Activist wants probe of Dwek allegations of corruption in Long Branch

Solomon Dwek

Long Branch, NJ - A citizen-activist who strongly opposes Mayor Adam Schneider has asked the Monmouth County prosecutor to investigate allegations made by disgraced real estate developer Solomon Dwek that he gave a $10,000 payoff to the mayor and a former councilman more than a decade ago.‬‬‪‪​Diana Multare, who says she represents the group Long Branch Citizens For Good Government, wrote to prosecutor Luis A. Valentin last month with the request that he look into the allegations made by Dwek at a recent unrelated corruption trial.

Multare said she wants to clear the air in a community where she says rumors of misconduct abound. But Schneider questioned her motives, acknowledging they have tangled for many years, through many administrations.

“Democratic government is corrupted when important facts about our elected officials are kept hidden or secret,” Multare said. “We want this matter investigated, clarified and fully determined so that the nature of our government and its transactions can be made clear and transparent. If coastal redevelopment in Long Branch has been marred by bribery, corruption and conspiracy, the public has a right to know.”‬‬‪‪​“She is not interested in my reputation,” said Schneider, who strongly denies he accepted money from Dwek inappropriately. “She is only interested in doing what she can to damage it.”

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First Assistant Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr. declined to comment on Multare’s letter.

Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, also declined to comment. During the Long Branch city campaign this past spring, Carmichael noted that no one else had been charged subsequent to Dwek’s disclosures at trial.‬‬‪‪​Dwek was arrested in connection with a $50 million bank fraud case and since 2006 worked with federal authorities to either video- or audiotape elected officials as they accepted bribes.

On the stand, he has testified that he has committed around 1,000 felonies. He opted to help the prosecution in an effort to lobby for a lower prison sentence when his time for sentencing comes along.

Dwek made similar allegations against Long Branch officials in an earlier trial — although he did not name either Schneider or former Councilman Anthony Giordano in that proceeding. It was during that case that former Councilman Brian Unger — then running for mayor — sent out a campaign flier in the waning days of the hotly contested election, tying the mayor to Dwek-related corruption.‬‬‪‪​Schneider has since filed a defamation claim against Unger and several of Unger’s campaign operatives. He continues to deny that he did anything improper and said the civil trial is the proper venue in which he can clear his name.

He said Multare is doing the same thing Unger attempted.

“It is the same kind of smear tactics,” Schneider said, noting voters definitely weighed in on such practices when he was soundly re-elected — winning in every voting district in the city.

“I hold my head up high and I will continue to work hard as mayor, which is what I have done for the last 20 years,” the mayor said. “I made it very clear what I thought of what Solomon Dwek said. I don’t think I stuttered.”

Since Ridgefield Mayor Anthony R. Suarez was acquitted more than a month ago, the U.S Attorney’s Office announced it would not use Dwek as a witness in the ongoing trial of former state Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith. Unger’s defamation attorney Charles Uliano was granted permission by a state Superior Court judge to question Dwek as part of the defamation case, but federal officials have made Dwek unavailable, according to Schneider’s lawyer.

“I think it is fairly clear that if they believed what Mr. Dwek said to them, Mr. Suarez would have been convicted and Dwek still would be testifying,” Schneider said of the Suarez jury.

In the October trial of Suarez and a co-defendant Vincent Tabbachino, Dwek testified that he attended a political fundraiser for Schneider and Giordano at the Deal Country Club and was approached by Dwek associate Barry Kantrowitz, who said the two officials wanted $10,000 “to help them out,” according to the transcripts.

Dwek replied he had no problem providing the cash but wanted assurances that a project he had pending on “Ocean Avenue or Ocean Boulevard” would not encounter problems.‬‬‪‪​After being told his project would go forward, Dwek said, he gave the money to Kantrowitz, who gave it to the mayor. Dwek provided no other details about the project and city officials have searched their files and can find only one proposal that nearly fits the time period and location.

Schneider does not serve on the Planning Board, but in 2002, the board approved an application to build 11 town houses on Ocean Boulevard at Bath Avenue. The application required no variances, fully complied with zoning ordinances and had encountered no opposition from neighbors, according to the file and planning officials.‬‬‪‪​It was possibly a year later, when the FBI was in Monmouth Countyconducting corruption investigations, that Schneider called and said he wanted to return the cash, which he ultimately did. Dwek did not provide a specific date and suggested it may have been around 2000.‬‬‪‪​Multare said that since she wrote her letter, she has spoken with “the individual at the Prosecutor’s Office who will be investigating the Dwek allegations to see if there is sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges. Frankly, LBCGG is most interested in exposing the exclusive network of real estate developers (local and regional) who determine where and how things get done in Long Branch — with Adam Schneider either as initiator or expediter.”‬‬‪‪​“She will never name her source,” Schneider said of Multare’s statement that the prosecutor is going forward. “She’s been doing this for years at City Council meetings. It is interesting that she is always talking about transparency, but don’t ever shine a light (on Multare’s group) because they don’t tell the truth. I don’t believe for a second the prosecutor told her anything.”