Shawano lawyer suspended for smearing judges

Green Bay Press-Gazette/March 24, 2015

By Paul Srubas

A lawyer and corporate manager for a controversial religious sect based near Shawano has been barred from practicing law in Wisconsin for a year, in part for publicly smearing federal court officers as "a bunch of ignoramus, bigoted Catholic beasts that carry the sword of the church."

Naomi Isaacson was a lawyer and CEO of the Dr. R.C. Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology. The religious sect known as "SIST," based in Wescott, made news in 2008 for having allegedly compiled a list of 60 Shawano area residents that were "potential victims of an implied threat," according to Shawano police.

The institute, which also has been identified as The Disciples of the Lord Jesus, has operated since the 1970s in the Shawano area, where it owned motels, gas stations and a go-cart track. The FBI in 2009 investigated the "implied threat" list, but no charges were brought.

Isaacson had her law license suspended this week for conduct that "displayed an utter disregard and disrespect for the integrity of the courts and their judges in a brazen and outrageous fashion," according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Office of Lawyer Regulation.

In some of the court actions in which she was involved, Isaacson called Shawano a "Neo-Nazi territory" and accused former Mayor Lorna Marquardt of having undue influence on the local and federal court systems, court records say. Marquardt was reportedly one of the 60 people on the 2008 "implied threat" list.

Isaacson made the comments during bankruptcy actions that SIST affiliates were involved in after its go-cart track defaulted on loans, court records say.

Isaacson was a managing officer in several of the affiliates, including U.S. Acquisitions & Oil and a number of limited liability corporations that operated under the name Midwest Oil.

During court proceedings, she referred to judges, variously, as a "black-robed bigot," a "Jesuit judge," and a "Catholic Knight Witch Hunter." She derided bankruptcy trustees, variously, as a "dirty Catholic inquisitor," a "Jesuitess," and a "priest's boy," court records say.

Isaacson's license had been suspended since May 2011 for noncooperation with the Office of Lawyer Regulation's investigation, nonpayment of her state bar dues and a variety of other offenses. The latest one-year suspension is based on a March 2014 complaint the Office of Lawyer Regulation filed against her for violating rules of professional conduct in Wisconsin and Minnesota over the past few years.

The behavior was not in her capacity as a lawyer but for her behavior during litigation proceedings while she was in her role as officer for SIST's subsidiary businesses.

During legal proceedings, Isaacson prepared and signed legal documents, making statements that "had no apparent purpose other than to harass judicial officers, public officials, opposing counsel, and others based on race, creed and religion," the court ruling says.

As part of her suspension, Isaacson also was ordered to pay $6,635, the cost of the disciplinary proceeding.

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