Lest she be judged

In May 2008, Brooklyn Judge Sylvia Ash joined the Municipal Credit Union board of directors. Since MCU has many court cases, a judge cannot serve on its board. Alas, Ash failed to list her directorship on the annual financial disclosure statements that she gave the courts’ Ethics Commission, which wrongly keeps those statements for only six years.

Then, even though she was a MCU board member, Ash heard multiple MCU cases. In May 2015, she became board chair, at that point asking the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics for its okay. No, she was told, and also told to quit the board. She remained chair.

On Jan. 1, 2016, Ash rose to be the Brooklyn Commercial Division’s presiding justice. On April 1, 2016, she was appointed to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which polices judges. Hmm.

Someone then noticed that she was MCU chair. It’s right on her official court web page and is still there. The Judicial Conduct panel opened a probe, the first time the commission investigated its own member.

In August 2016, Ash resigned from the conduct commission and the MCU board, but stayed as presiding justice.

The farce inside a tragedy ended last week when Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman hit Ash with federal counts of obstruction of justice for lying to the FBI to help the MCU’s CEO concoct a cover story to evade embezzlement charges. Beyond her alleged crimes, Ash was also allegedly trying to procure fake parking placards.

How many times did Ash break the rules? Judge for yourself.