Herman Weisberg

Last updated
Herman Weisberg
Born (1966-06-01) June 1, 1966 (age 58)
New York, New York
Police career
Department New York City Police Department (NYPD)
Branch New York County District Attorney, (DANY)
Service years1990–2010
RankFormer Detective Grade 2
Badge no.5925
Other workPrivate Investigator

Herman Weisberg (born 1966) is an American private investigator and security consultant. He is known for handling high-end white-collar crime cases for New York's white-shoe firms. Prior to this, he was a New York City Police Department detective, serving as the top investigator under New York County District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.

Contents

The cases Weisberg investigates typically revolve around interpersonal disputes and blackmail. His specialization in sextortion cases has led various publications to refer to him as "The Mistress Whisperer."

Career

New York City Police Department

Weisberg began his 20-year career [1] with the New York City Police Department in the 1990s as a beat police officer in Queens. He took on various roles throughout his tenure, including working undercover on the NYPD's vice squad, serving as a narcotics investigator, and being part of the dignitary protection unit, where he was responsible for safeguarding visiting dignitaries such as Vice President Al Gore and President George W. Bush during their trips to New York. [2]

Weisberg served as the top investigator under Robert M. Morgenthau, who held the position of New York County District Attorney for 34 years. [2] During his tenure in the district attorney's office, Weisberg specialized in investigating extortions, financial crimes, and various other complex criminal cases. He also worked under District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. [3] In 2002, Weisberg was the lead investigator in the $600 million fraud scandal of Tyco Corporation. [4] In 2004, he investigated extortion plots against NBA player Carmelo Anthony and handled the prosecution of the four suspects charged with extorting Anthony for $3 million. [2] [5] Notably, in 2010, Weisberg's played a crucial role in solving the David Letterman blackmail case. [6]

Weisberg left the NYPD in 2010. [2]

Private investigator

Weisberg is managing director of Sage Intelligence, [4] an investigate and security firm that focuses on cases including contractual violations in the finance sector, potential instances of underage individuals in escort services, and allegations of corporate espionage. [7] The firm provides protection for a number of high-profile entertainment-industry figures. [8]

In 2017, Weisberg located Russian fugitive Viktoria Nasyrova. [9] [10]

In 2018, Benjamin Brafman, lawyer for film producer Harvey Weinstein, hired Weisberg to investigate on behalf of his client. [11] He received death threats for his involvement in the case. [12] [13]

Former prosecutor Jeremy Saland, with whom Weisberg has collaborated, has estimated that he and Weisberg had worked on around 200 sextortion cases since 2010, as of December 2022. [6]

Weisberg's frequent handling of sextortion cases has led various publications, including The Washington Post and The Times , to refer to him as "The Mistress Whisperer." [14] [1] [3] He has been described as "well-liked by prosecutors" and as a "tenacious investigator." [2]

Media

On television, Weisberg has appeared in "Red Notice for Murder," a 2017 episode of the CBS show 48 Hours . [15] He was also featured in an episode of the ABC TV show 20/20. [16] Weisberg returned to 48 Hours in Season 35, Episode 46 titled "The case of the Poison Cheesecake". [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Boies</span> American lawyer and chairman

David Boies is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsoft in United States v. Microsoft Corp., his unsuccessful representation of Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in Bush v. Gore, and for successful representation of the plaintiff in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which invalidated California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. Boies has also represented various clients in US lawsuits, including Theranos, tobacco companies, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein's victims including Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

<i>CSI: NY</i> 2004 American police procedural drama television series

CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seasons and 197 original episodes. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers identified as "Crime Scene Investigators" as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths, as well as other crimes. The series is an indirect spin-off from the veteran series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and a direct spin-off from CSI: Miami, during an episode in which several of the CSI: NY characters made their first appearances. It is the third series in the CSI franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Weinstein</span> American film producer and sex offender (born 1952)

Harvey Weinstein is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films including Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989); The Crying Game (1992); Pulp Fiction (1994); Heavenly Creatures (1994); Flirting with Disaster (1996); and Shakespeare in Love (1998). Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love and also won seven Tony Awards for plays and musicals including The Producers, Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County. After leaving Miramax, Weinstein and his brother Bob founded The Weinstein Company (TWC), a mini-major film studio. He was co-chairman, alongside Bob, from 2005 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito</span> Former policemen and convicted felons

Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito were former New York City Police Department (NYPD) detectives who committed various illegal activities on behalf of the Five Families of the American Mafia, principally the Lucchese and Gambino crime families. The two subsequently became known as the "Mafia Cops".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Brafman</span> American criminal defense attorney

Benjamin Brafman is an American criminal defense attorney and founder of the Manhattan-based law firm Brafman & Associates. Brafman is known for representing many high-profile defendants, including celebrities, accused Mafia members, and political figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Fairstein</span> American attorney and author (born 1947)

Linda Fairstein is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Norris</span> American radio host, actor and former law enforcement officer

Edward T. Norris is an American radio host, actor and former law enforcement officer in Maryland. He is the cohost of a talk show on WJZ-FM in Baltimore, Maryland. Norris, a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, served as Police Commissioner for Baltimore from 2000 to late 2002 and Superintendent of the Maryland State Police in 2003. Norris played the eponymous detective Edward Norris in HBO's The Wire. In 2003, Norris was convicted of a felony and spent six months in federal prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Russel Timoshenko</span> 2007 murder of a New York City police officer

Russel Timoshenko was a 23-year-old New York Police Department (NYPD) police officer who was shot on July 9, 2007, and died five days later, after pulling over a stolen BMW automobile in New York City's Crown Heights, Brooklyn, neighborhood. After a four-day manhunt that stretched across three states, all three suspects Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis and Lee Woods were eventually apprehended and convicted—two of murder, and the third for weapons possession. At his widely attended funeral, Timoshenko was posthumously promoted to the rank of Detective. The case garnered national media attention because the weapons used were all illegally obtained handguns. This sparked widespread debate over gun control laws in New York City, and over the process by which firearms are traced by police departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organization of the New York City Police Department</span> Law enforcement command structure

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is structured into numerous bureaus and units. As a whole, the NYPD is headed by the Police Commissioner, a civilian administrator appointed by the Mayor, with the senior sworn uniformed officer of the service titled "Chief of Department". The Police Commissioner appoints the First Deputy Commissioner as the department's second-in-command and the Chief of Department as the department's highest ranking uniformed officer. The commissioner also appoints a number of deputy and assistant commissioners who do not have operational command and are solely for support and administrative function. The department is divided into twenty bureaus, six of which are enforcement bureaus. Each enforcement bureau is further subdivided into sections, divisions, and units, and into patrol boroughs, precincts, and detective squads. Each bureau is commanded by a bureau chief. There are also a number of specialized units that are not part of any of the bureaus and report to the Chief of the Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct</span> Overview of misconduct and corruption in the NYPD

Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption, misconduct, and other allegations of such, have occurred. Over 12,000 cases have resulted in lawsuit settlements totaling over $400 million during a five-year period ending in 2014. In 2019, misconduct lawsuits cost the taxpayer $68,688,423, a 76 percent increase over the previous year, including about $10 million paid out to two exonerated individuals who had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Vance Jr.</span> American attorney and politician (born 1954)

Cyrus Roberts Vance Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as the District Attorney of New York County, New York. He was previously a principal partner at the law firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello, & Bohrer, P.C. He is the son of Cyrus Vance Sr., former Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter. Vance did not seek reelection as District Attorney in the 2021 election, and was succeeded by Alvin Bragg. He is currently a partner at Baker McKenzie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sextortion</span> Non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim

Sextortion employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Police Department Detective Bureau</span> Bureau of the NYPD

The Detective Bureau is one of 14 bureaus within the New York City Police Department and is headed by the three-star Chief of Detectives. The Detective Squad was formed in 1857 with the Detective Bureau later formed in 1882.

<i>Unforgettable</i> (American TV series) 2011 American police procedural crime drama television series

Unforgettable is an American police procedural crime drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 20, 2011. Unforgettable was developed by Ed Redlich and John Bellucci, and stars Poppy Montgomery as Detective Carrie Wells, a police detective with an unusually detailed and photographic memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detectives' Endowment Association</span> Police union

The Detectives Endowment Association of the City of New York is one of three major police unions representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. The other two being the Police Benevolent Association and Sergeants Benevolent Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis N. Scarcella</span> American homicide detective

Louis N. Scarcella is a retired detective from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) who earned frequent commendations during the "crack epidemic" of the 1980s and 1990s, before many convictions resulting from his investigations were overturned during his retirement. As a member of the Brooklyn North Homicide Squad, he and his longtime partner Stephen Chmil built a reputation for obtaining convictions in difficult cases. Since 2013, Scarcella has received extensive and sustained publicity for multiple allegations of investigative misconduct that resulted in false testimony against crime suspects, leading to innocent parties serving long prison terms and guilty individuals going free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases</span> Criminal and civil cases since 2017

In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women in the film industry eventually accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein himself denied "any non-consensual sex". Shortly after, he was dismissed from The Weinstein Company (TWC), expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.

Operation Fox Hunt is a Chinese government covert global operation whose purported aim is anti-corruption under Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping's administration. As of 2017, it has led to the arrest of over 40 of its 100 most wanted globally. It has been accused of targeting Chinese dissidents living abroad to stop their activism under the guise of returning corrupt Chinese nationals to China to face criminal charges. Kidnappings and other forms of coercion have been used to repatriate individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin Bragg</span> American lawyer and politician (born 1973)

Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney, covering Manhattan. In 2021, he became the first African American elected to that office. Bragg had previously served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of New York and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. In 2024, he became the first and only district attorney to secure a conviction of a former United States president.

<i>Nobodys Victim</i> 2019 non-fiction book

Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls is a 2019 book by Carrie Goldberg, co-written with Jeannine Amber. It describes incidents of sexual violence experienced by Goldberg's clients and herself, as well as other famous cases. The acts of violence include rape and sexual assault, revenge porn, "doxing", "swatting", "sextortion", and abusive messages. Goldberg categorizes perpetrators as "assholes", "psychos", "pervs" or "trolls" depending on their nature, though "assholes" was omitted in the book's subtitle to avoid profanity.

References

  1. 1 2 McMahon, Barbara (2023-07-20). "The Mistress Whisperer: the man who saves cheating husbands". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Shallwani, Lachlan Cartwright,Pervaiz (2018-11-12). "Weinstein's Secret Weapon Is a 'Bloodhound' NYPD Detective Turned Private Eye". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2023-07-20.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 "'I'm Not the Morality Police': Inside Benjamin Brafman's Defense of Harvey Weinstein". Esquire. 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  4. 1 2 Freifeld, Karen (15 June 2012). "Kozlowski's $6,000 shower curtain to find new home". Reuters.
  5. ↑ "Former NYPD detective and prosecutor use their skills for a new side business — busting blackmailers". New York Daily News. 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  6. 1 2 Italiano, Laura. "'Sextortion' attacks on the rich and famous are on the rise. Here's how their lawyers discreetly fight back". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  7. ↑ "Meet the Mistress Whisperer Who Handles Affairs Gone Wrong". Town & Country. 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  8. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (2020-07-01). "Hollywood and the Police: A Deep, Complicated and Now Strained Relationship". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  9. ↑ "Russian woman in New York accused". Miami Herald. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Red Notice for Murder: The hunt for Russian fugitive Viktoria Nasyrova - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  11. ↑ "Is Any Client Too Toxic? Meet the Men Defending Harvey Weinstein", by Tatiana Siege, The Hollywood Reporter, June 21, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019.
  12. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (2018-06-21). "Is Any Client Too Toxic? Meet the Men Defending Harvey Weinstein". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  13. ↑ Schreckinger, Ben (2017-08-27). "The Trouble With Ivanka's Business Partner". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  14. ↑ Heil, Emily (May 12, 2016). "The Mistress Whisperer". The Washington Post.
  15. ↑ "Hunting a fugitive online (2017)". CBS. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Retired NYPD detective examines womans death". ABC News .
  17. ↑ "The Case of the Poison Cheesecake". CBS. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.