New Jersey
New Jersey judge made racy lip-synching TikTok videos in his chambers: complaint
A Harvard-educated New Jersey criminal court judge is accused of recording “inappropriate” lip-synching TikTok videos in his chambers at the Bergen County courthouse, and also semi-nude in bed, according to a bombshell complaint.
Posting on TikTok under the pseudonym “Sal Tortorella,” Bergen County Superior Court Judge Gary Wilcox, 58, allegedly put out 40 public TikTok videos between April 2021 and March 2023, including some containing profanity-laced lyrics, references to violence, sex, and misogyny.
The 5-page complaint, filed last Friday by the disciplinary counsel for the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, highlights 11 videos allegedly created by Wilcox, which were found to be problematic either because of their content, the location of filming, including in the judge’s chambers, in the courthouse, and in a bed, or Wilcox’s attire — “wearing his judicial robes and/or partially dressed while lying in bed.”
According to the filing, some of the videos recorded in Wilcox’s chambers are littered with graphic sexual references to female and male body parts, as well as racist language.
In one such video, Wilcox apparently lip-synchs lyrics from Rihanna’s song “Jump,” including the lines: “If you want it let’s do it. Ride it, my pony. My saddle is waitin’, come and jump on it. If you want it, let’s do it.”
In a second video, the judge, dressed in a suit and tie and posing in front of law books, lip-synchs the following text: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass. I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on!”
A third video shows the 58-year-old Wilcox holding cash and pretending to light a match while lip-synching Miguel’s hit “Sure Thing,” which contains the lines: “If you be the cash, I’ll be the rubber band. You be the match, I will be a fuse, boom. Painter, baby, you could be the muse. I’m the reporter, baby, you could be the news. ‘Cause you’re the cigarette, and I’m the smoker. We raise a bet, ’cause you’re the joker.”
Wilcox’s social media page, which has since been deleted, also allegedly contained a recording of the jurist wearing a “Beavis and Butt-Head” T-shirt while walking through the courthouse to the tune of Nas’ single “Get Down.”
The complaint states that the song contains “explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting as well as derogatory and discriminatory terms, drug and gang references, and the killing of a doctor in a hospital who treated another gang member.”
In another video, the judge smiles at the camera with text superimposed on the screen that reads: “When an ex-girlfriend calls you “Santa” because of your new white beard.” In the background, the song “Touch” by Busta Rhymes is playing, including the lyrics: “For the record, just a second, I’m freakin’ it out. While she tryin’ to touch, see, I was peepin’ it out. She turned around and was tryin’ to put my d**k in her mouth. I let her.”
During his stint as a TikTok creator, Judge Wilcox also allegedly put out a video of himself wearing a “Freedom of Speech” T-shirt while lip-synching the lines: “Go ahead baby. You hittin’ them corners too god damn fast. You gotta slow this motha****a down. You understand? I almost spilled my [Cognac] on this $200 suit.”
Wilcox graduated from the highly prestigious Harvard Law School and began practicing law in 1989.
After serving as a federal prosecutor, Wilcox was appointed to the bench as a family court judge in 2011 by then-Gov. Chris Christie.
In 2016, he was reassigned to adult criminal court and received tenure in 2018.
The complaint argues that by posting racy public videos to TikTok, Wilcox “exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the Judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges.”
Wilcox is now being investigated for violating three cannons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which require judges to observe high standards of conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and conduct their “extrajudicial activities in a manner that would not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge.”
Wilcox has 20 days to submit a written formal answer to the complaint, reported NorthJersey.com.
After receiving the answer, the Advisory Committee will schedule a formal hearing. If the panel finds that Wilcox violated the Code of Judicial Conduct, he could face disciplinary actions ranging from a public reprimand to removal from the bench.
3-minute read
A Bergen County man and his New York business associate are facing a civil enforcement action filed by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities with the Division of Consumer Affairs for defrauding at least one New Jersey investor in an investment scheme tied to a job recruiting software service that they were allegedly trying to grow, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Michael Lakshin. of Fair Lawn, and Edward Aizman. of Brooklyn, as well as their company Bowmo, Inc. used “fraud and deception,” allegedly convincing one of Lakshin’s childhood friends to liquidate her retirement fund and invest in their start-up business venture, according to a civil complaint filed in Bergen County on Friday. They then allegedly diverted most of the funds for their own personal use including cash advances, hotel stays and purchases at car dealerships and designer stores among other expenditures.
“The defendants in this case shamelessly bankrolled their lavish lifestyles with someone else’s hard-earned retirement savings,” said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. “The lawsuit announced today sends a clear message that this kind of blatant exploitation of investors will not go unpunished in New Jersey.”
The complaint alleges, according to the Office of the Attorney General, that from April through August 2020, Lakshin, Aizman and Bowmo (through Lakshin and Aizman), offered and sold at least $84,681.19 of Bowmo’s securities in the form of a convertible note to at least one NJ investor.
They told the investor that the Bowmo note was an investment opportunity which would provide her a “significantly higher return” than her retirement savings. They allegedly told her that Bowmo was successful, bringing in a lot of money through its success and that she could profit by investing her funds into the company.
Lakshin also allegedly leveraged their childhood connection to convince her to invest. After learning about the investor’s retirement account, Lakshin allegedly pressured her to liquidate the account for the purpose of buying the Bowmo note.
Lakshin assured the investor that she would “realistically” be able to earn “A MUCH GREATER return,” through a series of text messages, falsely informed the investor that she should not have any taxes or penalties withheld when withdrawing funds from her account, and assured her that Bowmo would reimburse her for any taxes or penalties that would have to be paid as a result of the liquidation.
On June 25, 2020, the investor liquidated her retirement account. This liquidation included two charges and exposed her to paying taxes on the funds as she was not “rolling them over to another qualified retirement plan,” according to the Office of the Attorney General .
On July 2, 2020, the investor met with Lakshin and Aizman and signed a Bowmo subscription agreement. She wired $84,681.19 from her bank account to a Bowmo bank account controlled by Lakshin and Aizman later that month.
A Bowmo investor package provided to the investor prior to investing said that funds would be used to further develop Bowmo’s software, expand its marketing business, and make strategic hires among other business-related ventures.
Instead, the defendants allegedly transferred the funds to bank accounts held by a seperate and unrelated entity and misused the funds by diverting them for personal and non-business-related purposes.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to permanently ban Bowmo, its president and chairman Lakshin, and its founder and CEO Aizman, from issuing, offering, or selling securities in New Jersey, according to the Office of the Attorney General. It also asks the court to assess civil monetary penalties, restitution plus interest and expenses for the victim, and disgorgement of all funds and profits gained from the scheme.
According to Bureau Chief Elizabeth M. Harris, this case “serves as a sobering example of why it’s vitally important to investigate investment products, even those offered by someone you know and trust.”
She continued, “It’s also an opportunity to remind our residents that while fraudulent investment schemes come in a variety of forms, the pressure to act fast to avoid missing out on a hot investment is a universal red flag of fraud that should not be ignored. In addition to doing their due diligence before investing, we urge New Jerseyans to follow their instincts when a transaction doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Investors can obtain information about any financial professional doing business to or from New Jersey by visiting the Bureau’s website at www.NJSecurities.gov, or calling the Bureau within New Jersey at 1-866-446-8378 or from outside New Jersey at 973-504-3600.
Up to another quarter-inch of rain is likely to fall by Friday evening across most of the state. Northwestern parts of the state will get another dusting of snow, while some higher elevation spots are expected to get a a few more inches.National Weather Service
New Jersey
New Jersey winemaker says drought helps the grapes, but he’s grateful for the rain this week
The much-anticipated rain finally made its way into the Philadelphia region this week.
For many gardens, nurseries and farms, the rain was needed.
But in Hammonton, New Jersey, Sharrott Winery says the drought wasn’t all that bad.
Sprawling on 34 acres, 22 of those under vine, the owner of the South Jersey winery says the drought conditions actually helped their vines.
Owner and winemaker Larry Sharrott said in the spring, the rain helped their vines grow.
Come August, the rain tapered off and the dry weather from there on out was used to their advantage.
“For grapes, if it’s dry starting in August and then running through the entire harvest season, that’s really good,” Sharrott said. “It helps concentrate the juice basically, so especially with red wine it makes a much more robust red wine. They take on much nicer fruit flavors.”
Sharrott said the team was also happy when it finally rained after the long stretch.
He said it was perfect timing because the vines could use a boost of hydration.
“But the fact that we have some rain now is really good for the vines because at this point they really need a good drink so they can begin shutting down for winter. We want them to be nice and hearty by the time we get the cold January and February temperatures,” he said
And if you are looking on the bright side, too, Sharrott say they are looking forward to future wines.
“We are going to have some great wines in a couple years when these come out of barrel,” he said.
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