Couri claims to have left Scamraiders.com, yet he continues his social media campaign under the monikers "The Shadow" at Scamsos.com and as "Travertine" at http://twitter.com/travertine. Read his words. Are they the language of a consumer advocate or a twice convicted felon?

Recently, Couri Refused To Comply With Four Court Orders to Make His Tax Returns Available. He Now Refuses To Comply With A Court Order to Make His Medical Records Available.

Couri's Admitted Forging of a Notary's Signature Raises Serious Credibility Questions About His Medical Claims

Couri Claims to Leave Scamraiders But Still Has Not Given Medical Authorizations

Today twice-convicted felon James Couri unilaterally declared that he's giving up his Scamraiders hoax website to care for his personal health. He even went so far as to arrange to have himself photographed in a hospital setting holding up a newspaper "demonstrating" his alleged life-threatening skin cancer. One problem: Although Couri is well enough to make videos, motions and maintain Scamraiders, Couri has not complied with the November 11, 2009 court order directing him to sign medical authorizations to allow independent verification of his unsubstantiated medical claims. As predicted in this weblog on December 10, the ruse appears to be part of a scheme to avoid paying the $8 million he and his companies took from a respected New York surgeon. Read my December 10, 2009 prediction HERE.

Has Couri and Scamraiders.com scammed News Channel 3 and KESQ.com?

Reporter Emilie Voss of News Channel 3 and KESQ.com reported on December 4, 2009 that James C. Couri's website Scamraiders.com receives 1.5 million hits per month and that it is the go-to website to learn about scams.

Significantly, News Channel 3 did not report that Couri is a twice convicted felon, is subject to a lifetime ban of securities law violations, is a prolific and abusive pro se litigant, is a  legally declared nuisance (resulting from his campaign of harassing letters, telephone calls and verbal threats to a tenant and the family from which he rented an apartment), is heavily in debt, is described by his mother as a ruthless, amoral, liar, in need of psychiatric help, who maintains his lifestyle by cheating others, is accused by a California notary public of forging her signature on 33 of Couri's court affidavits in 2009, and is currently being sued for $8M for fraud in NYC. This information may be found from a Google search of his name. Naturally, the Scamraiders website which is desperately in need of credibility, prominently displays the KESQ news story.

Contrary to Couri's claims, Compete.com reports that the number of website hits are nowhere near the 1.5 million reported by Emilie Voss. For example, in October and November 2009, the number of hits were 722 and 408, respectively. Further, the most hits in a month was in August 2009 when there were 2,925. If Couri so grossly misrepresented the volume of traffic to his website, what else did he misrepresent? Finally, a review of the Scamraiders website found that many of the third-party posts were by spammers or by scam artists themselves.

This is where Channel 3 News and KESQ.com suggest their viewers and website readers go for help? They owe it to their consumers to set the record straight.

According to Compete.com, the number of hits generated by Scamraiders.com are as follows:

293 June 2009
297 July 2009
2,925 August 2009
2,454 September 2009
722 October 2009
408 November 2009

EDITOR'S NOTE: KESQ.com removed the television broadcast video from its website on December 14, 2009, at approximately 4:00 pm. KESQ.com, however, over my objection, left the print version of the story on it's website.

To contact KESQ-TV write or call:
Bob Smith
Director of News and Promotion
KESQ-TV/KDFX-TV/KCWQ-TV/KUNA-TV
42-650 Melanie Place
Palm Desert, California 92211
(760) 340-7091

On November 11, 2009, Court Orders Couri to Submit to a Medical Examination

On May 9, 2007, a Unanimous New York County Supreme Court Jury Found James C. Couri to be a Nuisance.

James C. Couri Has $400,000 in Liabilities and Only $5,000 in Assets

The facts about two-time felon James C. Couri and Scamraiders.com are starting to emerge.

ElderAbuse.org on Monday, December 7, 2009, thanked me for making the information in this blog available to its readers.  In addition, Care2.com picked up on the story and made a post entitled "Scamraiders.com itself a Scam?"

"Couri" Has Sued Hundreds of People and Businesses in NY County Supreme Court, Alone. Almost all in a Self-Represented Capacity.

JAMES C. COURI is a PROLIFIC PRO SE LITIGANT. After "making a living" at the 60 Centre Street Courthouse for decades, recently Mr. Couri commenced an internet-based campaign alleging the Courthouse suffers from widespread corruption. Mr. Couri claims he observed court corruption first hand while watching his father and his father's political cronies. Later in life, Mr. Couri claims to have befriended attorney Roy Cohn who, Mr. Couri claims, caused brown paper bags containing cash to be delivered to judges in exchange for favorable decisions.


Mr. Couri's charaterizations of his father and Roy Cohn, however, have nothing to do with Mr. Couri's eviction from the Pavia-owned apartment, and the only cash that exchanged hands, was the $160,000 recovered from Mr. Couri.

Mr. Couri's claims against Mr. Pavia have been fully litigated two and three times. Notably, Mr. Couri FAILED TO PERFECT HIS APPEAL of the jury's verdict. It is wholly inconsistent for Mr. Couri to claim his legal rights were violated and for him to not pursue his appeal.

Readers of this blog are free to contact the hundreds of parties sued by Mr. Couri. My educated guess is that they will give you an earful about how the court system was more than fair to Mr. Couri.


Notably, only three of Couri's lawsuits filed in New York County were filed BEFORE 1996. Remember, these are just the cases in New York County Supreme Court filed by Mr. Couri as a plaintiff. The list does not include cases where Couri is a defendant, or cases brought in other state or federal jurisdictions, nor does it include lawsuits brought by companies he owned or controlled.

James C. Couri Dropped Out of College After a Few Months at Each of Two Different Universities

Mr. Couri's biography states he attended Columia University at night, but in the Presentence Memorandum, dated September 8, 1981, filed on behalf of James C. Couri in United States of America v. James C. Couri, 80 Cr. 361, 81 Cr. 219 (MEL), the criminal defense attorneys for Mr. Couri stated: "[Couri] dropped out of college after a few months at each of two different universities [specifically, Duke University and Columbia University]."

Please help me understand.

Please help me understand why the man pictured at left, a thrice-convicted felon and perennial abuser of the court system, is not presently in jail?

Instead, James C. Couri splits his time between Palm Desert, California and New York City where he lives a pleasant enough life, even as he goes about methodically harassing and scamming those with whom he comes into contact. This includes scores of innocent, hard-working people. Even his own brother and parents were not spared.

In her sworn affidavit, Mr. Couri's mother described her son as "a liar, cheat and ruthless person who only thinks about himself. He has no morals and has maintained a lifestyle by cheating others."

It's clear Mr. Couri is deeply troubled. He has delusions. He sincerely believes that his scams are a result of corruption by everyone other than himself. Recently, he was caught red-handed forging the signature and stamp of a California notary public on 33 of his affidavits with the intent to defraud the New York courts. He then turned and accused the notary of misconduct, which could lead to the loss of her license.

Mr. Couri refuses to take responsibility for his despicable and libelous actions. This includes the filing of hundreds of frivolous and unfounded legal motions in an effort to avoid paying for the crimes he has committed. More recently, he has embarked on a twisted web-based vendetta under the ruse of exposing corruption. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

He once wrote the New York State Committee on Judicial Conduct complaining that the behavior of the judge in the Pavia-Couri litigation was not unlike Dr. Mengele's at Auschwitz.

A story in the The New York Times captured his essence when it reported: "Mr. Couri then upped the ante. In a 2003 letter to Michelle A. Maratto, one of Mr. Pavia’s lawyers, Mr. Couri accused Ms. Maratto, who was converting to Judaism, of 'crazy, abhorrent, shakedown behavior' and went on to tell her that 'you are not worthy to become part of the Orthodox Jewish faith. You belong in jail.'"

So again I ask: how has this nuisance of a man been able to avoid incarceration? Hopefully, the U.S. Attorney's Office, which has him in its sites, will finally give Mr. Couri the "justice" he has coming to him...in handcuffs. The innocent people whose lives he's attempting to wreck will surely breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Federal Court Judge Says James C. Couri Has Checkered Past.

James C. Couri's lack of honesty has been the subject of judicial comment. As Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. has noted (Drobbin v. Nicolet Instrument Corp., 631 F.Supp. 860, 868 [S.D.N.Y. 1986]): "([James C.] Couri has a checkered past. He has twice pleaded guilty in this Court to charges of fraud. One charge involved securities fraud. The other involved fraudulent statements made to a bank in connection with an art gallery Couri controlled. Couri is the subject of an injunction against securities law violations obtained by the Securities and Exhange Commission."

Couri's Attorneys State That Couri Paid a $3,000 Bribe to a Bank Officer.

In the Presentence Memorandum, dated September 8, 1981, filed on behalf of James C. Couri in United States of America v. James C. Couri, 80 Cr. 361, 81 Cr. 219 (MEL), Couri's attorneys stated: [In or about November and December 1979] Couri also tried to buy the good graces of the bank's new loan officer by giving him a $3,000 bribe."

Criminal Court Upholds The Sufficiency of Aggravated Harassment 2nd Degree Against James C. Couri --- Complaint Alleges Couri Threatened To Make George M. Pavia's "Life a Living Hell."

On December 4, 2002, in The PEOPLE of the State of New York v. James Couri, the Hon. Gerald Harris of the Criminal Court, New York County, found the Complaint against James C. Couri alleged facts sufficient to support the charges of Aggravated Harassment in the 2nd Degree (PL 240.30(1) and Harassment in the 2nd Degree (PL 240.26(3) against James C. Couri.

The Complaint alleged that defendant James C. Couri, (a tenant in a building owned by the complainant George M. Pavia), told the complainant that he would "make his life a living hell" after the complainant refused defendant's offer to buy his own apartment or the entire building.

It was further alleged that, between January 1, 2000 and May 28, 2002, defendant faxed more than 100 letters to complainant's office and that the letters contained statements which annoyed and alarmed the complainant. The complaint contains quotes attributed to seven of the defendant's letters - the quoted language generally constitutes epithets and/or accusations of criminal behavior. Two of the letters were allegedly copied to newspapers including the New York Times.

The Complaint also accuses the defendant of making more than 50 telephone calls to the complainant's home at hours earlier than 6 A.M. and either hanging up or cursing the complainant.

On two occasions, the Complaint alleges complainant's attorney wrote to defendant's attorney, with copies to the James C. Couri, demanding that defendant's harassment of the complainant be stopped.

Justice Gerald Harris found the Complaint to be facially sufficient and denied James C. Couri's motion to dismiss in full.

EDITOR'S NOTE: According to James C. Couri, after many months and $35,000 in legal fees, Mr. Couri's criminal defense team convinced the NY County District Attorney's Office to dismiss the charges. Notably, however, in the civil case of Pavia v. Couri, a unanimous jury dismissed Mr. Couri's claim against Mr. Pavia that he maliciously prosecuted Mr. Couri by having him arrested for Aggravated Harassment and Harassment.

Significantly, during the evidentiary portion of the trial Mr. Couri did not ATTEMPT to justify the horrific acts he perpetrated against the Pavia Family. During closing arguments, when forced to confront this fact, Mr. Couri attempted to justify his endless campaign of scurrilous acts not by referring to facts, because none were to be found, instead, Mr. Couri simply claimed he was "at war with the Paivas, not unlike the Korean War and the Conflict in Vietnam."  Wow.

James C. Couri Legally Declared a Nuisance - a quote from the Judgment & Order.

Details of Couri's three felony pleas.

The New York Times Weighs In On The Pavia-Couri Situation.

Couri Consents to Lifetime Ban From Securities Violations

In 29 Years of Practicing Law, I Have Never Been Accused by a Client, a Judge or an Adversary of Misconduct.

Vexatious Pro Se Litigants Place a High Cost on Society

As a self-represented, or pro se litigant, Mr. Couri is not bound by the rules of ethics that are applied to licensed attorneys. He says what he wants and courts are hesitant to sanction him as a self-represented litigant.

Mr. Couri's claims were without merit as reflected in the 40 or more court decisions, the jury verdict, and Mr. Couri's failure to pursue an appeal. The litigation consumed over five years, the jury trial three weeks. Suffice it to say, Mr. Couri had sufficient time to fully air his grievances. His efforts to revisit these very issues is misguided.

Mercifully, in a recent case, unrelated to the Pavia litigation, Mr. Couri did not avoid the wrath of the court. As a result of Mr. Couri's failure to comply with four court orders directing him to sign authorizations to allow his adversaries access to his and his companies' tax returns --- to establish their multi-million fraud claim against him --- an appellate court dismissed Mr. Couri's complaint that alleged, incredibly, that his adversaries damaged him in excess of $20 million dollars. A copy of the appellate court decision can be found HERE.

Mr. Couri stated that as a practical matter he had no assets (and apparently free from enforcement of judgments and court imposed sanctions).

Notably, last year I was able to serve restraining notices upon two insurance companies days before they were to make a one-time total payment to Mr. Couri's attorneys of $230,000. After the insurance companies paid approximately $160,000 to satisfy two judgments entered by Mr. Couri's former landlords, and after Mr. Couri's lawyers paid themselves their legal fee, Mr. Couri was left with very little of the original $230,000. Perhaps that upset him and made him want to strike out at me without basis. Realize, I was not the problem; the problem was Mr. Couri's failure to pay his lawful creditors. Until Mr. Couri accepts responsibility for his actions he will continue to rant against those who hold him responsible for his actions, including the court system.

Like the Pavia verdict, Mr. Couri did not pursue an appeal of the court order directing payment of the judgments. Why not? Because he owed the money. For him to claim otherwise is bogus.

Separate and apart from attempting to avoid his creditors, it is Mr. Couri's practice, as documented in court decisions, to file motions seeking the same relief over-and-over. Similarly, he will serve and file complaints over-and-over. For example, Mr. Couri's repetitive and malicious conduct was evidenced by the service of new complaints upon my clients the Pavias within days of a jury verdict that declared the very same allegations were without merit. Under these circumstances, and as further detailed in this blog, Mr. Couri has all the characteristics of a vexatious pro se litigant and likely that is what led Justice Joan A. Madden to find that Mr. Couri has "a fundamental disrespect for the legal system."

Articles expressing the problems associated with pro se litigants abound. See, the Washington State Bar Association, "The Pro Se Dilemma: Washington Courts and Vexatious Pro Se Litigation," by David Goodnight, Esq. The article is available HERE.

Proper Legal Representation Provided to the Pavia Family.

In February 2007, I entered the Pavia-Couri litigation without the benefit of having participated in the previous four years of litigation. Nevertheless,  I handled the pre-trial hearings, the three week jury trial (against both Mr. Couri and his wife, who was represented by counsel), all post-trial motions, and all preliminary appellate applications. I obtained a dismissal of two new post-trial complaints filed against the Pavias by Mr. Couri. Evicted Mr. Couri from the Pavia apartment. Found Mr. Couri's assets in the form of two insurance policies. Served restraining orders upon the insurance companies, successfully litigated two motions to enforce the restraining orders, and collected $160,000 on the 2007 Pavia judgment and the 1995 Helmsley Carlton House judgment (one of Mr. Couri's previous landlords) (as was the Westchester County Country Club). In short, I succeeded at every stage of the litigation.

In the end, the Pavia Family residence was restored to the sanctuary it once was. The Pavias could not be more deserving. They were a pleasure to work with under what can only be described as very difficult circumstances. They are fine and genuine people. It was a pleasure and an honor to represent them.

Mr. Couri failed to pursue an appeal of the jury's verdict. Repeating his claims now in the court of public opinion does not make them any less false.  Especially after a jury finding they were without merit and a Sheriff's eviction of him from the Pavia apartment.

James C. Couri Intends to Post a Youtube Video to Expose Extortion Scheme.

Eviction for Nuisance - The Law

New York Codes, Rules and Regulations: Part 2524.(b): "The tenant is committing ... a nuisance ... [when] the tenant engages in a persistent and continuing course of conduct evidencing an unwarrantable, unreasonable or unlawful use of the property to the annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort or damage of others, the primary purpose of which is intended to harass the owner or other tenants ... of the same ... building ... by interfering substantially with their comfort or safety. 
The lawful exercise by a tenant of any rights pursuant to any law or regulation relating to occupancy of a housing accommodation, including the RSL or this Code, shall not be deemed an act of harassment or other ground for eviction pursuant to this subdivision."

It Was Shocking to Realize that Virtually Everything Couri Said of Significance Was Not True.

In my two-and-a-half year dealings with Mr. Couri, I found to my shock and dismay that virtually nothing he said of significance was true. Although I had nothing to compare it to, I learned rather quickly that the more he repeated something the more likely it was untrue. With Couri's unintended encouragement, I would probe his claims and, almost without exception, they were untrue --- and the jury came to the same conclusion.

The last nine years of Mr. Couri's nuisance behavior against my client has been and continues to be a tremendous waste of time and resources. The dispute was over a $1,800 per month, rent stabilized, one bedroom apartment, that Mr. Couri, who now lives in La Quinta, California, described despairingly as a dump.

Sadly, Mr. Couri "claims" to be extremely sick from Stage IV malignant melanoma and, yet, he intends to continue tilting at windmills until his dying day.

How Is It Possible That a High School Graduate Who Represents Himself Keeps Losing In Court? Is It The Result of a Huge Conspiracy Against Mr. Couri?

James C. Couri Drafts Letter to NYS Committee on Judicial Conduct Claiming Hon. Joan A. Madden's Conduct Not Unlike Doctor Mengele's at Auschwitz.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The allegation is unspeakable but it is just one example of his hundreds of vile acts.

Despite Couri's Claims to the Contrary, Attorney for Katby T. Couri Made Her Affidavit Public

James C. Couri claims I stole his mother's affidavit from his brother. Of course, this is not true, but the allegation is typical of Couri's many fantastic and invidious allegations lodged against me, client George M. Pavia and too many others to list. Below is a copy of the affidavit of Robert G. Kurzman, the attorney for Katby T. Couri, which was filed in the case of James C. Couri v. Duty Free International Corp., et al., (92 Civ. 2991 (CLB), United States District Court, Southern District of New York). In his affidavit, Mr. Kurzman released to the public Katby T. Couri's affidavit consistent with her instructions and with the consent of the executor of her estate, specifically, the brother of James C. Couri. Of course, Mr. Couri knows the truth but often he seems not to care about the truth.

James C. Couri Loses His Appeal

On August 26, 2009, James C. Couri complained in a open letter to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department that he had been unfairly "targeted" by that court.  Specifically, Couri complained that the Appellate Division denied Couri's request to enlarge his time to perfect an appeal in a case unrelated to the Pavia-Couri litigation. Often requests to enlarge the time to perfect an appeal are granted, but not always. The decision is within the sound discretion of the court. Unsatisfied with the denial, Couri made a second motion asking the court to reconsider. On December 1, 2009, the Appellate Division denied Couri's request a second time. The lesson here is clear: perfect your appeal within the nine months allowed by law and do not rely on the court to grant more time.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the Pavia-Couri litigation, Couri did not perfect his appeal of the jury's verdict, did not ask for more time, and his right to appeal expired. Case closed.

A List of People Sued by "James Couri" and "James C. Couri" in just the New York State, New York County, Supreme (Trial) Court!

Mr. Couri claims that he did not sue "all" of these people and businesses but he fails to identity which of the lawsuits were not brought by him, if any. Since 1996, Mr. Couri has filed over 100 lawsuits against hundreds of defendants. Here is the list and the years in which the complaints were filed.

A Copy of Katby T. Couri's Affidavit.

James C. Couri Claims Be Very Physically Ill and Unable to Travel to Court in New York to Face the Music But Recently He Was Caught Dancing to His Heart's Content.

Before I Appeared As Counsel for George M. Pavia in the Couri Litigation, Mr. Pavia Was Represented by Jay Itkowitz, Esq.

During four years of litigation including three weeks of trial, James C. Couri's Wife Was Represented by the late Jon Paul Robbins, Esq.

October 26, 2009 - Honorable Leslie S. Lowenstein Recommends a $4,500 Sanction be Imposed Upon Couri for Contumacious Behavior.

As a service to the public, this blog shines a bright light on Couri.