Wall Street Whistleblower Dave Weigel and Investigative Reporter Richard Luthmann Join Forces to Blast Family Court Corruption – and Call Out “Journalistic Traitors” Over Press Freedom.
By Rick LaRivière with David Weigel and Richard Luthmann
Wall Street Dad Becomes Family Court Fraud Warrior
David Weigel is a high-flying Wall Street fiduciary asset manager, but a bitter 10-year divorce battle turned him into an unlikely crusader. He says the family court system is rife with “systemic dishonesty” after encountering blatant fraud in his own case. Weigel tried sounding the alarm through traditional media – and got crickets.
“I had made a number of calls to the press… [they] refused to return my phone call,” he recalls. Local investigative reporters who had known him for years wouldn’t touch his story once they learned it involved family court corruption.
Frustrated, Weigel found an ally in Richard Luthmann – a hard-charging, independent journalist unafraid to name names.
“Richard is a rare bird… among the few journalists with the balls to actually report the truth,” Weigel says.
In December 2023, Luthmann published an exposé on Weigel’s case, complete with the real names and photos of the judges and lawyers involved. That bold move, Weigel says, changed everything.
“It wasn’t until Richard Luthmann actually encapsulated [my story]… that it all of a sudden clicked. I seized the story of my life back in one article that he wrote,” Weigel said.
After years of feeling vilified, Weigel felt vindicated.
Luthmann’s pen proved mightier than any court motion. When the Florida-based reporter followed up with a bluntly titled piece, “Designer Child Trafficker,” targeting Weigel’s ex-wife’s attorney, the impact was immediate.
The story “went viral… to his whole world,” Weigel says of the attorney’s professional circle. Overnight, the power dynamic shifted.
“That flipped the script. Now, he was my bitch… and that’s the power of the pen,” Weigel declared, describing how public shame succeeded where legal appeals failed.
Buoyed by the exposure, Weigel launched the Family Court Fraud Warrior Project to “turn pain into proof” and bring data-driven transparency to a court system he calls a “fraudulent, profit-driven enterprise.” The Wall Street dad-turned-activist had found his weapon: a free press, wielded without fear.
Family Court Free Press Showdown: Muckraker Blasts Media Cover-Up as “Treason”
Richard Luthmann is no ordinary journalist. The former New York attorney and law chair for the New York State Reform Party reinvented himself as an investigative muckraker after personally clashing with a corrupt system.
He’s gained a reputation as a bulldog reporter who exposes “judicial corruption” with a flair for controversy. From his perch in Florida, Luthmann has spotlighted how family courts across America “operate like rackets, not courts,” exploiting families for profit behind a veil of secrecy.
In his view, the mainstream media is complicit. Big outlets often parrot officials claiming there’s “no evidence” of court wrongdoing while ignoring “thousands of families” screaming about abuse. This silence enables what whistleblowers describe as a “business model of fraud” – even “designer child trafficking” – in the divorce industry.
Luthmann doesn’t mince words about the press. He accuses establishment journalists of a profound betrayal. While parents lose their children to corrupt courts, major media, and even some nonprofits stay mum.
“The media today is doing nothing… and even independent media – even these 501(c)(3)s that are supposed to be watchdogs – they’re not doing it either ’cause they’re beholden to donors. So we have a big problem in the media,” Luthmann warned in a recent discussion.
In his eyes, this failure of the Fourth Estate amounts to “Journalistic Treason.” Mainstream journalists, often cozy with the legal elite and political donors, “have betrayed the public trust,” he argues. By refusing to expose a “family court mafia” preying on parents, the press is abdicating its duty – and children are paying the price.
The firebrand reporter has made it his mission to do what big media won’t. He publishes names of allegedly crooked judges, “GAL” guardians, and lawyers, dragging their dealings into the light.
“When they get exposed… the masses have made their ruling on those people already,” Luthmann said, noting how public outrage delivers swifter justice than the courts. The only problem, he adds, is that “too few of them are exposed” because the media has largely looked the other way.
Luthmann sees his guerrilla-style journalism as the first line of defense against this “category five hurricane of fraud” in family court. And he’s prepared to call out anyone – reporter or judge – who stands in the way of the truth getting out.
Family Court Free Press Showdown: “Journalistic Treason” Splits Reform Movement
Luthmann’s crusade for press integrity recently sparked a civil war in the family court reform ranks. The flashpoint: California journalist Susan Bassi, long known for exposing court corruption, suddenly declined to report on a harrowing case of alleged child abuse cover-up. The case involved Julie Holburn – a fellow journalist and protective mother in Orange County – who claims local police and court players shielded her ex-husband as he terrorized their children.
Despite following Holburn’s ordeal for years (and even viewing video evidence of the abuse), Bassi stunned observers by refusing to publish the story. She cited a “standing policy” against covering “litigants or ex-spouses,” insisting such coverage “serves no legitimate purpose” and might invite defamation risk. To Holburn and her supporters, it felt like a betrayal.
“You have violated the most precious and delicate nature of trust… your disregard for victims is disgraceful and heinous,” Holburn wrote in an outraged email to Bassi.
Enter Luthmann and Weigel, who were outraged at what they saw as Bassi’s sellout. The two joined forces to defend Holburn and blasted Bassi in public forums. Luthmann ripped Bassi for committing a “cardinal sin of journalism” – essentially accusing her of protecting the wrong side. He charged that Bassi “torpedoed” Holburn’s story and “sold out the truth for her own ego and alliances.”
The Florida reporter even resorted to colorful name-calling. He called Bassi “a liar” who only pretends to be a transparency crusader but secretly worked to bury Holburn’s evidence. Luthmann went so far as to brand her “a self-righteous, elitist trollop” and joked she’s “a bigger bitch than Kyle’s mom on South Park.”
He also fired off a legal threat, warning Bassi to “not set foot in Florida” or face a libel lawsuit under Florida’s defamation statutes.
Weigel, for his part, unleashed his own broadside. The Family Court Fraud Warrior Project leader publicly decried Bassi’s retreat as “treason against the movement.”
“We will not accept this journalistic treason,” Weigel declared, vowing to hold Bassi and any others to account.
He accused Bassi of “failing to stand up for warrior parents” like Holburn, saying her silence handed abusive officials a victory.
“Journalists who refuse to stand up for warrior parents and protective families are complicit in the fraud model,” Weigel fumed, “They hand abusers and officials a victory by silence and sabotage.”
In short, he labeled Bassi a traitor to the cause she once championed. Bassi has remained defiant amid the onslaught – she flatly told Luthmann, “You will get no retraction. See you in court,” doubling down on her decision.
Luthmann’s rejoinder was an unprintable taunt: “Cowboy up, bitch!”
The feud has turned personal and ugly, pitting reformers against each other in a coast-to-coast spectacle of mudslinging. What began as a united fight against court corruption has splintered into bitter infighting over who has the courage – and the integrity – to tell the truth.
Family Court Free Press Showdown: Is It ‘Over’ in Family Court?
This dramatic saga raises a chilling question: Is there any real freedom of the press left when it comes to America’s family courts? The signs are ominous. Whistleblowers say a veil of silence and intimidation surrounds the courts, allowing a “profits over parents” racket to flourish.
Mainstream news outlets have largely turned a blind eye, effectively gagging public awareness of the crisis. Even within the reform movement, activists are now accusing each other of treason rather than working together. And it’s not just voluntary silence – officials have taken active steps to muzzle dissent.
In Connecticut, a prosecutor’s recent gag motion against family court blogger Paul Boyne sparked a “constitutional firestorm,” with critics calling it a shocking attempt to shred the First Amendment. The inept state’s attorney sought to ban the journalist from sharing court documents – an “unprecedented gag” that one observer said tests whether America will tolerate unpopular voices or let authorities muzzle them.
From courtrooms to newsrooms, the message to reformers is the same: Keep quiet, or be silenced.
Weigel and Luthmann refuse to keep quiet. They argue that nothing less than the American ideal of a free press is at stake in family court. Weigel points out that the nation’s Founders made freedom of the press the First Amendment for a reason.
“Our forefathers… figured it out that it had to be the First Amendment, freedom of the press. And if that is what’s at stake here right now, it’s our whole way of life,” he said, warning that secretive courts and a silenced press threaten fundamental liberties.
Luthmann echoes that sentiment, insisting an “open court of public opinion” is the only way to hold rogue judges and lawyers accountable. For these crusaders, shining a light on family court corruption isn’t just about individual cases – it’s about preserving transparency and truth as pillars of justice.
Is freedom of the press over in family court? Not if Weigel and Luthmann have their way.
The Wall Street dad and the rebel reporter are rallying an army of “fraud warriors” determined to blow the lid off a broken system. They’re risking lawsuits, reputations, and more in the belief that the pen – and the pixel – can still topple Goliath. It’s a high-stakes battle for truth in the shadows of America’s courtrooms.
And as long as parents continue to cry out for help, these warriors say they’ll keep making noise, refusing to let the press be caged. Their fight suggests that the price of silence is far too high – and that only by loudly exposing the “fraud model” can justice prevail in family court.
The free press may be on the ropes, but it’s not down for the count just yet.
