The smirking son of a millionaire advertising tycoon appeared in court on charges of arson and criminal mischief for allegedly setting fire to an Israeli flag during a pro-Palestine protest.
James Carlson, a father-of-two, was arrested at Columbia University on April 30 after police disbanded a two-week campus encampment.
The 40-year-old is accused of burning another person’s Israeli flag during a protest on the campus on April 20.
Carlson is not a student, staff, or faculty member at Columbia. He is facing separate charges of trespassing in the third degree regarding that specific incident.
He has also been charged over damages made to police property inside a holding cell after he was arrested on April 30 following another protest.
Police allege he kicked and broke a glass panel in the holding cell.
Carlson was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday following District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr’s announcement that he would be indicted.
He was all smiles in the court room, and brought a poster which read ‘US Jews say ceasefire in Gaza now’ to display before his case was heard.
District Attorney Bragg said: ‘This defendant’s alleged activity went beyond legal and peaceful protest.
‘Committing arson in a crowded protest endangers the safety of others, and this type of behavior will not be tolerated.’
Prosecutors allege an unnamed protester snatched an Israeli flag from the hands of a Jewish man at the Columbia University protest on April 20.
Before the alleged victim could take the flag back, Carlson took it from the other protester and ‘began burning it with a lighter.’
He was ‘thwarted from fully lighting the flag on fire when the witness pulled it away,’ the District Attorney said in a press release.
Carlson, who also goes by Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was described as a ‘long-time figure in the anarchist world’ by officials at the time of his arrest.
He is the son of Richard Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow, a millionaire advertising duo who started Carlson & Partners together and were known for their cosmetic and fashion clients including Revlon, Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren and Neutrogena.
Richard died at the age of 81 in May 2022 while Sandy died in 2003 at the age of 53.
Carlson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brooklyn Law School and later became an animal rights lawyer who clerked at the US District Court in 2013.
He also had a short stint as an undercover investigator on factory farms and slaughterhouses recording animal abuse, according to the publication.
The 40-year-old is reportedly married to model Kim Heyrman and lives in a $3.4 million Brooklyn brownstone townhouse in New York. The couple share two children.
Carlson was one of about 40 protesters arrested on the first floor of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, after police swooped in to end the pro-Palestine encampment which had gripped campus for almost two weeks.
Pictures and video taken of the aftermath show the hall’s trashed interior strewn with activists’ belongings.
Columbia’s President, Minouche Shafik, called in the NYPD in to ‘restore order and safety’ to the campus amid the escalating protests, which also included a massive encampment on the school’s lawns.
Bragg’s office said: ‘We will continue to work closely with the NYPD and local colleges and universities to ensure the safety of students, staff and community members during any protest or demonstration.’