Note: in the podcast, I interview Dave Weigel about these events.
I’ve been covering the contrived criminal case playing out in Connecticut against Paul Boyne, but there’s another suspect criminal case unfolding in Connecticut as well.
On February 2, 2026, Dave Weigel, accompanied by approximately forty court watchers, faced off with Zoali Alvarez, her attorney Frank Lieto, and Judge John F. Kavanewsky, Jr., in a hearing with no fairness or due process.
Mr. Lieto did not respond to an email for comment.
Amy Duncan was one of the court watchers, and she spoke with me about the day’s events.
“Everything about the hearing was not handled correctly.” Amy said. “It started when we were in the Uber on the way to the hearing, Dave got a phone call from the person who was supposed to be handling the hearing, and he suddenly couldn’t make it.”
Dave remembered getting an email from his lawyer, not a phone call, but the attorney canceled last minute.
Amy said that Mrs. Alvarez testified to a contrived version of a confrontation from January 15, 2026.
This incident was months in the making, Dave Weigel told me.
He said in October 2025, her daughter’s good friend, the Alvarez’s son, came out to his parents as gay.
The disclosure did not go well, and the son asked to stay with the Weigel’s.
January 15, 2026
On January 15, 2026, Mrs. Alvarez appeared at Dave’s New Canaan, Connecticut home not to talk about that but about both their children illegally buying alcohol while underage.
Dave told me in the interview that later he found out the kids were buying alcohol illegally, however, when Mrs. Alvarez confronted him, he knew nothing.
He said he tried to get her to leave, mockingly threw money at her, but she still got inside.
Mrs. Alvarez claimed on February 2 that Dave Weigel assaulted her that day.
Dave called police but not before Carlos Alvarez, Zoali’s husband, called police first.
New Canaan Police came and took statements, but no arrests were made that day.
The cop on the scene was Carlos Prada, who Weigel said he’s familiar with.
Prado did not respond to an email for comment.
Weigel had previously been detained by him on a bogus restraining order violation charge by his ex-wife.
Weigel runs a successful asset management company, and he had no trouble with the law until he got divorced.
Since then, he’s had a few peculiar run ins, even spending time in Rikers.
Prado, Dave told me, seems to appear whenever the law is being weaponized against him.
Back at the February 2, hearing
At the February 2 hearing, Amy told me that Mrs. Alvarez told a story which made no sense.
She said that she approached Dave’s home because her husband, who was with her, would be “too threatening.”
Mrs. Alvarez claimed that Dave was so enraged to learn his daughter was involved in an illegal alcohol buying scheme he flew off the handle and assaulted her.
Her husband did not come to her aid or video the incident but did call police, shortly before Dave did.
The story had so many holes that after the judge got done questioning her, Lieto also questioned her.
Only Mrs. Alvarez was not in the witness stand when her attorney asked questions but sitting next to him.
Amy believed his was making notes, coaching his client, to clean up the testimony.
In the middle of the hearing, Lieto excused himself to go to another court matter.
Amy said that she checked the docket and found no other cases involving him that day.
She did spot him speaking with the judge, ex-parte.
After that, the judge advised Dave that because he had pending criminal charges he should not speak.
Dave ignored the advice but was only allowed to make a short statement.
He wasn’t allowed to cross-examine Mrs. Alvarez.
After a recess, the judge came into the courtroom claiming he’d seen some sort of evidence and granted a one year restraining order.
Amy said there was no record of this evidence with the clerk’s office, Dave wasn’t provided it, so he couldn’t examine it and challenge it during the hearing.
(Clip of the February 2 hearing, find the full hearing here.)
Finally, besides spinning a yarn about January 15, Amy said Mrs. Alvarez mad up another whopper about her first meeting with Dave Weigel.
She claimed the first time she met him was in the summer 2025, when he came to their home uninvited and swam in their pool with their four-year-old daughter.
Dave said he was invited; he spent an hour talking with Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez, and he couldn’t come to their home uninvited since the live in a gated property.
The Alvarez’s own a very successful home building business.
Other peculiarities
Dave said that while he wasn’t arrested on January 15, his arrest was put into the system more than two weeks later.
Furthermore, Dave said he was purportedly served with court paperwork when he was out of town shortly after the incident.
Rich Luthmann, who has also covered the case, wrote that the peculiarities arise from the political nature of the case.
Now look at the sequence. Influential New Canaan luxury home builders Carlos and Zoali Alvarez file. The ex parte order moves fast. The marshal stamp appears. The courtroom narrows cross-examination. The docket shifts. An “arrest” exists on paper without cuffs. New Canaan Police Chief John DiFederico oversees these unexplained irregularities, while at the same time, he owes his ascent to the same party machine. Weigel’s camp says the Alvarezes “bought protection.” There is no document that proves a payoff. Not yet. But when political family networks, courthouse insiders, and law enforcement align against a single critic, people will ask the question out loud: Is this justice — or is this the modern-day Connecticut version of La Cosa Nostra in suits and robes? That is not a conviction. That is a challenge. And it is one that Connecticut’s political class now owns. This piece is “Weigel Confronts Connecticut Lawfare Machine,” first available at TheFamilyCourtCircus.com.
CLARIFICATION: Mario Testo is connected to Testo’s Pizzeria in Fairfield, Connecticut, and is in no way connected to Testo’s Restaurant in Monroe, Connecticut, where the locals say the food is excellent and the people are even better! We hear the Fairfield joint serves “Chicken alla John Gotti,” a salty bird face-down in shallow gravy.
