The whistleblowing divorcee who helped nail an allegedly crooked Brooklyn judge said yesterday he botched her case so badly that she’s now too broke to hire a lawyer to fight for custody of her son.
“I blew the whistle, but it’s not over yet,” Frieda Hanimov wearily told The Post as she watched Judge Gerald Garson plead not guilty to charges of taking payoffs to fix divorce and custody cases.
Hanimov, 34, accused Garson of dragging out her custody battle to help her rich ex-hubby, who she said paid off the judge.
She went to the DA’s office after it looked like she was going to lose her kids in the custody battle, which cost her more than $70,000.
At first, “they didn’t believe me,” she said. But desperate to prove her case, she wore a wire for eight months while she was pregnant – a move that proved crucial for the prosecution.
Hanimov now has custody only of her three younger children.
Her 14-year-old son is in the temporary custody of his father, a wealthy Diamond District merchant who hired powerful lawyers she’ll face in court Friday.
“I am my own lawyer. It’s terrible,” Hanimov said.
“The system did this to me. I’m really by myself. I ended up broke.”
Garson, 69, faces charges including official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities such as cash and cigars.
“The judge is innocent. We intend to go to trial and we intend to win,” defense attorney Ronald Fischetti said after a court appearance before Queens Administrative Judge Steven Fisher.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes turned over 1,009 audiotapes and more than 60 videos to defense lawyers yesterday, as well as boxes of affidavits that prosecutors used in getting permission to plant bugs in Garson’s chambers and elsewhere.
“It might be prudent for Mr. Fischetti to view the . . . evidence before he proclaims his client not guilty,” said Hynes spokesman Jerry Schmetterer.
Four co-defendants who allegedly helped the judge turn his chambers into a marketplace, including his court officer and a retired clerk, also pleaded not guilty to a host of bribery and conspiracy charges.
Absent from the hearing was Paul Siminovsky, a lawyer who specialized in matrimonial and custody cases and was the original target of the probe.
Authorities say Siminovsky began cooperating with Hynes in late February.
Fischetti noted the judge was caught on tape taking gifts after that, suggesting Siminovsky set him up.
Garson wore a wire prior to his arrest in April, promising to help authorities root out judicial corruption in an attempt to save himself. But the investigation was fruitless, and a grand jury indicted him last month.