count two count three

indictment subscribing to false income tax

crime report

forms United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York Attn: Civilian Crime Reports Unit (Criminal Division) One St. Andrew's Plaza New York, NY 10007

46 people arrested

Man Sentenced For Laundering Money Through Haredi Charity Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com David Goldhirsch, one of 46 people arrested in Solomon Dwek’s massive 2009 federal sting known as Operation Big Rig or the New Jersey Sting, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison last week after having pleaded guilty in June to owning and operating an illegal money transmitting business. Goldhirsch, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, was originally charged with money laundering conspiracy in a 14 point indictment along with Rabbi Lavel Schwartz and Rabbi Mordechai Fish. Both Schwartz and Fish, who are brothers, pleaded guilty and have already been sentenced, Schwartz in December to one year and one day in prison, and Fish in May to 46 months in prison. Goldhirsch laundered money through a hasidic charity he controlled, Boyoner Gemilas Chesed. He took a 10 percent commission from Dwek for turning Dwek’s checks – which Goldhirsch was told were from the proceeds of Dwek’s sale of illegal counterfeit designer handbags – into cash. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dwek told Goldhirsch the money was from the sale of counterfeit handbags. Approximately three-quarters of all Operation Big Rig defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted, among them New Jersey politicians including a state assemblyman, the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, and the deputy mayor and council president of Jersey City. Also among them are five haredi rabbis from New York and New Jersey who have pleaded guilty to money-laundering-related charges, including the Chief Rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community, who was sentenced to probation. The longest sentence handed down to any of the rabbis was five years in federal prison. According to the Associated Press, two of the 46 original defendants were acquitted at trial. Four others had the charges against them dropped. Two more of the original 46 defendants’ cases are still reported to be pending. Another defendant is a fugitive.

if you blinka youll miss another spinka stinka finka in the clinka, waddya thinka? another drinka? (winka,winka) in comments

Spinka Hasidic Tax Fraud And Money Laundering Conspirator Sentenced To Prison Mira Zeffren was part of the Spinka Rebbe's money laundering and tax evasion scheme. She was arrested in 2011 and charged with five counts. Zeffren originally pleaded not guilty, but then reached a plea bargain with the government, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States. Mira Zeffren was sentenced Monday to 8 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release, 500 hours of community service, a $30,000 fine, and $84,294 in restitution: …Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, it is the judgment of the Court that the defendant, Mira Zeffren, is hereby committed on Count 1 of the Indictment to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a term of 8 months. Upon release from imprisonment, the defendant shall be placed on supervised release for a term of 2 years under the following terms and conditions: 1. The defendant shall comply with the rules and regulations of the U. S. Probation Office, General Order 05- 02, and General Order 01-05, including the three special conditions delineated in General Order 01-05; 2. During the period of community supervision the defendant shall pay the special assessment, fine and restitution in accordance with this judgment's orders pertaining to such payment; 3. The defendant shall perform 500 hours of community service, as directed by the Probation Officer; 4. The defendant shall truthfully and timely file and pay taxes owed for the years of conviction; and shall truthfully and timely file and pay taxes during the period of community supervision. Further, the defendant shall show proof to the Probation Officer of compliance with this order; 5. The defendant shall cooperate in the collection of a DNA sample from the defendant; and 6. The defendant shall apply all monies received from income tax refunds, lottery winnings, inheritance, judgements and any anticipated or unexpected financial gains to the outstanding court-ordered financial obligation. The drug testing condition mandated by statute is suspended based on the Court's determination that the defendant poses a low risk of future substance abuse.It is ordered that the defendant shall pay to the United States a special assessment of $100, which is due immediately. It is ordered that the defendant shall pay restitution in the total amount of $84,294 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § to the Internal Revenue Service. The defendant shall receive credit for any restitution paid prior to sentencing. Restitution shall be paid in full within thirty days of sentencing. The defendant shall comply with General Order No. 01-05. It is ordered that the defendant shall pay to the United States a total fine of $30,000, which shall bear interest as provided by law. On the Government’s Motion, the Court orders Counts 2, 3, 4, and 5 dismissed as to this defendant. It is further ordered that the defendant surrender herself to the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons on or before 12 noon, on April 9, 2013. In the absence of such designation, the defendant shall report on or before the same date and time, to the United States Marshal located at Roybal Federal Building, 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles, California 90012. Court recommends that the defendant be placed in the camp facility at Danbury in Connecticut. Defendant informed of right to appeal. Bond exonerated upon self surrender. In addition to the special conditions of supervision imposed above, it is hereby ordered that the Standard Conditions of Probation and Supervised Release within this judgment be imposed. The Court may change the conditions of supervision, reduce or extend the period of supervision, and at any time during the supervision period or within the maximum period permitted by law, may issue a warrant and revoke supervision for a violation occurring during the supervision period.… To read more about the Spinka scam and Zeffren's role in it, read her indictment:

gangster launder billions of dollars

A reputed gangster who calls himself "a simple Jew from Kiev" has emerged as the central suspect in an international bank-fraud probe that investigators term the biggest money-laundering case in history. The case involves an apparent scheme by Russian mobsters to launder billions of dollars in criminal proceeds through one of America's oldest and most respected banks, the Bank of New York. The FBI's yearlong investigation into the scheme was disclosed by the New York Times in a series of articles in late August. Beyond the Times' disclosures lies a far more complex story, reported piecemeal in a variety of publications here and abroad. Together they tell a hair-raising tale of international crime and intrigue by reputed crime boss Semyon Mogilevich and his so-called "Red Mafia." Mogilevich's mob is said to be the largest and most dangerous criminal organization to emerge from the breakup of the Soviet Union; it's engaged in arms dealing, drug smuggling, prostitution, contract murders and international art theft. The gang has been described as resembling traditional Italian mafia groups in its hierarchy, brutality and reliance on family and ethnic ties. Most of its members are Jewish. The money-laundering and related allegations, though, lift Mogilevich to a level of sophistication and influence rare in organized crime. They also hint at the magnitude of threat posed by Russian organized crime, both to Russia and the world at large. Britain, in particular, has been investigating Mogilevich's group for more than four years, seeking to unravel a worldwide network of shell companies implicated in money-laundering, contraband sales, stock manipulation and investor fraud. It was Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service that tipped off the FBI last year to Mogilevich's apparent relationship with the Bank of New York. Switzerland is also investigating the gang, on suspicion that it helped launder millions of dollars through Swiss banks for Russian government officials. Those cash movements began just before the August 1998 ruble devaluation that led to Russian financial chaos. Some say Kremlin officials traded on their inside knowledge of policy plans, bleeding the country. Part of the laundered money -- at least $200 million, by some accounts -- may have come from International Monetary Fund aid. The IMF is now facing criticism in Washington for sloppy oversight. That, in turn, could hurt the presidential hopes of Vice President Al Gore, a key architect of the IMF's Russia policies. The GOP-led House Banking Committee is holding hearings on the allegations later this month. Others whose names have surfaced in the mushrooming probe include several so-called "oligarchs," the business tycoons, many of them Jewish, who control much of post-communist Russia's privatized industry. Those mentioned include Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a leading banker and oil executive; Boris Berezovsky, formerly a ranking Yeltsin aide; and Vladimir Goussinsky, president of the Russian Jewish Congress. All three headed Russian banks that have been implicated in the Mogilevich investigations. Another "oligarch" implicated is Konstantin Kagalovsky, a close ally of Khodorkovsky. His wife, Natasha Gurfinkel, headed Bank of New York's East Europe operations until she was suspended last month. Nobody has formally been accused of any wrongdoing. Russian Jewry experts fear the allegations may help fuel Russia's already rampant anti-Semitism, by seeming to confirm extremist myths about Jewish "rape" of Mother Russia. All told, Mogilevich's mob may have looted as much as $15 billion from the Russian economy in the last few years. "It can't help but have an impact," said Isabella Ginor, a leading Israeli analyst of post-Soviet affairs. Semyon Yukovich Mogilevich, 53, was born in Kiev and graduated from the University of Lvov with a degree in economics. An Israeli citizen since the early 1990s, he currently operates from Hungary, where he is married to a local woman. He has been known to law enforcement authorities for decades, and is a familiar figure in the Russian media. In the West, though, he was virtually unknown until May 1998, when he was profiled in a lengthy article in the Village Voice by investigative reporter Robert Friedman. Friedman went into hiding shortly afterward, at the urging of the FBI, which told him Mogilevich had taken out a $100,000 contract on his life. He is currently writing a book about Russian organized crime. As described by Friedman, Mogilevich first became involved in petty crime in Moscow in the 1970s. He made millions in the 1980s by bilking Jews leaving for Israel, promising to sell their valuables for them after they left, then pocketing the proceeds. He spent the 1990s allegedly building his Red Mafia from his new base in Budapest, sending lieutenants to acquire legitimate companies in England, Canada, Australia, the United States, the Caribbean and elsewhere, then using them as covers for his illegal activities. Activities cited by Friedman include a sale of $20 million in stolen East Bloc weaponry to Iran, the theft and resale of Torah scrolls, a scheme to dump American toxic waste in Chernobyl -- in cooperation with the Genovese crime family -- and a phony antique restoration shop that took in Russian art treasures and sent fakes back to the owners, while the originals were secretly sold at Sotheby's in London. Britain appears to have been a favorite base for Mogilevich's financial schemes. In 1995, British authorities shut down a firm he had created there to launder funds from his worldwide criminal activities. In 1997, authorities began investigating a far more complex scheme, in which he acquired a Hungarian magnet factory, incorporated it in Philadelphia, then took it public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1994. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock was sold, yet few magnets were produced. Federal authorities, tipped by Britain, shut the firm down for securities fraud last spring. The magnet probe led British investigators to Benex, a London-based firm allegedly controlled by Mogilevich. It was set up in March 1998 for the sole apparent purpose of transferring funds out of Russia. Benex's only officer, reputed Mogilevich lieutenant Peter Berlin, is married to Lucy Edwards, the Bank of New York officer who was fired last week for her apparent role in the money-laundering scheme. Edwards, born Ludmilla Pritzker in Leningrad, has declined to comment so far. Berlin has disappeared, and knowledgeable observers suggest he may turn up floating in the Thames. As for Mogilevich, he granted an interview to a Moscow newspaper this week and insisted that the only money he ever laundered was $5 left in a shirt on wash day. The whole affair, he claimed, is "the raving of the FBI." J.J. Goldberg writes a weekly column for The Jewish Journal.

defaulted on $17.3 million in loans

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto’s NYC Headquarters Subject Of Foreclosure Lawsuit Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto’s nonprofit Mosdot Shuva Israel is being sued for foreclosure on its Manhattan headquarters building, the Jewish Voice reported. The property, located at 122 East 58th Street, houses Pinto synagogue (among other things). The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, January 8 by Corigin Real Estate Group. Corigin claims that Mosdot Shuva Israel defaulted on March 17 on two loans: one for $15 million and the other for $5 million, both from Signature Bank. Corigin bought the loans from Signature on March 13. Members of Mosdot Shuva Israel’s board of directors are named as defendants in the lawsuit because they gave personal guarantees for the loans. Among them are Ilan Bracha, Haim Binstock, Yosi Zaga, and Pinto’s cousin and top aide, former pornographer Ben Zion Suky. Also named in the suit are Haim Revah and Joseph Ben Moha. Corigin says Pinto’s charity owes $14.3 million on the $15 million loan and $3 million on the $5 million loan. Suky reportedly claims that an agreement to extend the loan was made with Signature Bank and that a total of $22.3 million was borrowed. $5 million was repaid, leaving an unpaid balance of $17.3 million. “We are thinking about what will be our next step on Signature Bank,” he said. “We have a bank that we’re going to refinance with, in the next few days,” Suky reportedly said. Mosdot Shuva Israel purchased the property for $28.5 million in 2009. Pinto is expected to serve at least one year in prison for attempting to bribe senior police officers. A charity he controlled there stole tens of millions of dollars meant to help elderly Holocaust survivors. Much of that stolen money allegedly ended up in Pinto’s pockets, and the case against him is reportedly nearing the indictment stage. Known as a kabbalist to the stars, Pinto is also closely connected to Israel’s underworld and its branches in the Diaspora – especially in New York City. An Israeli investor, Tomer Shohat, who found irregularities in the operation of a New York City property owned in part by Suky (and through him, apparently by Pinto) was threatened and allegedly falsely arrested by a NYPD detective, Eric Patino, who is close to Pinto and Suky. The detective wanted all the incriminating evidence against Suky and Pinto. If not, he allegedly threatened to arrest Shohat and did so when Shohat refused to give the evidence to him. The charges against Shohat were later dropped, and he is suing Pinto, Suky and the NYPD detective.

How To Bribe

Brooklyn men admit funding money-laundering in N.J. corruption sting Former Jerusalem mayor arrested in Holyland affair Uri Lupolianski suspected of taking some NIS 3 million in bribes in return for advancing Holyland real estate project; implies his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, was responsible for affair. Court extends his remand by five days Former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of taking a bribe and money laundering as part of the Holyland affair. Lupolianski is the most senior public figure to be questioned in the affair so far. Upon entering the courtroom he told reporters, "I feel good, thank God. I find it strange." Lupolianski said Ehud Olmert, who served as Jerusalem mayor before him, was responsible for the affair. "The mayor is the one who decides; he is the navigator," he told Channel 10. Lupolianski, who served as Olmert's deputy at the time, said that "the deputy mayor has no responsibility. This means good things and bad things. There is no responsibility. It's nothing. It's just a title to take care of it, to make it nice. The mayor is the one who decides, and that's the truth." The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court accepted the police's request to extend Lupolianski's remand by five days. He is suspected of taking a bribe, money laundering, conspiring to commit a crime, fraud, breach of trust and tax offenses. Lupolianski served as chairman of the local planning and construction committee in Jerusalem when the Holyland project was approved. According to the police, during his term in different roles at the Jerusalem Municipality, Lupolianski demanded and received bribes and money from the Holyland project's entrepreneurs through a third party. The sums were allegedly received as donations to the Yad Sarah association. By 1999 he had taken some NIS 1.5 million (about $405,000) and from 2000 to 2006 he took an additional NIS 1.4 ($378,000) million. In addition, Lupolianski is suspected of receiving $30,000 for his personal use and in order to pay political activists during the Jerusalem mayoral elections in 2003, as well as $100,000 in 2005 as a donation to an advanced Judaic studies program run by his son.In exchange for the bribe, Lupolianski allegedly worked to advance the Holyland project in accordance with the entrepreneurs' demands. During his tenure as deputy mayor from 1993 to 2003, and later as mayor from 2003 to 2008, Lupolianski allegedly worked to speed up the discussion and approval of the city construction plan in the local planning and construction committee, to postpone the hearing of nearly 1,000 objections, to prevent lowering the buildings by two floors, to lower the land betterment taxes and to support the project's city construction plans. The police suspect that thanks to Lupolianski's activities, Holyland's entrepreneurs saved millions of shekels. He also helped boost the project and increase the entrepreneurs' income significantly. 'He did not disrupt investigation' Judge Abraham Heiman explained that he decided to extend Lupolianski's remand for fear of a disruption of the investigation. "The initial suspicions have become stronger. The investigation material contains more and beyond a reasonable doubt. The case I am dealing with is extremely serious," he said. The police representative, Superintendent Lior Rice, said that "the suspect betrayed the public's trust while taking a bribe. We suspected him from the start of the investigation." Rice added that apart from the donations, Lupolianski had received additional funds and that receipt had been issued for the donations. Lupolianski's lawyer, Attorney Yair Golan, claimed that his client "never took a brine or even one penny and cooperated fully with his investigators." According to the lawyer, "There is not one piece of evidence that Lupolianski tried to disrupt the investigation since it became public." Golan added that "the family of entrepreneur Hilel Cherny donated to Yad Sarah for 20 years, and not only in the past few years. All the donations were legal. Nothing went into his pocket. Indeed, he founded and volunteered in Yad Sarah, but this is his only connection to the association. He is completely clean." Yad Sarah said in a statement that the association "has nothing to do with the Holyland affair and never received bribes. If required, Yad Sarah will cooperate with the law enforcement authorities as needed." Earlier Wednesday, Olmert's media advisor said the former prime minister has decided to cut short his stay in Europe and will land in Israel on Wednesday night on the backdrop of the Holyland corruption scandal he has been implicated in, even though he denies any connection or involvement with the affair. The remand of six of the suspects detained in the Holyland case was extended by five days. Jerusalem Municipality's legal advisor received a request to halt construction on the Holyland real estate project. He promised to give the case priority. Eli Senyor and Shmulik Grossman contributed to this report

illegally transferred up to $1.4 million

Haredim Admit Guilt In Money Laundering Sting Yeshaye EhrentalYeshaye Ehrental, 66, and Schmuel Cohen, 25, said they illegally transferred up to $1.4 million to Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, who is accused of using his religious charities to hide money for a government informant. Brooklyn men admit funding money-laundering in N.J. corruption sting By Joe Ryan • The Star-Ledger Two Brooklyn men arrested in last year’s massive FBI sting pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton today, saying they supplied cash to a Monmouth County rabbi charged with running a money-laundering operation. Yeshaye Ehrental, 66, and Schmuel Cohen, 25, said they illegally transferred up to $1.4 million to Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, who is accused of using his religious charities to hide money for a government informant, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. The three were among scores of defendants initially charged in July in the epic sting that hinged on a failed Monmouth County developer who spent more than two years secretly recording conversations with rabbis who supposedly laundered money and public officials who allegedly took bribes. Ehrental and Cohen, an Israeli citizen, are the 15th and 16 defendants to plead guilty in the case. During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano, the pair said they worked with contacts in Israel from 2007 to 2009 to supply cash to Ben Haim. Authorities say Ben Haim used the cash to launder checks for the informant, Solomon Dwek, who claimed he had earned they money through criminal schemes and needed to hide it from from a bankruptcy proceeding. Ehrental said he transferred $200,000 and $400,000 in cash to Ben Haim. Cohen said he transferred between $400,000 and $1 million. They pleaded guilty to operating unlicensed money transmitting businesses. Ben Haim’s lawyer, Lawrence S. Lustberg, declined to comment today. During a bail hearing last month, the attorney said the rabbi has been engaged in "constructive" plea negotiations with the government. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Ehrental faces between 12 and 18 months in prison, assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Nakly said. Cohen faces 18 to 24 months, Nakly said. Federal judges, however, are not bound by the terms of plea bargains and have wide discretion when imposing sentence. Pisano scheduled sentencings for Ehrental and Cohen on July 26.

Tax evasion in the United States

Under the federal law of the United States of America, tax evasionor tax fraud, is the purposeful illegal attempt of a taxpayer to evade payment of a tax imposed by the federal government. Conviction of tax evasion may result in fines and imprisonment.^[1]

Tax evasion is separate from "tax avoidance", which is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one's own advantage in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. Tax evasion is illegal while tax avoidance is legal.

In Gregory v. Helvering the US Supreme Court concurred with Judge Learned Hand's statement that: "Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes." However, the court also ruled there was a duty not to illegally distort the tax code so as to evade paying one's legally required tax burden. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion_in_the_United_States

financial terrorism

money and terror

On Oct. 31, 2007, the SEC issued a final judgment against Kasirer, ordering him to pay $4,991,434.

The Spinka money trail—and the informant who brought them down

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

https://forms.oig.hhs.gov/hotlineoperations/

can submit the complaint and images even PDF files