Posted in: Comics, Ike Perlmutter, Marvel Comics | Tagged: isaac perlmutter, laura perlmutter

Ike Perlmutter Expands His Justice League, Donating Another $2,500,000

Ike Perlmutter and Laura Perlmutter expand their "Justice League" by donating up to another $2,500,000 against unjust sentencing decisions

In 2022, Bleeding Cool reported "Marvel's Ike Perlmutter Donates $15 Million To Create A Justice League" and then a month later "Ike Perlmutter's Justice League Frees Its First Prisoner". It's the only Bleeding Cool report that The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation have shared on their homepage. Well, maybe we can get another?

The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, founded by former Marvel chair Ike Perlmutter and his wife, Laura Perlmutter, after their encounters with the legal system courtesy of fellow Palm Beach resort resident Harold Peerenboom, has now expanded their support for The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law of Yeshiva University. That means adding another half a million to the $15.5 million already donated. In addition, for every half million raised by the PCLJ, the Foundation will match funding up to half a million every year over the next four years, which could mean another $2 million on top, totalling $18 million. And they already have a large chunk of that.

In 2024, they got one of the bigger law firms in the USA, Milbank, to pledge $1 million to establish the Milbank Exoneration and Resentencing Review Unit at the Perlmutter Center and a four-year partnership with PCLJ to combat inequities in the criminal justice system and focus on wrongful convictions, excessive sentences and clemency appeals. And they are adding another $1.5 million between now and 2029 as a charitable donation. In 2025, Milbank lawyers dedicated over 7,500 hours to nearly a dozen Perlmutter cases.

The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law states that it trains students and lawyers in the proper use of scientific evidence, focusing on the misuse of  "junk science" in contributing to wrongful convictions. It seems to have been inspired by the legal case between the Perlmutters and Pereenboom, after the Perlmutters were targeted with supposed DNA evidence linking them to a hate mail campaign and were the subject of a defamation action that, after being challenged by them, was dismissed by the court. The Perlmutters would go on to win their case. The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice also seeks justice for those individuals it believes were incarcerated with excessive sentences through parole work and clemency requests.

"My dear friends Ike and Laurie Perlmutter embody our University's core mission to be a blessing to the world," said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University. "Their founding and expansion of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo represents a profound commitment to the fight for justice and human dignity which is the hallmark of our law school."

"We are immensely proud of the Perlmutter Center's work and the impact it has achieved in such a short period of time. The team's dedication to its unjustly incarcerated clients, its advocacy against the misuse of forensic evidence, and its efforts to advance meaningful improvements in the criminal legal system both inspire and transform the educational experience of our students," said Melanie Leslie '91, Dean of Cardozo School of Law. "We are deeply grateful to the Perlmutters for their continued generosity, support, and enduring commitment to the law school."

"Milbank has long been committed to standing up for those who have been wrongfully convicted or unjustly over‑sentenced, and expanding our partnership with the Perlmutter Center is an important step in that mission," said Milbank Chairman Scott A. Edelman. "This deeper collaboration will allow us to reach more individuals in need, reinforce critical post‑conviction work, and help drive meaningful change."

In its first year, it helped free Bruce Bryant, a then-53-year-old man who had spent the past thirty years in prison. Last year, they helped secure clemency for LaShawn Fitch of New Jersey, 15 years into a sentence for murder under an archaic law, saw the release of Ernest Taylor, sentenced to 22 years for minor theft, and overturned convictions for the Ohio 4. They continue to work on numerous cases, educating practising attorneys about the use of forensic evidence, helping wrongfully incarcerated individuals gain release from prison, winning clemency appeals and working to reduce sentences for individuals given what they see as overly harsh prison terms. It has provided Cardozo University students with hands-on experience and exposure through The Freedom Clinic at the Perlmutter Center, teaching students how to approach wrongful convictions based on the misuse of scientific evidence and providing the opportunity for students to work on real cases, overseen by PCLJ's attorneys.

"The Perlmutter Center is dedicated to taking on the cases of those individuals who have often been passed over, and even forgotten, by our criminal justice system and are in need of a second chance," said Executive Director and civil rights attorney Josh Dubin, who oversees the PCLJ. "It's due to the Perlmutter family that we are able to provide the essential legal support and guidance that these individuals would otherwise not have access to." . Deputy Director is Derrick Hamilton, a criminal justice reform advocate and formerly incarcerated individual who served more than 20 years in prison, where he studied law and represented himself successfully, having his sentence vacated. Together, Dubin and Hamilton have expanded the Perlmutter Centre since its establishment, and have recently employed Benjamin Burger and Karena Rahall as Senior Staff Attorneys.

Ike Perlmutter is the former CEO and Chair of Marvel Comics, after founding the toy company Toy Biz, later bought by Marvel. He brought Marvel out of bankruptcy and sold it to Disney for four billion, gaining one billion, and later selling all his shares in Marvel and Disney for a further four billion. Through political donations and support, the man was more responsible than anyone else for putting Donald Trump in the White House back in 2016. Laura Perlmutter was on the 2016 Inauguration Committee, Ike joined the administration, appointed to Veterans Affairs, and both dined at the top table at Mar-A-Lago with Trump on Thanksgiving, donated to the White House ballroom, and were prominent in the 2024 inauguration as well, sitting next to Elon Musk. They are also the world's largest donors towards trans surgery and trans procedure research, with Ike Perlmutter, when at Disney, offering to pay for any Disney employee who wishes to undergo transition surgery.

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