TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains information about suicide, which may be triggering to some.
A sickening story of cruelty and domestic violence is making the rounds on social media, and it is truly shocking. Catherine Kassenoff recorded videos of her husband, Allan Kassenoff, berating her and her children on several occasions while she suffered through terminal breast cancer. The couple's relationship was reportedly tenuous for years, and Allan allegedly psychologically tortured his wife until her death by suicide earlier this week.
The couple were both attorneys in New York, but Catherine quit her job to raise the couple's daughters. During this time, she reportedly had cancer three times, and the last diagnosis was said to be terminal. Their marriage fell apart, and Catherine accused Allan of verbal abuse and of using their children as pawns in their divorce.
In a final social media post on May 28, Catherine laid out a story that has caught the attention of thousands. Her abuse claims broke the hearts of many who now want justice for a mother who felt there was no way out but through death.
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A viral TikTok paints Allan as a monster.
A compilation of videos filmed by Catherine was posted on TikTok by @therobbieharvey on Thursday. He begins with an intro and what he calls an "extreme trigger warning." Our first glimpse of Allan is him yelling at Catherine through a car door and telling her, "I hate you, and I'll be filing for divorce as soon as I possibly can." But that is just the beginning.
The video continues for nearly five minutes. In some shots, Catherine filmed from bed, as she was ill with cancer and couldn't get up. She begs Allan to be kind to her and their daughters, but he acts more like a monster than a loving father and husband. You can hear the girls crying in the video, and he screams that he will not apologize to their daughter and tells her in a vicious yell to "shut up."
The video is difficult to watch.
Harvey explains that Catherine was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, but says, "That doesn't stop Allan." We next hear Catherine telling Allan she needs to go to a doctor's appointment, and he tells her he doesn't care and is leaving. She explains that he needs to take care of his kids, which he claims he is done with, and then calls his dying wife a "fat old loser that I hate." We then see Allan arguing with his three daughters, but there is no audio. It is terrifying to think of what he might have said to these kids.
It truly makes you want to jump through the screen and destroy this man the way he is destroying his family.
Allan didn't stop with screaming at his family. He reportedly continued with psychological torture.
In her final social media post on Facebook, Catherine wrote, "It is with a profound heartbreak, that I hope none of you ever experience, that I am writing my last post ever. Today, I will be ending my own life. I will be doing so in a dignified and idyllic setting in Europe. There are simply no other options left."
She then shared much of the backstory of her tumultuous marriage to Allan. She explained that Allan tried for four years to have her arrested on what she said were false charges and to strip her rights to see their children. It seems perfectly ironic that he would want to do that because he acts like he wants nothing to do with them in his video. She claimed that Allan spent millions of dollars to take the girls from her and to leave her with nowhere to live.
"I have also endured the emotional devastation of being without my children for so long, homeless from Allan's repeated ex parte evictions of me from the homes I own and rented, deprivation of my property and obliteration of my life savings, the loss of my two dogs, the loss of my career and reputation, and the concomitant humiliation and ostracism from all this," she wrote.
Allan reportedly wanted to punish Catherine by having her in jail.
Allan allegedly had Catherine arrested in January 2022, and she said the court eventually dropped the charges, but she claimed that it happened again just a few months ago.
"As recently as March 18, 2023, Allan again tried to have me arrested. On that day, while I was watching our 9 year old daughter skate, he got off the ice and came at me. I told him to 'get away from me' four times. He wouldn't. He taunted me instead. He then reported me to police, claiming falsely that he had a 'restraining order' when he didn't and when I had every right to see my daughter skate. I captured his confrontation of me on video, which I am posting in Dropbox, along with the 911 call and the police report in which he falsely told police I was capable of 'killing' him or my own children," she wrote.
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Catherine posted multiple court documents validating her claims.
Before her death, the mother of three included a Dropbox file on her Facebook post and urged people to share it far and wide so Allan could be exposed for who she said he truly is. The link has been clicked and downloaded so many times it is temporarily disabled.
"By trying to cast me in these negative ways, he thinks he can clear his name. He cannot: the videos, audios and other materials will follow him forever. You will find police testimony about his abuse, medical records of his abuse, affidavits about his abuse, and more in the link. Shame on Greenberg Traurig, who knew all of this, and did nothing to stand up for the rights of domestic abuse survivors like me and my daughters," she wrote.
She ends her post with a warning to others.
"Please stand up against abusers like this who enjoy tormenting others. For the sake of my children and other mothers who live through this terror of domestic abuse, I ask that you please keep telling my story so that the truth is known far and wide," the post reads.
It has been shared 2,700 times and has 1,500 comments from shocked followers who don't understand how Allan could treat his dying wife and children as he did.
"This is terrible," a supporter commented. "A cruel reminder that the world is too often wicked. If God is real, I hope he takes vengeance for Catherine. As a society, we have failed her. I am sorry this happened to you. Rest in peace, Catherine."
"This is absolutely heartbreaking," another person commented. "Reading this in Ireland. I pray for your daughters and hope they are removed from him and placed in the care of someone who loves them and that will help them remember you for the mother that you were, a mother that loved them more than life. Rest in peace."
"Catherine you were a stranger, but my heart breaks for your pain and the pain your children continue to endure," wrote someone else. "The internet is forever and they will read this one day. May you rest in peace, finally. His live in has to keep her eyes open, they always move to someone else."
According to its website, Allan Kassehoff is employed by the GreenbergTraurig law firm in New York as an intellectual property and technology attorney. He has seemingly disappeared from social media in the wake of his launch to superstardom as one of the most hated men in America.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter domesticshelters.org.
