A New York Rabbi was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday for helping a Monmouth County rabbi launder hundreds of thousands of dollars, wrapping up one more case in a massive New Jersey sting that implicated a raft of religious leaders, mayors and state legislators in 2009.
Yeshaye Ehrental, 67, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty last year to funneling up to $400,000 to Eliahu Ben Haim, a rabbi in Wall. According to court documents, from 2007 to 2009 Ehrental and an accomplice in Israel supplied Ben Haim with fresh cash for his laundering needs, charging him a 1.5 percent fee.
The operation was brought to light by an FBI informant, Solomon Dwek, who implicated more than 40 others across the state.
Ben Haim, after laundering $1.5 million for Dwek through religious charities he controlled, pleaded guilty to separate charges last year and is set to be sentenced Nov. 14.
The federal judge handling Ehrental’s case imposed the longest sentence possible, said Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. Ehrental will also have to forefeit $57,225, Judge Joel A. Pisano ruled.
Ehrental’s attorney did not return calls seeking comment.
real sad he is a good guy
ReplyDelete18 months? That's it? If this guy had an Italian last name instead of a Jewish one he would have been put away for 5 years.
ReplyDeleteProbably because Jews are smart and can read?!?!?
ReplyDeleteThe federal judge handling Ehrental’s case imposed the longest sentence possible, said Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.