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"They were all so cocky, hiding behind the ban on my freedom of speech, they didn't care about leaving written evidence of extortion and fraud, and threats of murder."

Judicial Refugee (Part 1)
Dr. Les Sachs sought asylum in Holland after a vindictive American court banned him from writing about Patricia Cornwell, a political ally and major contributor to the Bush Administration, whom he accused of plagiarism and other misdeeds.  Sach's complaint over the abuse of judicial power for political purposes is based on his personal experience as a targeted victim.*  His report outlines the mechanism by which his banning was accomplished.
 

 
Footsteps of Anne Frank: American Writer Takes Refuge in Holland, Banned by Bush Government

LES SACHS, JCD

 
Amsterdam, The Netherlands,  February 5, 2005

It is 60 years since the death of Holocaust victim Anne Frank, who died on an unknown day in February or March of 1945. Before her capture, Anne Frank wrote her famous Diary, upstairs in an Amsterdam townhouse by a canal. Hiding from the Nazis of her day, Anne Frank was given refuge by a kind Dutch family.

Today, I also am upstairs in an Amsterdam townhouse by a canal, also given refuge by a kind Dutch household. Under threat for my life, I was forced to escape from extremists of our modern day — from neo-Nazis in George Bush's America. Not far from Anne Frank's house, I have written my own "diary" about the terrifying things that happened to me inside the United States.

The U.S. government has ordered the banning of my writing and journalism after I criticized a wealthy friend of the President Bush family. The U.S. government is ready to jail me, and American thugs threaten that I would be murdered in jail. My freedom of speech and freedom of the press are officially (but illegally) banned by U.S. federal court orders, and the words you are reading are a direct violation of those bogus "orders." Yes, that's right, my freedom of speech is officially banned by the American "land of freedom".

Sixty years ago, Anne Frank was trying to survive, hoping for the Americans to come and set her free. But that was long ago, and the wheel of history has turned full circle. Today, the Germans stand alongside the Dutch and all of Europe, upholding the torch of freedom. And now, some Americans have become the new Nazis, not just imitating fascist ideas and practices, but some of Bush's followers are even naming Hitler himself as a role model.

I am a peaceful, gentle man. I was one of America's most educated citizens, a successful writer. But I dared to criticize a wealthy friend of the George Bush family, the right-wing extremist author Patricia Cornwell, who has neo-Nazi inclinations and a life of scandal to match. (See the online "Patricia Cornwell Biography - Crime, Bribery, Scandal and Mental Illness"). [http://cornwell-scandal.tripod.com/pcbio.html, accessed May 31, 2005]

Cornwell became friends with the Bushes over 20 years ago through famous bible-thumping preacher Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, who were neighbors of Patricia Cornwell in her old North Carolina hometown. When Cornwell's friend, George Bush senior, was President back in 1989-1993, the New York publishing corporations began hyping Cornwell's novels and made her into a multi-millionaire. Cornwell returned the favor by becoming a right-wing Republican campaign contributor, a big backer of the Bushes and their friends.

Patricia Cornwell is not only hard-wired into the right-wing establishment, she also has a long history of exchanging gifts and favors with FBI employees, even a public lesbian affair with a married FBI agent. With Patricia Cornwell's connections to the FBI and the Bushes and to the right-wing machine, Cornwell has openly bragged she can get away with murder if she wishes (See Judy Bachrach's article in Vanity Fair, May, 1997).

Patricia Cornwell is not your usual Bush contributor and right-wing Southerner, given that she is a lesbian who has affairs with married women and also has a public drug problem. Perhaps because Cornwell doesn't fit the right-wing mold, she tries extra hard to show she is more zealous than other right-wing Bush followers, more fanatic than any brownshirt. This has led Cornwell into support for neo-Nazi practices like book-burning and the banning of free speech, which is why I began publicly criticizing her. This followed on a private controversy I had with Cornwell, where I seem to have caught her imitating the plot of an earlier novel that I published. (Cornwell has a long documented history of stealing and borrowing outside material — see her online biography as named above.)

Eager to silence me, Cornwell and her lawyers were able to buy and stage a fake federal legal proceeding to ban my freedom of speech, a project that cost them a reported half-million dollars, but which helped to prop up tens-of-millions of dollars of Cornwell's book sales. They used the notorious rogue, Southern Judge Robert Payne, also loyal to the Bush family, installed in office by the first President Bush when he packed the courts with extremists back in 1992. Judge Payne was quite explicit that his goal in banning my freedom of speech was to "keep the money flowing" from Cornwell to Bush and the Republicans.

This Virginia federal judge, Robert Payne, a rogue even by the low standards of the far-right 4th Circuit, is so out of control that he is denounced by right wing pundits as well. Back in July, 1999, Joseph Farah of WorldNet denounced Judge Payne as ". . . one of those judges who believes his powers are virtually limitless.  . . .  this is an evil man, with either no respect for the law or no knowledge of it."

Judge Payne is a product of Virginia's ultra-right good ol' boy heritage, a graduate of the same small college, Washington & Lee, once run by the hero of the slave-owning South, Confederate General Robert E. Lee himself. Back in General Lee's day, Virginia held the capital of the slave-owning Confederacy. Now, lawyers know Virginia as America's capital of legal corruption and bribery. After the defeat of the slave-owning South in the U.S. Civil War, what took its place was a racist culture of corruption and devious manipulation. That culture is now pervading America, with the South as the "core" of Bush's political strength.

Patricia Cornwell and I were both living in Richmond, Virginia, when she was able to buy the staged legal proceeding to ban my freedom of speech. It may all sound strange, but what I am about to tell you is proven by thousands of pages of court and FBI documents. Many of these documents are on public display. And no one denies what I am telling you — not Cornwell, not her lawyers, not the FBI, not the U.S. Attorney, nor Judge Payne and his 4th Circuit federal judge buddies.

Judge Payne and Cornwell's lawyers hired some of their friends to pose as "my lawyers" for the fake proceeding. Judge Payne joined these two men, Thomas Roberts and Tim Schulte, in the hilarious claim that they were with a "First Amendment charity foundation," specifically the "Freedom Works Foundation," which sounds nice except that it doesn't exist. Judge Payne and the lawyers put this felony fraud in writing, in court transcripts and on the Internet.

They banned my freedom of speech 90 minutes after I was served with the legal papers. Judge Payne imposed the ban in a quick phone call that was pre-arranged with Cornwell's lawyers. With the ban on my freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the fact that I was broke and couldn't hire lawyers of my own, they didn't worry they were leaving a trail of evidence of crime and fraud, like their fake "First Amendment charity foundation."

The "evidence" to initially ban my freedom of speech was a fictional "interview" with me, by a reporter who never met me, which they had planted a few days earlier in the Republican Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper. The Times-Dispatch is a newspaper closely tied to both Bush and Cornwell, and Patricia Cornwell has even shared breakfast with its editorial board.

Judge Payne denounced me as "an overeducated smart ass who needs to have his f_cking mouth shut for good." For a number of weeks, they continued to stage a fake legal proceeding, with both "sides" of lawyers working for Cornwell. I had no money to get help, and I was not allowed to contact the news media, so the farce was only covered by the same Richmond Times-Dispatch which had planted the false "evidence" at the request of the Cornwell lawyers. There was a hearing, one day with no jury, at which the judge announced he was formally banning my freedom of speech in a written order.

They banned my freedom of speech on a theory that was a weird legal twisting of America's "Lanham Act" or trademark law. Patricia Cornwell is a famous celebrity, and I had criticized Cornwell's written threats that she had faxed to me, by means of a sticker I had placed on some of my books. So Judge Payne and the Cornwell lawyers said they could ban my freedom of speech and freedom of press for the rest of my life on the theory that my criticism was "false advertising and marketing" for "my product," my books and writing that misused the "trademark" Cornwell name. Judge Payne said he can ban any writing or journalism about Cornwell if he disagrees with it, simply by calling it "false advertising using Cornwell's name," given that all journalism also "advertises" the "product" of the author's writing.

Judge Payne declared his view that there was "no scandal" regarding George Bush's friend Patricia Cornwell, and that if I ever dared to criticize Patricia Cornwell or her lawyers, I would be guilty of "fabricating a scandal" for purposes of "advertising," and therefore I can be instantly and indefinitely jailed for contempt of court. Judge Payne also banned me from talking about how my freedom of speech was banned, which he also called "fabricating a scandal."

Judge Payne dislikes blacks, Jews and intellectuals, and also sneered at my remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. Lawyers quoted Judge Payne as declaring: "That godd_mn Hitler was right. I'm sick and tired of these godd_mn f_cking Jews."

Judge Payne doesn't like gays either, so he also sneered at the lesbian Cornwell, whom he laughed at as "our dyke bitch Cornwell," but acknowledged that, as she was paying "the big money" to "the right political people," he was willing to give her some "service" that included banning my freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

After a few weeks, Judge Payne's friends called me on the phone to impose the "settlement" that would shortly be announced. My freedom of speech and freedom of the press were banned for the rest of my life as regards Cornwell, and I was ordered to pay $100,000 plus 18 percent interest to Judge Payne's friends, who had been posing as "my lawyers," as my price for staying alive. Although I was broke and certainly had no motive to agree to such a "settlement," they made it clear I would be jailed, and likely murdered in jail, if I protested or tried to appeal. Since my freedom of speech was banned, the lawyers even allowed these threats to be documented in writing over their fax machine, and one of Judge Payne's friends later spoke about the threats of murder in another court hearing. They were all so cocky, hiding behind the ban on my freedom of speech, they didn't care about leaving written evidence of extortion and fraud, and threats of murder.

The U.S. government and Justice Department does not deny that serious felony crimes were committed by Cornwell's group, and that they are holding conclusive written evidence to begin indictments of Patricia Cornwell's lawyers and thugs "in the next 20 minutes" if they were so inclined. Indeed, the evidence is crystal clear, like the fake "First Amendment charity foundation" of Judge Payne and his lawyer friends, shown in writing, in court transcripts and on the Internet.

However, it was important to postpone any prosecutions of Patricia Cornwell during Bush's [2003] reelection campaign, given how Cornwell had a long relationship to the Bush family and to the FBI. And for now, the Bush government is upholding the ban on my freedom of speech and writing, and the threats to have me jailed and murdered, until the case gets more mainstream media attention. And then the FBI and Justice Dept. can simply claim they were "investigating the case all along".

Another political issue as regards prosecuting the Cornwell crimes, is that it is hard to prosecute the small fry — the various low-level lawyers and thugs — without also prosecuting the famous Patricia Cornwell herself and impeaching federal Judge Payne, given the evidence implicating both of them as well. Consider what it would be like: A celebrity trial of the famous Patricia Cornwell, and impeaching a federal judge who staged a fake "legal proceeding" to help the Bush campaign cash flow and ban a writer's freedom of speech. Such high-profile trials are a recipe for damage to the image of not only the Bush regime, but also the image of America itself.

Patricia Cornwell's friends at the FBI have actually mounted criminal attacks on me in Europe, e-mailing computer viruses to me in the Netherlands to try to attack European computers sourcing the material on this scandal. The FBI agents even used the official "fbi.gov" e-mail account to commit these acts of cyber-terrorism on behalf of Bush's family friend.

From Europe, I sent a court filing to the U.S. 4th Circuit, exposing the crimes that were committed. The job of stalling and covering up for this scandal was handed to 4th Circuit Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of Charlottesville, a member of the new Supreme Court judicial ethics panel, and also a Bush loyalist. Wilkinson has maintained a total stalling and silence in service to Bush, and he is now touted as Bush's leading pick for the upcoming vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.

The American orders banning my freedom of speech are technically illegal and invalid under the established doctrine of "fraud upon the court" because they were imposed by proven extortion threats. However, American lawyers are fearful of confronting crimes of fraud and extortion that implicate a federal judge associated with Bush, regardless of how strong the written evidence proving those crimes. Many U.S. lawyers opine that it is "career suicide" to try to expose judicial corruption today, and that they fear revenge and charges against themselves if they dare to "fight a crooked judge that's backed by the Bush government."

Just before I was forced to go into hiding on my way out of USA territory, I got myself into a job earning $150,000 plus a year, ready to devote endless money to buying legal help, given all the proof of felony crimes I had in my hand. But I found American lawyers in Virginia and elsewhere to be in a state of near total moral collapse. They quickly appreciated the quality of the evidence and the seriousness of the case. But they also let me know that judicial corruption, court fraud, and extortion are all normal events now, something U.S. lawyers call "playing the game." Many lawyers wished me well but were too afraid to fight the dominant forces of extremist corruption that now control America. I was continually (but informally) advised to flee the USA for my safety, and no American lawyer would ever agree to stand by my side.

The American Constitution becomes a dead letter if judges will no longer enforce it, and even more so when American lawyers will not even dare to speak up and fight for it. The Patricia Cornwell court fraud scandal is one of those scandals that has enormous implications, which is why U.S. mainstream media are still hesitating to run the story, despite the huge mountain of documentary evidence.

If President Bush's friends can buy fake legal proceedings with judges loyal to Bush — If the American courts are now holding fraudulent political "show trials" — If American lawyers are now helping U.S. judges to stage such fake trials to take away people's rights — If lawyers in America will not even dare to speak up about blatant court fraud — If no one will prosecute or question large-scale felony crimes for political objectives — then it may indeed be "game over" for the "game" that is called America.

One lawyer told me: "If the American people found out how crooked the judges really are, the whole house of cards will start to crumble." But even if the current American government is just a "house of cards," people still have a right to know. If America's courts are fake, if the judges are playing political games as they trash the Constitution, this needs to come out in the open.

I am a lucky one. They banned me, they tried to silence me, they threatened to jail and kill me, but I escaped and became a survivor who lived to tell the tale. Now in freedom, I walk the streets of Amsterdam, sometimes walking by Anne Frank's last place of hiding. I remember Anne Frank and how I was lucky to survive the terror and the neo-Nazi thugs that I faced in America. Anne Frank died, very sadly, a mere number of weeks before the final liberation. I also cut it very close in my time inside America, but I escaped just as they were about to come for me, and now the whole world should know:

The spirit of Hitler is there now in America, in some of the courts and judges loyal to George Bush, where they scorn and sneer at those of us who still believe in freedom. America is now where they ban free speech, where they support the destroying of books and the silencing of writers, and where they sometimes laugh at the memory of Nazi victims. We can honor the legacy of Anne Frank, by exposing the sad truths about the USA courts and government.


Reprinted from the blog of Dr. Les Sachs.  The statements and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dr. Bernofsky.  Further information about Sachs is available from his Web site (http://cornwell-scandal.tripod.com) and blog site (http://bannedinamerica.blogspot.com), accessed 3/17/2005. Sach's forthcoming book is: "Patricia Cornwell, Her Life and Her Scandal: Bush's Friends, Political Courts, and Fake Trials in America."  He can be reached by email at drlessachs@lycos.com or drlessachs@care2.com.  Sachs' insight into judicial and legal corruption in the U.S. can be seen at http://faqusajudicialcorruption.blogspot.com.

*Note:  Public access to information concerning Patricia Cornwell's lawsuit against Sachs, alleging assault, libel and slander, has been largely withheld from the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service.  See: Cornwell v. Sachs, Case No. 3:2000cv00229, filed April 11, 2000 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia at Richmond, Judge Robert E. Payne presiding, and Case No. 00-1688, filed May 31, 2000 in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  The former case outcome is available as Cornwell v. Sachs, 99 F.Supp.2d 695 (E.D.Va. 05/18/2000).


 
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