By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A Manhattan judge was acquitted Thursday of violating campaign finance law when she allegedly accepted $250,000 from a former colleague and then reported it as her own money on disclosure statements.
Surrogate’s Court Judge Nora Anderson, 57, was charged with skirting campaign finance rules in 2008 by allegedly taking a quarter-million-dollar gift from her former colleague and friend, Seth Rubenstein, and reporting on disclosure statements that she had personally contributed the money to her campaign.
Anderson was elected to the bench in December 2008 but suspended pending the outcome of the case.
Anderson and Rubenstein, 82, were each found not guilty on two counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a class E felony.
Anderson appeared ecstatic at the decision, crying and embracing her attorney as the jury read the verdict.
"Justice triumphed," said her attorney, Gustave Newman.
Anderson did not comment as she left the courthouse.
"We are satisfied by the verdict," added Frederick Hafetz, Rubenstein's attorney.
