Innocence Project Annual Gala Honors Comedian John Mulaney and his wife, writer Anna Marie Tendler; Goldman Sachs Executive Vice President Alan Cohen; and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Lava Records President and Innocence Project Founding Board Member 




Jason Flom Served as Benefit Chairman

Contact:  Paul Cates, 

pcates@innocenceproject.org

(New York – May 13, 2015)  Last night, the Innocence Project honored comedian John Mulaney and his wife, writer Anna Marie Tendler Mulaney;  Goldman Sachs Executive Vice President Alan Cohen;  and the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP at its annual gala benefit.  Lava Records President and long time Innocence Project supporter and founding board member Jason Flom served as the benefit chairman for the event, which took place at the Grand Hyatt New York.  Two dozen men and women who were exonerated for crimes which they didn’t commit attended, including four who were exonerated by the Innocence Project over the past year. 

“I was extremely honored to serve as this year’s benefit chair,” said Flom.  “It was humbling and inspiring to me to see so many of our exonorees in one room together. Each of these men has shown unbelievable courage, perseverance and grace in their fights for freedom and in rebuilding their lives outside the prison walls.”   

The honorees were recognized for their generous contributions to the work of the Innocence Project:

• John Mulaney and Anna Marie Tendler Mulaney have used their celebrity to raise money and bring awareness to the Innocence Project’s work and organized a benefit that included performances by several of their comedian friends.  
• Alan Cohen, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Compliance for Goldman Sachs is a generous long time supporter and serves on the Innocence Project’s lawyers committee, which provides critical support to our work.
• 
  Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP has provided hundreds of hours of pro bono legal support over many years on a range of important issues. 
  
   
  

“The Innocence Project is blessed with many amazing supporters, but we are especially grateful for this year’s honorees, all of whom have graciously donated to our cause and have made our organization better and stronger through their hard work,” said Maddy deLone, Executive Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law. 

Proceeds from the Innocence Project’s annual gala supports the organization’s work to exonerate people who have been wrongly convicted and reform the system to prevent future injustice.  The organization has been involved in 176 of the 329 DNA exonerations nationwide.  Its policy reform efforts have resulted in the passage of more than 100 laws across the nation that provide greater access to DNA testing, ensure that those who have been wrongly convicted are adequately compensated and prevent people from being wrongly convicted due to eyewitness misidentifications and false confessions.

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