dismiss Pulizotto's lawsuit, which he filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judith McMahon denies Pulizotto's allegations and argues that, by making secret recordings, Pulizotto violated a court system rule prohibiting taping in courthouses without permission.

Ben Rubinowitz, a partner at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf who represented Judith McMahon in the lawsuit in her personal capacity, said his client denies Pulizotto's allegations that she coordinated with her husband on criminal matters at the courthouse on Staten Island.

“We expect her to be completely exonerated in all respects,” he said.

McMahon's attorneys have submitted as an exhibit in the case: a detention memo for Richard Luthmann, Pulizotto's first attorney in the case, who is facing charges of kidnapping, extortion and other counts in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The memo, submitted by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York, alleges that a confidential source told prosecutors that Luthmann offered payouts to people if they were willing to say that Judith McMahon asked them for bribes so that she would “swing” cases in their favor.

Luthmann pleaded not guilty to the indictment and Mario Romano, a Brooklyn solo attorney who represents Luthmann, said his client denies the accusation contained in the government's detention memo. He said that Luthmann's attorneys are currently in plea negotiations with prosecutors.

In a statement forwarded by a spokesman from the Staten Island District Attorney's Office, Michael McMahon said that Pulizotto's accusations were “baseless, without merit, and absurd” and that he and his wife “remain committed to the true and fair administration of justice.”

“We are pleased that OCA, in finishing its investigation, has reached a similar conclusion,” he said. “Mr. Pulizotto's career has been relegated to a rubber room and his original attorney is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on an 11-count indictment.”