===================== Mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus, Several Rabbis Arrested (Update5) By David Voreacos July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, New Jersey, and several rabbis are among 44 people charged today as part of a public corruption and money- laundering investigation by U.S. authorities. Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, 32, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, 64, Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, 42, all Democrats, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega Jr., 59, and State Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, 44, a Republican from Ocean Township, and Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, a Jersey City Democrat, were charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They will appear in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, today. The corruption probe, based in Hudson County, netted many public officials accused of pledging assistance for bribes. The money laundering suspects were accused of moving “at least tens of millions of dollars through charitable, non-profit entities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey,” according to a release by acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra. “In both parts of this investigation, respected figures in position of public and private trust engaged in conduct behind closed doors that belied the faces of honesty, integrity and rectitude they displayed daily to their respective constituencies,” Marra said in the statement. The roundup of suspects is one of the largest ever in New Jersey, where more than 100 public officials have been convicted of corruption in the past few years. Prosecutors worked with an undercover witness who had been charged with bank fraud in May 2006, prosecutors said. Investigators obtained hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings, according to prosecutors. Youngest Mayor Cammarano, Hoboken’s youngest mayor, was sworn in July 1. Former state Assemblyman Louis Manzo, 54, a Democrat from Jersey City, Leona Beldini, a deputy mayor of Jersey City, and several rabbis were among charged. The rabbis included Saul Kassin, 87, chief rabbi of Sharee Zion, a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York; Eliahu Ben Haim, 58, the principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, New Jersey; Edmond Nahum, 56, of Deal Synagogue in Deal; Mordchai Fish, 56, of Congregation Sheves Achim in Brooklyn; and Lavel Schwartz, 57, Fish’s brother. They were charged with money laundering. Kassin is accused of laundering more than $200,000 through the cooperating witness from June 2007 through December 2008 by accepting “dirty checks” from the cooperator and exchanging them for “clean” checks, according to prosecutors. Fish, Schwartz and two other defendants used a charitable, tax-exempt organization called BCG, which was associated with Fish’s synagogue, to launder money, according to the FBI. Human Organs Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, 58, of Brooklyn was accused of conspiring with others to acquire and trade human organs for use in transplantation. Rosenbaum, who was “purportedly” involved in real estate, was approached by a cooperating witness and an undercover FBI agent about buying a human kidney from a human organ broker, according to the complaint. Rosenbaum said it would cost $150,000, with half payable up front, according to the complaint. Rosenbaum said some of the money would go to the donor and some to doctors in Israel, according to the complaint. “One of the reasons it’s so expensive is because you have to shmear (meaning pay various individuals for their assistance) all the time,” according to the complaint. “It’s illegal to buy. It’s illegal to sell.” Undercover Witness Prosecutors charged the men in a series of criminal complaints detailing the allegations. Ben Haim was accused of laundering $1.5 million through the undercover witness, who said he “was engaged in illegal businesses and schemes including bank fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods and concealing assets and monies in connection with bankruptcy proceedings,” according to an FBI criminal complaint. The cooperating witness is Solomon Dwek, a real estate developer in Monmouth County, New Jersey, who was charged May 11, 2006, with scheming to defraud PNC Bank out of $50 million, according to a person familiar with the matter and court records. Prosecutors alleged that Dwek deposited two $25 million checks from another account of his, which had a zero balance. Dwek then wired $22.8 million out of PNC, falsely assuring bank officials that he would forward funds to cover the overdraft, according to prosecutors. Dwek posted a $10 million bond, secured by $3 million in equity in the homes of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Dwek was never indicted, instead receiving 17 extensions from a judge to continue the period in which his case had to be presented to a federal grand jury. Agents today brought the suspects to FBI headquarters in Newark for processing before their appearance later today in federal court a mile away. A press conference is scheduled for this afternoon. To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, atdvoreacos@bloomberg.net. =============================== NEWARK, N.J. — The mayors of two New Jersey cities and a current and former state legislator were among more than two dozen people arrested Thursday in a sweeping corruption investigation. Among about 30 people arrested Thursday were Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, former Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt. Van Pelt is accused of accepting $10,000 from a cooperating government witness posing as a developer who sought help in getting permits for a project in Ocean County. Smith, a former state Assemblyman and Jersey City mayoral candidate who served four years as the city's council president, and several other current and former Jersey City public officials also are accused of accepting money to help the fake developer gain permits and approvals. In separate money laundering complaints, several individuals from Brooklyn and New Jersey were charged with offenses ranging from the trafficking of kidneys from Israeli donors to laundering proceeds from selling fake Gucci and Prada bags. It was not immediately clear how the money laundering arrests were connected to the corruption arrests. Mike Winnick of the Elberon section of Long Branch was praying inside the Deal Synagogue when it was raided by FBI, IRS and Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office agents. "Everyone was looking at each other, like, `What's going on here?' " he said. Winnick said four FBI agents escorted a rabbi from the synagogue into his office and blocked the doorway. Winnick said he left shortly afterward. Nearby, FBI and IRS agents removed several boxes from the Deal Yeshiva, a school that educates the children of Sephardic Jews. More than two dozen people were brought to the FBI's Newark field office Thursday morning. One agent slowly walked an elderly rabbi into the building as another covered his face with a felt hat. ================================ WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Several rabbis reportedly were arrested as part of a public corruption and international money-laundering investigation in New Jersey. According to media reports, among the 30 arrests made Thursday morning by the FBI were the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, the deputy mayor of Jersey City and a New Jersey state assemblyman. The Asbury Park Press reported that the rabbis arrested were religious leaders from Syrian Jewish neighborhoods in Deal and Elberon, as well as Brooklyn, N.Y. The newspaper said the investigation involved the Deal Yeshiva, a Sephardic institution that has a boys' division in Ocean Township and a girls' school in West Long Branch. According to The Star-Ledger, the arrests are the result of a two-year probe by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service that began with an investigation of money transfers by members of the Syrian enclaves in Deal and Brooklyn, two tight-knit and wealthy communities. The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and the IRS removed at least three boxes from the Deal Yeshiva as students were arriving at school, The Star-Ledger reported, as well as several boxes from the Ohel Yaacob synagogue in the same town. Law enforcement authorities are expected to announce more information about the arrests at a news conference Thursday afternoon. This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now. by Staff Report The New Jersey Star-Ledger is reporting that “key religious leaders,” including rabbis associated with the Syrian Jewish community in Deal, NJ, as well as prominent local officials, have been netted in a sweeping series of FBI raids targeting what the paper said is an international money laundering conspiracy. Although it did not list the rabbis involved, the Star-Ledger published pictures of documents being removed from the Deal Yeshiva. Authorities also searched the Ohel Yaacob synagogue and removed several boxes, according to the paper. Deal is a New Jersey shore getaway for members of the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community. Among the thirty people taken into custody after a two-year FBI and IRS probe were a state assemblyman and the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, according to early reports.FBI: NJ assemblyman took $10K bribe
Religious leaders, public officials among those arrested in federal probe
Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, R-Ocean, took $10,000 in bribes to help move a development along in Waretown, according to the FBI.Van Pelt was arrested Thursday morning in a wide-sweeping corruption probe by the FBI. About 30 other officials and religious leaders from New Jersey and New York were also arrested.
Van Pelt, the former mayor of Waretown, is accused of taking a $10,000 bribe from a cooperating witness who posed as a developer. The money was for Van Pelt's "assistance" in getting a proposed multi-unit, multi-use development approved in Waretown, according to the FBI complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
The money exchanged hands Feb. 21, 2009, at an Atlantic City restaurant, the FBI stated.
At the end of the first meeting on Feb. 11 in Waretown, Van Pelt and the confidential witness discussed joining the “team” and the possibility of Van accepting $10,000 “to start,” according to the complaint. There would be more money from the witness if the real estate development projects proceeded successfully, the FBI said.
Disgraced real-estate mogul Solomon Dwek is apparently a key witness in the FBI corruption cases today, which have led to the arrest of about 30
In court documents, the FBI referred to a "cooperating witness" who was arrested in May 2006 on bank fraud charges. Dwek was charged with bank fraud that month when he tried to cash a bogus $25 million check.
The FBI on Thursday morning made the arrests this morning as part as an international money laundering probe, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Others arrested include religious leaders from Brooklyn, Deal and the Elberon section of Long Branch, sources said.
Van Pelt, 44, was elected to the state Assembly in November 2007 and started serving in January 2008. He is also the administrator of Lumberton Township in Burlington County. He also was mayor of Ocean Township (Waretown) from 1998 until last year. He resigned from the Ocean Township Committee in February.
The subjects of the arrests also include religious leaders from the Syrian Jewish enclaves in Brooklyn, Deal and Elberon. Sources said the IRS and FBI this morning seized documents from the Deal Yeshiva and the Ohel Yaacob synagogue on Ocean Avenue in Deal.
The Deal Yeshiva is a religious school which teaches children in the Sephardic Jewish tradition, The Yeshiva has two separate divisions: a boys' school on Logan Road in Ocean Township and a girls' school on Wall Street in West Long Branch.
The school was founded more than 20 years ago by Rabbi Isaac Dwek and Raizel Dwek, the parents of Solomon Dwek, of Ocean Township. Rabbi Dwek was the school's president, and Raizel was its treasurer, until 2006, when their son's real estate empire began to crumble after Dwek deposited a bad $25.2 million check at a drive-through window at the PNC Bank in Eatontown.
Also arrested were Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano III, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, all registered Democrats.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has fought corruption in New Jersey's largest city, says it's "an unbelievable morning so far."
The probe also involves international trafficking in body parts, sources said.
Many of the suspects were brought into an FBI building in Newark earlier this morning. Three more men were brought in shortly after 9 a.m. A group of 10 people - 9 men and 1 woman - were brought out shortly before 9:30 a.m. and taken away in a blue bus. Another 10 men and 1 woman were taken away in the bus shortly after 10 a.m.
A press conference is expected to be held around noon, and those arrested are expected to appear in federal court in Newark this afternoon. Cars are backed up four deep with suspects outside the FBI's Newark office.N.J. rabbis arrested in corruption probe
BREAKING: Rabbis, Mayors Arrested in FBI Corruption Probe
Thursday, 23 July 2009
NJ mayors, lawmaker arrested in corruption case
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