Sam Kellner, Who Helped Put a Prominent Hasidic behind Jail for Molestation, Sues Jewish Forward over Bribery Claims

By Barbara Ross
New York Daily News
November 17, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/sam-kellner-helped-jail-molester-sues-jewish-article-1.2013941

A Brooklyn dad whose allegations of sexual molestation helped put a prominent Hasidic man in jail says he was defamed by The Jewish Forward.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Sam Kellner says the acclaimed paper became a “Pravda for pedophiles” last November when it accused him of trying to bribe a witness to testify against the convicted molester, Baruch Lebovits, and trying to extort money from the Lebovits family to buy his silence.

The paper also accused Kellner of advising another accused molester of how to avoid prosecution.

Kellner's lawyer, Niall MacGiollabhui, said the stories were based on illegally obtained tapes — some of which were doctored — that were promoted by the Lebovits family to tar Kellner's name.

Kellner started the roll of the Brooklyn's twisted ball of yarn in 2008 after his son was allegedly molested by Liebovits.

A detective told Kellner that the allegations involving his son were only misdemeanors and wouldn’t net Lebovits any prison time, unless there were more victims.

Ultimately, Kellner, working with the cop, rounded up other victims and Lebovits was convicted in 2010 of multiple counts of sexual assault and sentenced to serve up to 32 years.

However, after serving a year, Lebovits was sprung from jail in 2011, the day after Kellner was accused of trying to bribe a witness and extort money from the Lebovits family.

Lebovits' conviction was overturned in 2012; earlier this year he pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to serve another year. He was released after 86 days.

Criminal charges against Kellner were dropped last March after Brooklyn's new District Attorney reviewed the case and decided the evidence was shaky.

MacGiollabhui said that the Lebovits family for years conducted a campaign to undermine Kellner and the criminal case against their patriarch, installing illegal wiretaps in Kellner's van and taping other conversations, including confidential chats with his lawyer.

He said that Paul Berger, a reporter for The Jewish Forward, relied on those tapes alone to base his derogatory stories about Kellner.

“Berger's purpose was not to examine the evidence in then pending cases of either Sam or Baruch Lebovits...or to get closer to the truth. It was, instead, an entirely squalid one: low grade character assassination of Sam,” the suit says.

The papers say Berger then promoted his story with a defamatory message on Twitter: “Hear convicted extortionist Sam Kellner in his own words” — even though Kellner was never convicted of anything.

The paper later issued a retraction and apology for the tweet.

MacGiollubhui says in papers that Berger knew before he published the story that the recordings were obtained illegally and that “it was doctored by the Lebovits family to change the context in which Sam's words were spoken.”

Kellner is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

Sam Norich, publisher of The Jewish Forward, said “We believe this lawsuit is without merit. Our article treated all parties fairly and we stand by our reporting.”