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A member of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center’s Board of Trustees in Little Falls, near his Montclair home, Fishman is returning to the Newark office where he worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1983 to 1994. The past several years, the corner office has been occupied by a diehard Mets fan.
Fishman, who was confirmed by the Senate in Washington as the Yanks were winning their playoff opener against the Twins in the Bronx, also could differ from Christie in a much more significant way — that is, in what types of cases he wants pursued.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Friedman, Kaplan, Seiler & AdelmanSince 1997, Fishman had been a partner at a New York law firm, specializing in white-collar defense, corporate investigation and complex civil litigations. So there may be a switch in emphasis from Christie, who focused intently on putting corrupt politicians behind bars.
In a country riddled with credit troubles wrought by its banks and saddled by car companies that need bailouts to keep from sending unemployment levels soaring even higher, Fishman’s expertise may be welcome.
Born in New York in 1957, Fishman received degrees from Princeton University and Harvard University Law School, where he was Editor of the Law Review. He has personally tried a dozen cases in his career. His net worth is listed at $5.1 million.
Fishman also spent time in Washington — first as counsel to then-Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, then as associate deputy attorney general, and, finally, as principal associate deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.
He also has hosted fund-raising events for Hillary Clinton, Frank Lautenberg and Christie’s current adversary — Gov. Jon Corzine.
From 1987 to 1989, Fishman was deputy chief and chief of narcotics of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division, based in Newark. He took over the Criminal Division and later was promoted to First Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1991. Three years later, he was detailed to Washington.
While in Newark, Fishman successfully prosecuted former Passaic Mayor Joseph Lipari, who was later sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for extortion, bribery, and income tax evasion.
He also worked with the German government to help bring down an organization that, at the time, had conducted the largest conspiracy to import chemicals for making methamphetamine in the U.S. All of the defendants took guilty pleas the day their trial was to begin.
Fishman also prosecuted a pair of kidnappers who forced their way into a private home and held an 85-year-old woman and her 18-year-old granddaughter for
ransom. They remained fugitives for five years until a segment about them aired on “America’s Most Wanted.” One of them was eventually sentenced to life.
After going into private practice, Fishman represented Biomet, Inc., one of the major manufacturers of artificial joints, in connection with an investigation by Christie’s office of payments to consulting physicians. Ironically, the result was a deferred prosecution agreement, a practice critics say Christie often used to reward former associates — including former Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose firm got $52 million of taxpayer money for monitoring services in one case.
And last year he represented Corzine’s former girlfriend, Carla Katz, president of Communications Workers of
America (“CWA”) Local I034, in a suit she’d filed against the union.
Fishman has been a member of the American Museum of Natural History, Friends of Lincoln Center, Friends of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Botanical Gardens, the Wildlife Conservation Federation and the Montclair Beach Club.
He was also an unpaid board member, from 1986 to 1994, of the 908 Willow Avenue Condominium Association in Hoboken.
He’s been interviewed by Kudlow and Cramer, Bill O’Reilly, Jack O’Dwyer, and former journalist Amy Klein, and has been quoted in just about every major newspaper in the United States.
Fishman now gets to fight crime on a grand scale again, in a densely populated state plagued by inner-city decay, soaring property taxes, shady government contractors and graft-taking public officials.
Without going into details, Fishman has cited potential conflicts, noting that he has represented “individuals or entities who currently are being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, or who are witnesses in such matters.
“Immediately upon entering office, I would recuse myself from those matters, as required by the Department of Justice and New Jersey ethics rules, as well as by federal law.”
It’s unclear whether Fishman is as fervent about the Bombers as Christie is about the Metropolitans — or how he feels about his predecessor’s all-time favorite performer, Bruce Springsteen.
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