With a court filing last month, all three men from a criminal case that shook Binghamton three years ago have initiated legal proceedings in federal district court against the public officials and lawyers who charged and prosecuted them.

The legal developments in the investigation, colloquially termed the “Colonial Case” for one of the restaurants partially owned by the men that has since closed, saw three individuals initially charged with an array of crimes: Yaron Kweller, his brother Leor, and Jordan Rindgen.

The three civil lawsuits have been brought independently in federal district court against the city of Binghamton; Broome County; Michael Korchak, the district attorney who oversaw the prosecutions; two assistant district attorneys and one of the office’s investigators; the police chief, Joseph Zikuski and several of his officers; and the two women who originally accused both Kwellers and Rindgen.

“We expect the cases to be consolidated and all done at the same time,” said Oscar Michelen, an attorney representing both Kwellers.

“We filed Leor and his wife’s claim to vindicate his wrongful treatment and the damages that he and his family suffered as a result of these events,” he added.

Attorneys for the city, county and all other named defendants did not return requests for comment.

The lawsuits allege that the two women, Hailey Demkovich and Samantha Herceg, made false accusations, after which the city and county, through its “employees, officers and agents,” deliberately violated plaintiffs’ civil rights by arresting him without probable cause and prosecuting him.

“The result of these events — and all of the acts and omissions set forth herein — was the arrest and prosecution of an innocent man without probable cause, the destruction of his previously stellar reputation; the ruination of his dream job and career; and irreparable harm to his personal and family life,” wrote attorneys for Leor Kweller and his wife, Zoe Liberman, in the complaint filed on March 18.

Leor Kweller’s complaint follows two federal lawsuits filed by Yaron Kweller and Rindgen in October 2024. The two were acquitted at trial in 2023 after a Broome County jury deliberated for nearly two hours.

Charges against Leor Kweller were thrown out by Broome County Court Judge Carol Cocchiola in May 2023.

The filing’s statement of facts alleges the Binghamton Police Department’s initial investigation yielded “Many Reasons to Doubt their Veracity and Reliability,” referring to Herceg and Demkovich. When the district attorney’s office joined the case, it then did not adequately train Alyssa Congdon, one of the assistant district attorneys, in discovery obligations, prosecutorial responsibilities and the use of digital tools, the attorneys say.

“Defendant Congdon did not understand her legal obligations as a prosecutor; she did not know what materials constituted Brady or Giglio,” the filing reads, referring to two Supreme Court cases that established prosecutors’ responsibility to disclose exculpatory and impeachment evidence to the defense.

A lack of oversight from supervisors, including a failure to obtain electronic communications from Herceg’s and Demkovich’s phones that were eventually revealed in July 2023 via judicial subpoena, stemmed from “a lack of training, supervision, and proper procedure within” the district attorney’s office and the police department, the filing continued.

This extended to all three plaintiffs’ arrests — which the complaint alleges were without probable cause but rather because of a “mistake of law and mistaken belief.”

The complaint then referenced Cocchiola’s decision in May 2023 to drop the charges against Leor Kweller, adding that the damages suffered persist. It alleges several violations of federal and state law, including false arrest, malicious prosecution and due process violations under the U.S. Constitution. The filing also claims that defendants violated parts of the New York State Constitution guaranteeing “due process of law and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.”

When Paul Battisti, Korchak’s successor as district attorney and previously a defense lawyer involved in the original case, was elected, a special prosecutor was appointed to oversee the appeal. The prosecutor, Weeden A. Wetmore, the district attorney of Chemung County, notified the appellate court in February 2024 of his intent to withdraw the appeal.

“Defendants did proceed with the prosecution and appeal out of malice; recklessness; willful blindness; and for ulterior motives including their own promotion, publicity, and appeasement of public pressure,” the complaint says.