January 17, 2025
Tali Farhadian, the IranianAmerican lawyer who became President Biden’s last nominee for a federal judgeship, will not become a federal judge as the US Senate failed to take any action on her nomination before it adjourned in December. The nomination died with adjournment.
When the Senate returned in January, it had a Republican majority and President Trump is expected to name a conservative Republican for the judgeship. But Farhadian will be appearing in court. Her husband of 14 years, Boaz Weinstein, a hedge fund titan, has filed for divorce and, from the looks of the prominent divorce lawyers lined up on the two sides, the divorce does not appear to a friendly parting. Sparks seem likely to fly.
Weinstein, now 51, and Farhadian, now 49, got married in November 2010 with a lavish ceremony at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. They now have three daughters. In the Senate, Democrats rushed in December to approve as many judges as they could before Trump took office.
But the nomination of Farhadian and one other Biden pick never made it to the floor and died. Biden made the last two nominations after the presidential election when he knew his nominees would face a time problem. As for the divorce, filings on the New York Supreme Court docket show the terms are contested. “If this had been a done deal, there would have been a settlement agreement.
Clearly, there is a fly in the ointment,” said New York family lawyer Chaim Steinberger, who is not representing either party. Dozens of exhibits have been filed with the court on Farhadian’s behalf. All of the filings have been sealed under court order, the New York Post reported.
So, it isn’t likely to be a routine divorce. Her lawyers include the woman who handled divorces for actors Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas. His lawyers include the man whose clients included Melinda Gates and Donald Trump’s first two wives. It isn’t known what will become of their Fifth Avenue penthouse, which they bought for $25.5 million in 2012.
Farhadian ran for Manhattan district attorney in 2021 but came in second in a crowded primary to Alvin Bragg, who is now best known for winning a conviction of Donald Trump for hiding the fact that he paid a woman to hush up the affair he had with her.
Farhadian earlier clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the US Supreme Court, and for Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was a federal judge. Farhadian also served as a prosecutor in both the federal and New York State judicial systems.
She was born in Tehran and came to the United States with her parents in 1979 at age four. She attended Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.
