Judge allegedly hid assets for stripper
TAMPA (AP) – A Florida judge is accused of helping an exotic dancer hide assets from creditors by opening bank accounts she had access to and received a Mercedes and trip to Las Vegas from her that he never properly disclosed, according to a state panel that investigates judges.
Formal judicial misconduct charges were filed Tuesday against Judge Thomas E. Stringer Sr. He is also accused of putting the title of a home in Hawaii that Christy Yamanaka helped purchase in his name to conceal her interest in the property, and received a $50,000 loan from her that has not been repaid, according to the Judicial Qualifications Commission.
The charges claim the judge didn’t report the gifts on financial disclosure forms.
An investigative panel alleges that the two met in 1995, and what began as an acquaintance “ripened into a personal and financial relationship.”
Yamanaka confided to Stringer that she’d filed for bankruptcy in Las Vegas, but that her petition had been rejected and she owed about $315,000 to creditors.
An attorney for Stringer said several allegations were false, including his failure to disclose gifts.
“I think that it’s a tragic action taken by the commission on an individual whose multi-decade career has been as meritorious and as outstanding as Judge Stringer’s has been,” said attorney J. David Bogenschutz.
“The time comes when the process demands that it be proven before someone’s career is permanently stained or in some fashion affected by this.”
The panel will make recommendations to the state Supreme Court, which will decide on whether there was any judicial misconduct.