NEWARK — Choking back tears, Solomon Dwek began with an apology.
"I have one person to blame and that is myself," the infamous federal informer said, hunched over a courtroom lectern in a loose-fitting prison-issue jumpsuit, his hands manacled tightly together as he faced sentencing for the $50 million bank fraud that launched the biggest undercover sting in New Jersey history.
"I was hungry to make money. To gain power. To gain respect," said Dwek, who has spent the last 16 months in jail after his bail was revoked last summer for lying to the FBI about a missing rental car.
But despite a rambling, hour-long address in U.S. District Court in Newark that was filled with expressions of sorrow, concerns about his family, and promises of repentance, Dwek was hit Thursday by Judge Jose Linares with a six-year prison term and ordered to make $22.8 million in restitution.
Dwek, who had been facing nine to 11 years under federal sentencing guidelines, was seeking far less in return for his cooperation in the long-running money laundering and political investigation that became known as Bid Rig III. The high profile criminal case, which stretched from Brooklyn to the Jersey Shore, ensnared politicians, rabbis and even a black market kidney broker, ultimately leading to 46 arrests.
During Thursday's sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors argued for a sentence of just three to four years, urging a significant reduction not only in recognition of Dwek’s assistance, but also to encourage others to cooperate. "This sentence will have significant ramifications for law enforcement," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McCarren told the judge, who said the scope and extent of Dwek’s cooperation was unprecedented.
Dwek, looking thin and gaunt in contrast to the heavyset figure he presented as a prosecution witness two years ago, also spoke of his family’s banishment from the Orthodox Jewish community resulting from his cooperation.
"I lost everything," he told the judge. "I have nothing, I own nothing. That’s my punishment and I deserve it."
He said his children have been kicked out of several schools because of their last name.
Linares acknowledged the role Dwek played in the investigation — bringing the FBI into networks of international money launderers that used religious charities to funnel millions in illicit funds, as well as sparking a multitude of political corruption cases that led to the arrests of three mayors, two state legislators and dozens of political operatives.
Yet he called the bank fraud concocted by Dwek "brazen," involving millions of dollars, with victims well beyond the banks involved; a scheme that was put into play to hide a huge real estate Ponzi scheme.
"It’s mind boggling the amount of crime he has committed," Linares said, sentencing him to 72 months in jail and forbidding him from any future involvement in the real estate business. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman expressed disappointment with the ruling. His office had requested a term of no more than four years.
Dwek’s attorney, Charles Uliano of West Long Branch, also was looking for leniency.
"Not what we were hoping to hear, but at least the judge gave from a departure and recognized his cooperation," he said.
Dwek faces a second sentencing date this morning in Monmouth County on additional charges involving fraudulent bank loans. But under the terms of his plea agreement with the state, he cannot serve more than four years in prison, to be served concurrently with the federal sentence.
Dwek, now 40, was first arrested on the bank fraud charges in 2006, after he deposited a worthless $25 million check on a closed account at a PNC Bank drive-through window in Eatontown, and then quickly wired out nearly all the money. The next day, he tried to do it again before the bank—only then realizing there were no funds to back the first check—stopped the transaction as the second deposit was being made. It was later revealed Dwek had been running a $400 million real estate Ponzi scheme before he ran out of investors and needed to quickly cover a short-term loan that had come due.
Facing 30 years in jail for the bank fraud, Dwek secretly entered into a plea deal after his arrest, agreeing to cooperate with the U.S. attorney in a bid to cut the amount of time he would serve.
That cooperation led to one of the most far-reaching and at times bizarre undercover sting operations ever seen. Wearing a hidden video surveillance camera, Dwek targeted politicians, candidates for office, religious leaders, and ultimately a man who arranged black market kidney transplants for fees of $150,000 or more.
The sting did not come to light until July 2009, when dozens were arrested in a case that made national headlines.
Of the 46 people ultimately arrested, 32 entered guilty pleas, four were convicted at trial, two were acquitted, one died, and charges were dropped against four. Two others are awaiting trial and one, who disappeared the day of the July 2009 arrests, remains a fugitive.
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