Is Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s family in the arms business?

An article published in the L.A. Weekly this week attempts to link the family of prominent Orthodox rabbi Shmuley Boteach with a fraudulent arms dealership in Miami Beach. But a closer read of the story raises questions about the legitimacy of its claims and hints at a possible smear campaign aimed at one of the country’s most important Jewish voices.

The L.A. Weekly alleges that Boteach’s father, Yoav Botach, a wealthy real estate owner and Boteach’s brother, Bar-Kochba Botach, a law-enforcement supplier, are really high-level arms merchants who may be in cahoots with a felonious outfit in Miami Beach. Through a confusing web of allegations, the Weekly connects Bar-Kochba’s L.A.-based law enforcement supply company, Botach Tactical, with the now defunct arms dealership AEY Inc. of Miami Beach run by Yoav Botach’s grandson, Efraim Diveroli, who was convicted of conspiracy in 2008.

Diveroli was 21 when he was convicted of defrauding the U.S. government for peddling decomposing ammunition as part of a $300 million contract to arm the Afghan government. In order to duck a U.S. embargo on arms from the Chinese military, Diveroli hired a third party to repackage millions of unusable bullets he had purchased—cheaply—from China. According to the L.A. Weekly, Diveroli is currently awaiting sentencing in a U.S. District Court in Miami.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who was the subject of a Jewish Journal profile last June (and which included a column about Shabbat dinner at his brother, Bar-Kochba’s house) responded to the allegations:

“While this is not about me, I will of course defend my father and brother, two highly respected and philanthropic businessmen, against a silly and factually absurd story that was, according to both LA Weekly and the Jewish Journal, sourced by the party who sued my father for palimony and had the large amount of money sought rejected in court.”

Indeed, the allegations connecting Botach’s business with Diveroli’s fraudulent one hinges on some dubious evidence, as well as the single-sourced testimony provided by Yoav Botach’s estranged ex-wife, Judith Boteach (the family name is Botach though several family members, including Shmuley, have changed the spelling for practical reasons). According to Judith Boteach, a 2004 federal contract granted to Botach Tactical uses Diveroli’s now defunct AEY address in Miami Beach. Another connection cited in the article reflects information found on the Web site Fedvendor.com, a portal for companies interested in government contracts, that lists Botach Tactical’s mailing address at the same Miami Beach location.

Beyond a link between addresses, the story elucidates only one other connection between Botach and Diveroli: Apparently, Diveroli spent his teenage summers interning for his uncle Bar-Kochba, and, according to an expose of Diveroli in Details Magazine, “It was there, equipping police departments, that Diveroli learned how to bid on government contracts.”

Oddly, the story also implicates Congressman Henry Waxman for his alleged “silence” on the issue, when, according to Weekly author Penn Bullock, Waxman promised to conduct an investigation into the munitions fraud and any connection to the Botach family.

Bullock writes that Waxman’s 2008 inquiry “aimed to answer a fundamental question: How did Botach’s inexperienced 21-year-old grandson Efraim Diveroli ‘get a sensitive, $300 million contract to supply ammunition to Afghan forces?’”

Congressman Waxman issued a statement explaining: “When I was Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee we began an investigation into the procurement process at the Department of Defense that allowed AEY to receive a $300 million contract to supply ammunition to Afghan forces. In June 2008 we held a hearing on the issue in the hope that we could learn what went wrong so that we could rebuild our procurement system and protect the interests of taxpayers.”

Waxman did not allude to the outcome of that investigation, except to say that shortly thereafter he was elected Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while the investigation remained with the House Oversight Committee.

But the real heart of this story is a common refrain: the damage that ensues in the aftermath of a breakup. In this case, Judith Boteach is accusing her ex of financial malfeasance and alleges that Yoav Botach wired money to Israel to avoid paying her.

She also claims he was influential with L.A. city and state officials. “There were special lunches, dinners and fund-raisers,” she told the L.A. Weekly. Those special events apparently included Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s “Turn Friday Night into Family Night” initiative which was launched last year in Beverly Hills, and the paper reported that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti were in attendance. (For the record, Garcetti was a student of Rabbi Shmuley’s at Oxford, where Boteach ran a prominent speakers bureau as part of his work for Chabad, but Garcetti said he was not at the event that night. Rabbi Boteach added: Eric Garcetti, one of the most honest, sincere, and devoted figures in American political life was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford where I served as Rabbi for 11 years and where we became close. He has kindly joined many other international figures to help me create a global family dinner night.”)

For what it’s worth, Judith Boteach and Yoav Botach were never legally married—though Boteach claims she was unaware of this. In August 2009, according to L.A. Weekly, Boteach was awarded $250,000 plus legal costs in an L.A. Superior Court for “claims of assault, battery, emotional distress and unpaid work” but her palimony suit was rejected.

“Relationship breakups are always painful but disparaging one another in the press, while perhaps affording immediate comfort, is, in the long run, never conducive to healing,” Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said in a statement. “My father has been a successful real estate investor for 40 years and the suggestion he is an arms dealer is pure defamation and libel. My brother’s business sells law-enforcement, military, and public safety supplies to the police, army, and those who keep our country safe. He is a cherished friend of US law enforcement.”

Questions remain as to whether the allegations are true or if they are part of a broader smear campaign waged by an angry ex-partner and her audacious lawyer, Robert W. Hirsh.

Boteach would rather see this story buried, where he thinks it belongs: “How unfortunate that journalists simply reprint untruths without even checking the facts.”

Sexual abuse: the Orthodox Jewish community's devastating secret

Two days after his wedding, Mordechai Borger, 24, an Orthodox Jew, left his bride sleeping in their Brooklyn hotel room, went out onto the seventh floor balcony and leapt to his death.

The New York Post reported that this deeply pious young man was tormented by memories of being molested as a teenager at a yeshiva (an all-male religious college) and had killed himself after confessing to his new wife (who, incidentally, had been introduced by a “matchmaker”) that the mental scars made a physical relationship with her deeply problematic.

It ended a year in which a trickle of disturbing cases of sexual abuse among Orthodox Jews in the US, England and Israel began to filter into the public domain. But the heat really turned up on the simmering scandal last week, when the Israeli Rabbi Mordechai “Motti” Elon was accused of abuse. The police are now investigating.

Far from being the rabbi of an obscure Hasidic sect, the charismatic Elon is a high-profile leader, educator and media personality, representing the more mainstream religious Zionists and former head of the renown HaKotel (Western Wall) Yeshiva. He comes from a family of high achievers in law, politics and academia that has drawn comparisons with the Kennedy clan.

Like the Roman Catholics in Ireland and the USA before them, Orthodox Jewish parents cannot help but start to question the absolute trust they place in their untouchable religious leaders and teachers.

The blogsphere is alive with claims that at many yeshivas – cut off from the outside world and where celibacy among the unwed is demanded – sexual predators are exploiting their power over impressionable boys and young men. To date, it appears that abusers have had a free run, thanks to the impenetrable conspiracy of silence.

Within the Orthodox Jewish world the power to crush the unpalatable truth is reinforced by the strongly held belief that the close-knit community is undermined dangerously by “lashon hara“ (evil tongue).


Victims are trapped by shame and the knowledge that to speak out that they, and their families, would become pariahs – marriage, study and work opportunities would be ruined – with the implicit threat that to go to the authorities could result in someone being condemned as a “moser” (a traitor).

As with the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the mechanism to preserve a wholesome public image has meant abusers and paedophiles have been protected, excused and shuffled from community to community.

But for the victims some measures are finally being developed that may ease their terrible torment and offer them justice. Indeed, Rabbi Elon’s alleged crimes were exposed by Takana, a religious Zionist forum working against sexual misconduct by rabbis and teachers. Its role is allow the victims to report their abuse within the comfort zone of the community itself and not have to face the consequences alone.

In Brooklyn, New York, home of the largest Orthodox Jewish community outside Israel, a recently founded team of prosecutors, counsellors and religious leaders is working to combat sexual abuse, and there are 25 cases currently being investigated by the District Attorney – up from virtually zero.

But few believe this is anything but the tip of an iceberg which will move heaven and earth to avoid being cracked, and for Mordechai Borger it remains too little, too late.

Marc Schneier, rabbi to the stars, caught kissing another woman in Israel; 4th wife wants separation

A rabbi to the stars was busted by his jilted wife for smooching a sexy gal pal on an Israeli getaway, according to blockbuster court papers obtained by the Daily News.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, the founder of the star-studded Hampton Synagogue, was slapped with shocking photographic proof of the affair by his fourth wife as they met for a drink at the Four Seasons.

Tobi Rubinstein-Schneier - whose complaint claims her husband impregnated his lover - this week petitioned a Manhattan court for a legal separation from the high-profile rabbi, who pals around with Russell Simmons and makes the scene in the Hamptons.

"My client did not know things were not good in this marriage until late in the day," said Susan Bender, a lawyer for the rabbi's wife of nearly four years. "This behavior by an Orthodox rabbi is an embarrassment to Orthodox Jews."

A private eye for Rubinstein-Schneier snapped several pictures of the randy rabbi getting up close and personal in Israel with Gitty Leiner, a stunning speech pathologist and a congregant at the Hampton Synagogue.

"The differences Rabbi Schneier has with his wife are private and they should not be a matter of public discussion or public debate," said Don Schuck, a lawyer for the rabbi. "It's been his desire from the start to resolve this amicably."

But in sealed court papers obtained by The News, Rubinstein-Schneier doesn't hold back from slinging mud at her estranged husband.

She claims in a 20-page complaint that he continued living in the couple's upper East Side home from February to April, even as he carried on with another woman.

On Valentine's Day, court papers say, Schneier showed up with a bouquet of roses for his wife and pledged his love to her before departing for a San Francisco tryst with Leiner.

He's also accused in the court papers of putting Leiner up last summer in housing across the street from the Hampton Synagogue. And in July, the suit says, the scorned wife found out her husband had gotten Leiner pregnant.

And Schneier allegedly pitched a fit at an 80th birthday celebration for his dad, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, at Manhattan's Park East Synagogue.

"During the luncheon, defendant became enraged because his father 'is an egomaniac, and I am the great one,'" according to the complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Schneier founded his Hamptons house of worship - which is billed on its Web site as "New York's Most Celebrated Synagogue" - in 1990.

He also founded the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a racial-harmony group whose board of directors is chaired by hip-hop mogul Simmons.

Earlier this year, Newsweek named Schneier one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America.

The complaint seeks to have Schneier maintain his wife's preseparation standard of living, pay for her health care and insurance and cover costs on homes in Manhattan and Westhampton Beach.

FBI Arrests Police Commissioner, Slumlord, Rabbi

Federal agents charged 15 people—some of them prominent local figures—with undertaking massive mortgage fraud and moved to take control of 51 blighted New Haven properties Thursday, as the government’s response to the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis took a new legal turn.

The feds’ charges were laid out in eye-popping legal complaints filed in three separate alleged schemes to buy and inflate values on distressed properties, then stiff government and private lenders and pocket the cash.

The properties in question fall on some of the streets most battered by the current foreclosure crisis, like Starr Street in Newhallville and Fair Haven’s Lloyd Street.

Agents arrested 13 of the 15 alleged conspirators Thursday. Those accused of masterminding the various, apparently unconnected schemes include some local notables: Menachem Joseph Levitin, part of one of the city’s fastest-growing empires of slum rental properties; West Haven Police Commissioner Thomas Gallagher, an appraiser accused of inflating property values in these transactions; former New Haven State Rep. Morris Olmer, who allegedly arranged deals under the pretense of being a lawyer despite having turned in his legal license; and Rabbi David Avigdor, a New Haven attorney allegedly practicing with Olmer.

Gallagher, Olmer, and Avigdor each face up to 20 years in jail and $250,000 fines on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the government with Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages.

Gallagher’s and Olmer’s alleged fraudulent practices were publicly known as far back as July 2007, when Olmer had his license suspended and this Independent article was published.

Olmer insisted in a conversation Thursday afternoon that the feds invented the case against him—and that any problems should fall on the shoulders of the sellers, not the buyers, of property under law. He said he had a legal right to conduct “notary closings” without a law license, and he contested the feds’ context of conversations secretly recorded by a cooperating witness.

“Everything I did was perfectly proper,” Olmer said.

Avigdor, who presides over Congregation Bikur Cholim Sheveth in Westville, is recovering from a stroke suffered on May 7. He and Olmer turned themselves in to authorities. They were arraigned in U.S. District Court in New Haven Thursday and released on $250,000 non-surety bonds.

Thomas MacMillan Photo
“I will prove my innocence, because I would never, ever do” what the government accuses him of doing, said Avigdor (pictured at an unrelated aldermanic hearing last year) Thursday. He declined further comment.

So did Levitin, reached by phone Thursday. “You’ll have to talk to my lawyer, Willie Dow,” Levitin said.

Remarked Dow, “History shows that charges are easily made but not easily proven.”

Police Commissioner Gallagher has served as grand marshal of New Haven’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and won West Haven’s Irishman of the Year award, noted his attorney, Hugh Keefe. “Tom is highly reputed in this area. He’s very prominent in the Irish-American community,” Keefe said, adding that Gallagher has never previously been accused of criminal conduct.

The government complaints unsealed Thursday (read two of them here and here) offer a look at how alleged scammers profited from New Haven’s foreclosure crisis while leaving a trail of further blight behind them. But the information released so far by the government leaves open other questions about how the alleged scammers were able to obtain so much property, and whether distant lenders or their representatives were merely victims or also at least convenient unwitting contributors to, or beneficiaries, of the scams.

The New Haven sweeps occurred on the same day that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrests of 1,215 people nationwide since March on mortgage-fraud-related charges in an operation called “Operation Stolen Dreams.”

The Connecticut arrests, centered on transactions in New Haven and in New London, weren’t directly related to that national operation. A Connecticut Mortgage Fraud Task Force had already been investigating these cases since last July. The task force includes the state and regional offices of the U.S. Attorney General, FBI, federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Inspector General, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Directors of those agencies unveiled the latest arrests at a Thursday afternoon press conference in the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the 11th floor of the 157 Church St. office tower across from the New Haven Green.

Their investigation is ongoing, with “no end to what we’re going to find” in “many” other active cases, said Connecticut U.S. Attorney David B. Fein.

How One Scheme Allegedly Worked
Thursday’s announcements involved three separate, apparently unrelated schemes bringing together lawyers, real estate brokers, appraisers, and “straw buyers” enlisted to pretend to buy properties at inflated prices.

One alleged scheme was centered on the New London area. The other two, New Haven.

One of the New Haven schemes allegedly fueled the rise of a slumlording empire run by Menachem Levitin, who also goes by the name Yosef or Joseph Levitin, and operates and works with a host of limited liability corporations including Shemesh LLC, Solo Investments LLC, and Beit Aviv LLC.

The FBI arrested Levitin last month (as the Advocate’s Betsy Yagla reported) but waited until Thursday to release its complaint.

Levitin started showing up in poor and transitional neighborhoods throughout town a few years ago, buying properties in foreclosure or facing foreclosure.

Neighbors wondered how he found out about these properties and arranged their purchase with distant lenders, before the properties were listed or lenders (who had often purchased subprime or other bad loans from banks or brokers listed in public documents) identified. Meanwhile, Levitin’s management companies earned the ire of neighbors angry over rundown conditions dragging down their blocks. Click here to read a story about one such area, Batter Terrace, where neighborhoods organizer confronted Levitin on the street one day in 2008, and Levitin promised to do better.

According to the federal complaint released Thursday, Levitin and his partners got the money to buy 51 New Haven properties like Batter Terrace by running a scam on 40 different properties.

The group actually ran two alleged scams, according to the feds: “seller assistance scams” and “short sale scams.”

Here’s how the former allegedly worked: Levitin found owners eager to unload rundown properties. He allegedly acted as a middleman: agreeing on a sales price; finding a buyer; arranging for the appraisal. According to the complaint, he got an appraiser to prepare an appraisal document for $50,000 to $100,000 more than the value of the house. He allegedly had a sale document drawn up to reflect the higher, pretend price. The fraudulent documents were used to obtain mortgages at the inflated price. The alleged schemers allegedly pocketed the difference between the real sales price and the inflated price.

Meanwhile, the new owner wouldn’t pay the mortgage. The lender would foreclose; it wouldn’t be able to sell the house for the inflated value of the mortgage.

That problem—a house with a mortgage higher than its value—has plagued properties throughout New Haven neighborhoods, leaving them empty and deteriorating. That situation opened the door for another scam the Levitin crew allegedly undertook—the short sales: Levitin would allegedly step in and offer to take the property off the lender’s hands for less money than the mortgage was worth. The lender, wishing to cut its losses, would agree, unaware that Levitin had allegedly orchestrated the whole deal.

The schemers also allegedly used false leases with pretend tenants to obtain the inflated mortgages. Levitin is charged with rounding up the pretend tenants from “two paid-for database services that derive their information from credit reports.” Investigators reported that the supposed tenants never paid electric bills, despite leases saying they would, or ever lived at the addresses.

Much of the case is built around secret recordings and other information provided by an unidentified undercover “cooperating witness” who allegedly bought properties through Levitin.

The U.S. Attorney has moved to take control through foreclosure of the 51 other properties Levitin and co. allegedly bought with the proceeds of the 40 questioned sales properties like the one on Batter Terrace. Those properties have been the subject of repeated complaints from neighbors and tenants.

“You Don’t Need Them Investigating You”
The separate alleged scheme involving the police commissioner, the rabbi, and the unlicensed lawyer involved $10 million of loans on 35 New Haven properties. Officials estimated that lenders were cheated of $3 to $4 million of that money.

According to the criminal complaint released Thursday, the scheme worked like this:

The alleged mastermind, one Syed A. Babar, would pay “straw buyers” up to $20,000 to sign a contract to pretend to buy a house. The contract would put the price at far higher than the real price being paid. Babar would help a complicit broker prepare a mortgage application for the pretend buyer based on fake bank records, earning statements, and other documents claiming the straw buyer—who’d never seen the property—would in fact buy it and live there.

Gallagher, the West Haven appraiser and police commissioner with a longstanding prominent local practice, would allegedly prepare the fake, inflated appraisal to support the pretend sales price and the inflated mortgage. He allegedly received $8,000 cut on a typical such transaction, even though its stated fee is $375.

Olmer, allegedly pretending he was still licensed to practice law, would handle the closing. David Avigdor, an attorney sharing an office with Olmer in New Haven, is alleged to have signed the documents and distribute the proceeds of the sales to co-conspirators.

“This was done in a number of ways, including through the bank account of a sham construction company for fictitious renovations,” according to the criminal complaint. As with the Levitin case, the complaint attributes some information to an unidentified “cooperating witness” involved in the alleged transactions and secretly recording conversations.

In one such conversation, the witness allegedly asked Babar what the complicit broker thought a particular fraudulent document. Babar allegedly replied that the broker “just wants to ‘make money,’ and that he ‘don’t give a shit about FHA because it’s a government loan.”

In another purported taped conversation, the witness and Babar discuss a rare development: a bank noticed something funny about one of the documents: “Babar state[d] that the “bank got clever nowadays.’ Babar then wonder[ed] aloud, ‘How the f_ck did they [the bank] notice it?’ [The cooperating witness] later asked, ‘Do you think they’re going to verify stuff now, with like the bank statement and things like that?’ Babar replied, ‘no.’” Babar also told the witness to pretend to work in “human resources” for a fake company called “Global Home Painting” under a fake name to verify one participant’s alleged employment.

In other alleged taped conversation, former attorney Olmer, allegedly handling a closing, told the witness to avoid responding to questions from a lender about bank statements. “You don’t need them [the lender] investigating you guys as to what’s been happening,” he allegedly advised.

“Let me tell you something,” Olmer responded in an interview later Thursday. “Those conversations were after everything had been done, not during the time these things were going on.

“I’m pretty sure I know who he’s talking about. The guy was talking to me and asking me just as a friend, because I can’t give him legal advice what to do. They were after this one guy because they had caught up to him and he hadn’t paid anything on eight deals. I think I did one of the deals for him back in ‘07.”

Olmer further argued that it’s up to the seller, not the buyer, to properly disclose payments involved in a real estate transaction. “Most of the rules with respect to borrowing money had to do with protecting the borrower and the bank from terrible actions by the brokers to screw the borrowers,” he said.

He added that at a closing, it’s OK to break up the payments into separate checks, as long as the full price is genuinely paid, which he claimed did happen in these transactions.

“Look at it this way,” Olmer said. “If the seller is supposed to get $50,000, and the seller says at the time of the closing says, ‘Listen give me $45,000 and give $5,000 to my brother-in-law, that’s perfectly all right, as long as the seller gets the full amount he’s supposed to get.”

Olmer said he openly handled the closings as a notary public, not as a lawyer.

“There’s two ways to do a closing in Connecticut,” he said. “One, you can do a closing as a lawyer. Two, you can do a closing as a notary public. I run a business called Docs/Notary LLC. I can’t give out title insurance. But I can do what are called notary closings.”

The government complaint listed 10 transactions in which attorney Avigdor allegedly prepared documents claiming to have distributed between $43,625 and $89,228 to a fictitious company called Sheda Telle Construction LLC.

Olmer said he’s convinced the construction company is real and received the money.

“How the hell can you send money to a company if it’s not a legitimate company?” he asked. “I was positive it was a real construction company. The guys told me that. I knew Babar for years. I’ve done work for him before. He came to me a year or two ago. He said he had a new idea because business was so bad. He was going to do home repairs. Buy properties that were downtrodden, that were in bad condition, fix them up and sell them. That was his whole idea. That was the apparent purpose. That’s what he said.”

Paul Bass Photo
At Thursday’s press conference, U.S. Attorney Fein (pictured with Connecticut FBI chief Kimberly Mertz) described an example of an allegedly fraudulent sale in Fair Haven, at 211 Lloyd St. The straw buyer never even received the keys to the house she was allegedly buying and moving in to, Fein claimed. Rather, she received “$10,000 in a black plastic trash bag.”

At the press conference, Fein declined to elaborate beyond what was in the detailed documents his office released. He wouldn’t say, for instance, if the investigation would look at whether lenders were more than “victims” in these transactions. Nor would he say how it was that Levitin was able to find out about which often-remote lenders to make deals with, when even sophisticated would-be purchasers had no idea whom to contact, or even that a house was being sold.

He did make it clear that lots of more information would emerge as the investigation continues into the latest recurring wave of real estate speculation and alleged fraud in struggling city neighborhoods.

Rabbi 'offered cocaine for sex'

A wealthy rabbi financed a drug dealing business and offered cocaine to girls in exchange for sex, a court heard today.


Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 54, rented an apartment where he could "relax and have a party", Manchester Crown Court heard.

When police raided the apartment, and his home in an area of Salford heavily populated with Orthodox Jews, they discovered a total of 101 grams (3.6oz) of cocaine and more than £17,000 in cash.

Prosecutor Michael Goldwater also told the jury of five men and seven women that Chalomish's business partner, Nasir Abbas, 54, had failed to turn up for the trial and is sought by police.

The pair are both charged with possession of cocaine, and possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Chalomish faces two charges on both counts, and Abbas faces one charge on both counts, which he denies.

The rabbi, of Upper Park Road, Salford, admits two counts of possession of cocaine but denies intent to supply.


Mr Goldwater said police found both defendants at the one-bedroom apartment when they raided it at 9am on Monday 5 January.

Abbas was discovered sleeping on the floor of the sitting room, and Chalomish was using the toilet.

He said: "Our case is that Abbas and Chalomish were dealing in controlled drugs. They were running, we say, a commercial cocaine supply operation from an apartment-hotel in Shudehill, Manchester.

"Rabbi Chalomish also had a substantial store of drugs, cocaine, and cash at his home address."

Officers found forms which showed that the apartment was rented from the firm Premier Apartments in Abbas's name.

Mr Goldwater said officers discovered evidence of a "substantial drug supply operation".

Drug paraphernalia found in the bedroom included a glass tray with 3g (0.1oz) of cocaine on it and a silver spoon, a bowl containing more than 3g (0.1oz) of cocaine, rolled up notes for snorting the drug and credit cards used for chopping the drug into lines.

Mr Goldwater said the purity of the cocaine varied in strength from 29 per cent to 82 per cent.

Cutting agents to dilute the drug were also discovered, along with around £2,400 in cash, he said.

Similar paraphernalia, and quantities of cocaine, were also found at Chalomish's home, mainly in a rear bedroom, along with £15,345 in cash.




Mr Goldwater said the jury may find it "significant" that the purity of the cocaine was higher than average.

He suggested it could have been cut with legal substances to achieve the average purity level of 28 per cent for cocaine sold in the UK.

Mr Goldwater also told the jury that police seized a mobile phone containing a text message from Abbas to an unknown recipient.

He said: "That's a drug dealer's message and we say that was sent by Abbas from his phone to somebody who has not been identified and is essentially a statement of account with reference to grams and money and setting out who owed who what."

The jury heard that when interviewed by police Abbas said he knew the rabbi as "Shell" and rented the apartment on his behalf and received money from him for the rent.

Mr Goldwater said: "He said Shell wanted to relax and have a party at the flat.

"He said there had been a lot of people come through the flat in the last 10 days, most of them girls. He mentioned one particular girl, called Emma from Stockport, who stayed for seven days.

"She was the only one allowed to go into that bedroom apart from Shell."

Abbas told detectives his role was to keep the flat tidy and said that although Shell did not sell drugs, he did not mind if others wanted to consume them and that he liked to impress girls.

Mr Goldwater continued: "He said he had seen Shell putting white powder in a glass dish and mixing it with another substance, and anyone visiting was free to help themselves."

Abbas also claimed that he and Chalomish were planning to open a restaurant together, funded by the rabbi.

Mr Goldwater told the jury that Abbas had a previous conviction for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in March 1996.

The jury heard that the rabbi gave "no comment" interviews to police until his final interview, where he admitted he was a wealthy man who liked to assist less fortunate people.

Chalomish said he bought large quantities of cocaine for his own personal use and often used it when he could not sleep.

Mr Goldwater said: "The prosecution case is these two men were concerned in a commercial drug supply operation.

"We don't completely exclude the possibility that there might be some truth in what Abbas told the police, that some of the drugs were given to young women who came to the flat and that one or more of those young women may have provided sexual services.

"We do say that it was essentially a commercial operation. We say their roles were different. Nasir Abbas had the know-how, knew the drugs business, had the contacts, he would know where to obtain the drugs, how much to pay and how to find customers.

"Rabbi Chalomish would not have necessarily had the knowledge, we say Chalomish was the financier, he put up the money.

"We've been informed that Chalomish is a wealthy man, we've got no reason to doubt that. Nor do we have any reason to believe that his wealth was not achieved perfectly legitimately.

"How he got in the drugs business is unclear. He may have got into the drugs business as a drugs user but may have realised there were substantial profits to be made.

"A supply on this scale would need a source of capital for financing the purchase of the drugs and rental of the flat so dealing could go on off the street and not at his address."

The Story behind the Arrest of Rabbi David Greenfeld for Molesting

reported the arrest on December 23 of Rabbi David Y Greenfeld of 47th St. in Boro Park. He was booked in Kings County Criminal Court on charges of sexual abuse, forcible touching and harassment (charge sheet #2009KN101458). David Y Greenfeld (also known by his Jewish names as Dovid Leib or Dovid Yidie) is the son of Rabbi Baruch Chuna Greenfeld, Dayan (religious judge) and Gabay (personal secretary) of the 45th Street Bobov Rabbi, Mordechai Dovid Unger.

According to the Daily News, the victim is a 15-year-old Chassidic boy and “the pair met at their place of worship.” According to Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg the episode actually took place in May in the Tosher mikvah (ritual bath) in Boro Park. What follows is an account about the alleged assault and its aftermath as reported to me by Rabbi Rosenberg, a hasid from Williamsburg who is active in the fight against child molesting in the orthodox Jewish world.

The boy escaped his assailant in the mikvah, dressed hastily and decided to ensure his escape by taking the man’s clothing. Later on the wallet inside the pants gave them the name of the man in the mikvah. The boy shared his plight with his parents who were sympathetic but reluctant to report the episode because a trial would publicize the boy’s assault and hurt their standing in the community. Nevertheless they consulted with Rabbi Rosenberg privately shortly after the mikvah episode.

Rabbi Rosenberg and the victim visited the Mosholu Yeshiva in Boro Park where Greenfeld worked as a teacher. The victim identified Rabbi Greenfeld. A discussion ensued with the administration and Greenfeld was confronted. As reported in a previous post, Greenfeld then signed a letter agreeing not to work with children .

By November the boy’s family who are Belzer Chassidim were consulting with key figures in Belz. They were advised to initiate a formal complaint with the police.

The boy and Rabbi Rosenberg’s went to the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) for sex crimes in the middle of December. They brought along the seized clothing and the signed letter. A detective followed-up diligently and Greenfeld was arrested in less than 2 weeks. Rabbi Rosenberg was impressed with their sensitivity and professionalism.

Many sex abuse victim advocates report less satisfactory follow-up on complaints when they go to the local police precinct houses in the ultra orthodox neighborhoods or contact Kol Tzedek, a unit supposedly established to assist orthodox complainants. They claim that it works together with community influentials (askanim) and certain rabbis to discourage victim families from pressing charges.

In recent years several prominent rabbinic authorities have publicly stated that molestation is a life threatening act, and molesters are unlikely to stop with one act. Under the Jewish law (halachach) governing a rodef (a homicidal pursuer) one has an obligation to report the offender to the authorities. Nevertheless there are rabbis who discourage reporting. Rabbi Rosenberg alleges that some of these rabbis offer that advice in deference to wealthy individuals connected to the molesters who are major contributors.

David Greenfeld was released on bail of $500 the next evening and is now awaiting trial.

IF YOUR OR ANYONE YOU KNOW WAS A VICTIM OF DAVID GREENFELD CONTACT the NYPD Brooklyn Sex Crimes Unit (718-330-5600). Even if the episode happened long ago, or in another state or country, the information can assist the prosecution in this case. Reporting can also qualify victims for professional help in lessening the emotional harm of sex abuse. Please come forward, help yourself and help make the community safer for all children.

Rabbi gets jail time over pool incident

A Loudonville rabbi was sentenced Monday to 60 days in the Albany County jail for endangering the welfare of a child.

Rabbi Yaakov Weiss, 30, founder of the Chabad of Colonie and the Chabad Hebrew School, was handcuffed and led out by sheriff’s deputies to start his sentence.

“You have utterly failed to accept responsibility for your actions,” County Judge Stephen Herrick told Weiss, whose family and supporters sat in the courtroom. “You are not the victim here. The boys were the victims.”

In pleading guilty to the misdemeanor in January, Weiss admitted he had “inappropriate physical contact” with two naked 13-year-old boys in 2007 inside a small pool known as a mikveh on Whitehall Road in Albany. Weiss, a married father of three, also admitted to telling one boy not to tell the police about what happened.

“I want to apologize to everyone that’s been hurt,” Weiss said.

Herrick noted that Weiss was charged with four misdemeanor counts and pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child.

In addition to the 60 days in jail, Herrick sentenced Weiss to three years’ probation, issued two orders of protection to keep him away from the boys and ordered him to undergo sex offender counseling even though he is not classified as a sex offender.

Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh read a victim-impact statement from the mother of one boy in which she urged the judge to sentence Weiss to the maximum of 60 days in jail.

“I toss and turn all night. I have a nagging pain in my head constantly,” the mother said. “Sixty days in the scheme of things is not very long. But the 60 days might just let me have a full night’s sleep and relax my jaw.”

Sarfoh said the guilty plea was accepted so the victim would not have to testify

Lakewood real estate developer charged in alleged Ponzi scheme

LAKEWOOD —Eli Weinstein, a member of Lakewood’s ultra-Orthodox community who has been accused of ripping off former partners in courts from New Jersey to Israel, was arrested by federal agents early this morning and charged with a $200 million ponzi scheme.

The 35-year-old real estate investor and former used car salesman, taken into custody at his home, was charged with bank and wire fraud for allegedly running an investment fraud scheme, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.

Weinstein faces a string of civil lawsuits seeking millions in damages over real estate transactions that span the world.

Records reviewed by The Star-Ledger also show that he was tied into at least one real estate deal with Solomon Dwek, the government informant behind a massive, high-profile federal sting that led to the arrests of more than 40 politicians and religious figures last summer.

The civil litigation by many of his former partners accuse him of being a scam artist.

Harvey Wolinetz of Florida, charged that Weinstein took nearly $80 million of his money involving the purchase of properties in New Jersey, Florida, New York, Tennessee, Georgia and Pennsylvania.


Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerDeveloper Eli Weinstein is led from his Lakewood home after being arrested this morning. He is charged with running a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $300 million.
In a complaint filed in federal court, his attorneys charged that Weinstein, "engaged in a brilliant but diabolical pyramid scheme," that "forged or created multiple deeds, transfer documents, corporate documents and other financial records, and convinced his ‘investors’ to loan or invest hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire interests in properties" that were never actually purchased.

Weinstein will be brought before a U.S. District Court judge in Newark for a hearing later today.

Charged with Weinstein in a federal complaint was Vladimir Sifovrov, the owner of a New York trucking business and purported real estate broker.

Federal authorities contend Weinstein, Vladimir and an unnamed partner, since 2005, preyed on members of the tightly-knit Orthodox Jewish community throughout the world, many of whom had known each other since childhood, capitalizing on their social and religious bonds to be introduced to more and more victims.

Weinstein never owned property he claimed to own in many cases, and he repeatedly sold his fake and real interests multiple times, according to the complaint.

Mediation, Arbitration and Beth Din:

Those who are going through a divorce are faced with choices as to the venue their dispute will be heard, in addition to the traditional forum of litigation before the Supreme Court of New York.


Mediation and arbitration are alternative forums where divorce settlements may be resolved.


Mediation: This process, which today has gained popularity due to the fact that costs are curtailed. The parties choose a neutral person, preferably an experienced attorney, who is a trained mediator, to work with both of the parties. Sessions are conducted in which the mediator attempts to arrive at a mutual agreement with the participation of both parties. All issues are addressed from custody, parenting time and child support through the division of assets. The parties agree as to payment for the costs of the Mediator fees. Mediators generally require the parties to waive their right to call the mediator as a witness in any potential future litigation. Accordingly, the substance of the conversations and sessions cannot arise in any future litigation. It is only if the parties arrive at an agreement, will they execute a Stipulation based on the sessions. The drawback to the mediation is that at any time a person may withdraw from it and the time spent will be lost.


Mediation is a process that I have recently become involved with. The parties Rabbi or a psychologist are brought in to assist in the sessions to attempt to resolve the outstanding issues. The parties if at the completion of the process leave with a draft of the understanding which they can review with whom they choose, which then can be submitted to the Court.

Arbitration: This process is one in which the parties agree that to submit their disputes to an arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators. The parties’ arbitration agreement empowers the panel to decide the issues presented which can later be submitted to a Court to confirm. New York State law Section 75 of the CPLR deals specifically with the laws and rules of arbitration.



Arbitration, as relates to divorce, can result in a final decision on all economic issues. Child support can be handled by arbitrators, should they follow the dictates of New York State law namely the Child Support Standards Act. The one area where arbitrators do not have final decision making authority is dealing with child custody issues. The Courts in New York have stated that custody and visitation disputes are not subject to arbitration. As the Court’s role as parens patriae (ultimate parent) cannot be usurped (Berg v. Berg a New York State case). A Beth Din is considered an arbitration panel under New York State law and a Shtar Buririm, an agreement to arbitrate, is deemed valid.


Once parties execute and empower a panel (including a Beth Din), there is a high burden one must reach in an effort to contest their decision. Accordingly, one is advised to insure that they have competent representation during the arbitration process in any forum including a Beth Din. Proper procedure and an opportunity to be heard and represented must be adhered to for the arbitrator or arbitration panel’s decision to be upheld. Ultimately after a decision or P’sak is rendered, one would move before a Court of competent jurisdiction to confirm the decision within one year of it being rendered. The moving side may remain silent or move to set it aside based on grounds that are specifically stated in the law. One should be aware that after adjudicating custody and visitation before the arbitration panel or Beth Din, should one party seek to set that issue aside, the Court will entertain that application. Today’s economy has forced parties to seek alternative solutions to resolve their differences, mediation and arbitration have been more popular as the cost of litigation has become prohibitive to many.


In the case of Beth Din, the process generally begins by one party summoning the other, which in return must be responded to. If the two parties cannot agree on a Beth Din, then each party selects a Judge (Borer) and the two selected will choose the third. This process is called Zabla. The parties execute a binding arbitration agreement which empowers the panel. In today’s society, Zabla is the most popular method in the Beth Din proceedings, within the Orthodox Community.


Process: As an aside, in a Beth Din proceeding, the Beth Din will issue three (3) invites (Hazmanas) from the person petitioning the Beth Din. If they are not responded to by the side being summoned, then the Beth Din can issue a Seruv (indicating that the person has not respond to calling Beth Din and should be sanctioned by the community according to Halacha, (for example, should not be welcome into synagogues or given any honor etc).

By: Martin E. Friedlander, Esq.

I can be reached by email at mef@mflawyer.com or by phone at 212-321-7092 and for suggestions for the column please email Inwhosebestinterest@gmail.com.

Get: Heter Meah Rabbonim:

What is a Heter Meah Rabbonim and when can it be legitimately used under Halacha (Jewish law). Recently, this has become a new weapon used inappropriately in divorce matters in the Orthodox Community. As discussed in my last article the cherem of Rabbienu Gershon instituted the prohibition of a polygamy on men and the fact that a women must accept a Get willingly. That raised a new concern for the observant community; what if a women could not or would not accept a Get? The answer was the Heter Meah Rabbonim, which was initiated for cases in which a wife became mentally incompetent (Shotah); who rebels and refuses to act as a Jewish Wife (Moredes), or one who simply disappears. The dispensation arose to those limited situations. The exact translation of the words as Heter is (permission) of Meah Rabbonim (one hundred Rabbis).


The process:


A Beth Din must thoroughly examine the claims of the husband as to the issues being presented.


Issues: Did the wife’s mental capacity deteriorate to the state of mental incompetence and is the condition irreversible? Moredes, is she in fact a rebellious wife vis a ve her conduct, not willing to live as husband and wife, is she no longer observant, not willing to mend her ways nor accept a Get that is being offered. Did she disappear and cannot be located?


Not only one must obtain the signatures of one hundred Rabbi’s, but they must be located in three different locals. The petitioner must convince the initial Beth Din of the veracity of his claims, which will lead to the Beth Din conducting their own investigation. This is followed by the requirement by the Rabbi’s in the other locals, to listen to his claims and conduct their own inquiries. Only once 100 Rabbi’s in the three different jurisdictions are convinced can a Heter be issued. A further requirement is that a Get must be deposited to the Beth Din for the wife to pick up whenever she desires without condition.


A few years ago I was in court, when the following scenario was presented to the Judge. Someone obtained a Heter Meah Rabbonim from someone in the orthodox community known to facilitate the same for a fee. The women was informed that a Get was deposited to this Rabbi on the condition that she withdraw all court proceedings and agree to arbitrate all disputes only with this Rabbi. The Judge rightfully so ordered the Rabbi to appear before her. The abuse of this method cannot be tolerated by the Jewish community. It’s no wonder that the leading Halachik Poskim (deciders of Jewish Law) of our generation have issued warnings to refrain from the issuance of a Heter (Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”zl), except in extreme circumstances, once one hears of a Heter, it should be subject to great scrutiny as to its validity. One has to question a Rabbi who would consider performing a wedding when the groom has initiated and obtained a Heter Meah Rabbonim especially when the wife is ready willing and able to accept the Get.


In a noted case, the Supreme Court referenced a Heter Meah Rabbonim as to the question if that was sufficient to comply with the Get law or not (husband in that case did deposit Get for wife to receive). The wife as Court recounts did not want to accept a Get. Earlier in this series of articles we discussed in the opposite scenario, where a husband refuses. Under Halacha there is a concept of a husband being coerced to deliver a Get. The Bach (Rabbi Yoel Sirkes), a great commentator on the Shulchan Aruch (code of Jewish law) states, “whoever releases a Agunah is as if he rebuilt one of the destroyed buildings of Yerusholayim”, Our religious leaders have to ensure, that once a marriage is over without possibility of reconciliation, that women receive her Get.


By: Martin E. Friedlander, Esq.

I can be reached by email at mef@mflawyer.com or by phone at 212-321-7092 and for suggestions for the column please email Inwhosebestinterest@gmail.com.