NYC judge releases 'Burberry Bandit' charged with robbing 5 banks despite rap sheet with 34 priors

A 35-year-old man with the moniker of the “Burberry Bandit” was released without bail this week by a New York City judge after being arrested for allegedly robbing five more banks in the last month, despite a history of dozens of prior heists.

35-year-old Cornell Neilly, known for wearing designer clothing during robberies in New York City and upstate banks, was taken into custody Monday. He is accused of using demand notes handed to tellers to steal cash in five robberies between August 16 and September 13.

Prosecutors asked Judge Jeffrey Gershuny for $50,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond, citing Neilly’s criminal record and ongoing parole for 34 prior bank robbery arrests. Gershuny, appointed in 2019 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, instead ordered supervised release.

“The fact that the bail… was declined by this judge is negligent on the judge’s part,” an NYPD officer told the New York Post anonymously. “It shows a real lack of care for public safety.”

“At what point does he keep getting out and gets desperate and brings a gun to a robbery instead of a note and kills somebody?” the officer added.

The Post reported that Gershuny had previously been demoted after an August incident in which he allegedly pulled out his own gun during a Brooklyn Criminal Court hearing in a weapons case, attempting to prove a point to a police officer on the stand. Following that incident, Gershuny’s pay was reduced, and he was reassigned to night court in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Another police source accused Gershuny of being “soft on crime,” saying, “Anytime the DA asks for a lot of bail this guy lets them go. He should be removed from the bench.”

A spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration declined to address the specific decision, telling the Post, “The court system does not comment on individual bail determinations. It is important to note, however, that the vast majority of bail decisions turn on the court’s discretionary weighing of a broad range of factors in order to make an individualized assessment of the defendant’s risk of flight to avoid prosecution.”