‘Abusive’ husband sent terrifying email to NY mom-of-three claiming he ‘will never stop’ as he spent $3million to win ugly custody battle weeks before she revealed plans to die by suicide in Switzerland
- Catherine Kassenoff, 54, of Westchester, took to Facebook on May 27 to pen a heartbreaking note where she announced she was would be ‘ending my own life’
- Two months earlier, her husband Allan Kassenoff sent an email accusing her of financially decimating him and focusing all her rage on destroying him
- READ MORE: Mother-of-three and former special counsel to NY governor, 54, pens heartbreaking Facebook post revealing plan to die by assisted suicide
The husband accused of abuse by the New York mother-of-three, who is believed to have killed herself by assisted suicide in Switzerland, wrote her an email just two months earlier vowing he would ‘never stop’ as he spent $3million to win custody of their children.
In the email, lawyer Allan Kassenoff sent to his ex-wife Catherine Kassenoff on March 19, he wrote that she ‘must be really proud of financially decimating me and the children’ and accused her of focusing her rage on destroying him instead of getting help.
Two months later, on May 27, Catherine took to Facebook to pen a heartbreaking note where she announced she would be ‘ending my own life.’
The former special counsel to the governor of New York had recently been diagnosed with her third round of cancer and this time it was terminal.
In addition to the vicious disease, she allegedly was being abused by Allan who she captured on video throwing tantrums, calling her a ‘fat, old loser,’ and who allegedly threatened to release a video of her in her underwear on YouTube.
Allan Kassenoff sent an email to Catherine Kassenoff accusing her of focusing her rage on destroying him just weeks before the mother-of-three is believed to have killed herself by assisted suicide in Switzerland
In the email he sent on March 19, he listed the ruinous sum of money he said she had forced him to spend out of love for his children and said ‘ you must be really proud of financially decimating me and the children’
In Catherine’s Facebook farewell on May 27, she released thousands of court documents, alongside the videos, in a down defunct Dropbox link, that paint a terrifying picture of Allan
Allan, who works for law firm Greenberg Traurig, is currently under an investigation by the company and has taken a ‘voluntary leave of absence to focus on his family,’ despite multiple judge rulings he had not done anything wrong.
However, in Catherine’s Facebook farewell on May 27, she released thousands of court documents, alongside the videos, in a down defunct Dropbox link, that paint a different picture.
One of the links obtained by DailyMail.com included the email from Allan that began with a list of the ruinous sum of money he said she had forced him to spend out of love for his children.
‘You must really be proud of yourself for financially decimating me and the children,’ he wrote. ‘But make no mistake, no one is fooled Catherine; everyone knows that your goal is to destroy me and you don’t care what that means to the children.’
The court had designated Allan as the primary parent and Catherine accused of him doing everything possible to keep her away from their three daughters – aged nine, 12, and 13 – including several attempts at having her arrested.
‘You have done all of this in hopes that I would give up and stop trying to protect the children from you. I won’t. Even if this court awards you my last dollar, I will never stop protecting them. Until the day I die,’ he wrote.
After posting the note on Facebook, she dropped thousands of court documents and videos, including several showing her husband screaming at her and telling her he ‘hates’ her
FULL EMAIL FROM ALLAN TO CATHERINE ON MARCH 19, 2023
Catherine
You must really be proud of yourself for financially decimating me and the children. But make no mistake, no one is fooled Catherine; everyone knows that your goal is to destroy me and you don’t care what that means to the children.
You have sued me (and Gus) three times; you have tried to get me disbarred; you have tried to get me fired; you have reported me (repeatedly) to the police and District Attorney’s office; you have ridiculed and attacked me and embarrassed the kids on Facebook. And you know what? I’m still here and I’m still standing.
You have done all of this in hopes that I would give up and stop trying to protect the children from you. I won’t. Even if this court awards you my last dollar, I will never stop protecting them. Until the day I die.
If I lose my house, so be it. If I go bankrupt, so be it. I will do everything and anything to take care of the kids and protect them. You know why?
Because I love my children more than you could ever love anybody.
All you know is hate and vengeance. I feel sorry for you, and while at times I might become angry and frustrated, at the end of the day I pity you because your behavior has ruined your life and your relationship with the kids.
Instead of focusing on getting help, you have focused your rage on destroying me. For that, I’m sad for you because you will never get a chance to have these years back. Even if you succeed and take every last dollar I have, I will still have my children’s love and I will move forward in life knowing that I gave everything I had to protect them.
Allan
Allan has spent well over $3 million on their custody case to keep their children away from her, Catherine claimed, noting ]he paid his attorney at least $2 million.
According to court records, Allan forked over at least $500,000 more for ‘neutral’ experts cost Allan at least $500,000 more, and paid Catherine $885,000 in court-ordered payments during the pendency of the case.
In Allan’s email, he wrote: ‘Instead of focusing on getting help, you have focused your rage on destroying me. For that, I’m sad for you because you will never get a chance to have these years back.
Even if you succeed and take every last dollar I have, I will still have my children’s love and I will move forward in life knowing that I gave everything I had to protect them.’
The Westchester custody battle has dragged on since 2019.
In 2022, Catherine was fired from her job as special counsel to the governor of New York after she was arrested for violating a protective order that Allan and his attorney, Constantine ‘Gus’ Dimipoulus, had allegedly mislead the Larchmont police existed when it did not.
In Catherine’s May 27 Facebook post, she wrote about her third cancer diagnosis and said she was not strong enough to go through ‘debilitating chemo, surgeries, and radiation again.’
She also said she kept her health secrets under wraps because her husband would have ‘tried that much harder to end my existence.’
‘It is with profound heartbreak, that I hope none of your ever experience, that I am writing my last post ever. Today, I will be ending my own life,’ she wrote in a now-deleted post. ‘I will be doing so in a dignified and idyllic setting in Europe. There are simply no other options left.’
‘In the last four years of my life, I have woken up every day to a nightmare like no other. I can no longer endure the abuse and terror of Allan Kassenoff… I have also endured the emotional devastation of being without my children for so long…’
DailyMail.com is working to confirm if Kassenoff did follow-through with her planned suicide. Ms. magazine journalist Amy Polacko – who knew Kassenoff personally – penned a tribute to the mom suggesting she had indeed ended her life.
‘Perhaps if I had the physical endurance to keep going, I would. But with a new terminal health issue that will soon be limited my physical strength as well, and with no protection from the courts, I cannot keep running from Allan,’ the late mother, whose death certificate will take up to six weeks to process, wrote.
Included in the post was the dropbox link, Allan was seen in one of the videos standing at the foot of the bed telling his then-wife: ‘I hate you, Catherine, I hate you. I regret every moment of my life that I met you.’
Other videos show Allan allegedly screaming behind doors, yelling at his children to ‘shut up,’ and dramatically leaving their home and refusing to take care of his little ones.
One heartbreaking video that Kassenoff shared showed one of her daughters crying that she doesn’t ‘want to go with that crazy guy.’
She claimed in her Facebook post that Allan had made a false 911 call, claiming she was ‘capable of ‘killing’ him or my own children.’
He reportedly filmed her being questioned by police, who ultimately did not arrest her after they determined ‘realized he was lying,’ she claimed.
‘This is how I’ve been living for years,’ the former special counsel to Kathy Hochul wrote. ‘Like a hunted animal, worried about when Allan will make the next false report. He sees all of this as a game and the court does not stop him…’
She had been arrested in January 2022 for reportedly violating a protective order by approaching her daughter. In result, she was let go from the governor’s office. The charges were later dismissed.
She claimed the courts took away her children, her home, her dogs, and her life savings.
She claimed her husband and the courts had blocked her from seeing her children and having been diagnosed with cancer for the third time, she allegedly took her own life in Switzerland
Catherine Kassenoff, 54, of Westchester, took to Facebook on May 27 to pen a heartbreaking note where she announced she was would be ‘ending my own life.’ ‘It is with profound heartbreak, that I hope none of your ever experience, that I am writing my last post ever. Today, I will be ending my own life,’ she wrote in a now-deleted post. ‘I will be doing so in a dignified and idyllic setting in Europe. There are simply no other options left’
‘In the last four years of my life, I have woken up every day to a nightmare like no other. I can no longer endure the abuse and terror of Allan Kassenoff… I have also endured the emotional devastation of being without my children for so long…’
‘Their father has spent years and millions of dollars — over $3million — to eliminate me from our girls’ lives … He will never relent … As long as I am alive and want to see them, they will be damaged over and over again with every attempt I make. What is the point of that? The last thing I want to do is make my own children suffer,’ she said.
However, Allan’s lawyer, Gus Dimopoulous, told the New York Post: ‘At every stage of this four-year custody dispute, the court system has acted responsibly and thoroughly.
Following a neutral forensic evaluator’s assessment, the court ordered an immediate order granting their father sole legal and physical custody.
The court also issued an urgent order of protection against Ms. Kassenoff eliminating unsupervised interactions with the children based on what they observed when they were with their mother.
‘While it is always difficult limiting a parent’s access to their children, given the circumstances of this case, it was found to be in the best interest of the children to take these steps urgently. The children have been in our client’s care for three and a half years and they are safe and healthy.’
Kassenof also accused her ex-husband and his team of telling her children to hate her, telling Ms. magazine: ‘My children have been diagnosed with various serious mental health conditions as a result of this trauma. They have been told to hate me, to call me ‘Catherine’ instead of ‘mom.”
In an email, filed in the New York court system, shows one of her daughters emailing her: ‘Momma, I hung up on Doctor Alder because she is annoying and she said you were dangerous. I hate her and I don’t want Shira to replace you and I miss you and love you so much.’
A vigil was held for Kassenoff on Monday at the Stanz Cafe in Larchmont, New York, where friends, advocates, and mothers gathered to honor her.
If you or someone you love is experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions, call the National Suicide Hotline at 988.
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