FR was unable to confirm whether Catherine Youssef Kassenoff passed away last weekend in Switzerland. She and Greenberg Traurig’s lawyer, Allan Kassenoff, have been engaged in a four-year divorce and custody dispute. She is a former federal prosecutor and lawyer. Three daughters are theirs. Despite delaying her job to focus on being the child’s primary caretaker, Catherine was deprived of custody three years ago by the Westchester County, New York, family court.
After receiving cancer diagnoses in 2008 and 2017, Catherine recently received her third. On May 27, Catherine wrote on Facebook that she had arrived in Switzerland for a scheduled visit at a euthanasia institution. “This is a story that ended with my own euthanasia in Switzerland,” she stated.
“The courts have put themselves into this horror,” she said, “by giving me custody, my personal property, the home I own and live in, my dog, my health, and taking away my career and dignity—this is the last time.” Four years, which means that my ex-husband Ellen Kasenov had to spend about $4 million to ruin me, can be passed on by the forensic scientist, therapist, child’s lawyer, and Ellen Kasenov’s attorneys who were assigned by the court. After Allen allegedly assaulted Catherine at her house in February 2016, Catherine was treated in a nearby hospital. Despite Ellen declaring a “open marriage,” the couple kept living together.
In 2016, Allen “synced” Catherine’s iPhone to his PC while discreetly backing up her Apple ID and password. He spent years sneaking access to Catherine’s emails and texts, which prompted him to start the divorce process in 2019. Allen read the letters that Catherine’s family, friends, and other people had sent. He even received her lawyer Cynthia Monaco’s texts and emails.
Extreme trigger warning: this. Catherine Youssef Kassenoff, a victim survivor, committed suicide yesterday after years of abuse and coercive control following a breakup. Her closing words, which focus on moms’ real-life experiences and their interactions with the family court system, are as follows.
“A survivor/lawyer committed suicide yesterday in Switzerland, passing away with honor. It took me all day to find the perfect words after receiving your letter this morning, which woke me up. Unluckily, no. Sadly, I have taken on autoimmune disease and cancer as a member of a survival community since she was recently diagnosed with cancer. There is too much pressure to combat crime with the aid of the family court industrial complex. Catherine finds this to be too much. How can you find bravery when you’re continually feeling defeated and hopeless in your fight against cancer? She honestly felt like there was nothing left to live for or fight for after reading her email from today and seeing her post on Facebook. Her plight and that of everyone who follows in her footsteps crushes my heart. How many mothers have committed suicide throughout the years is beyond my count. – Tina S “A Mom’s Battle” by Tina Swithin.
I write my final piece with a great deal of grief that I pray none of you will feel. I’m going to kill myself right now. In a regal and picturesque location in Europe, I shall do so. Simply put, there is no other option.
