AmNote on Jews and the Charity Cons: Jews Prey on the Weak When people are asked, what is the fastest grow segment of the economy, most people answer computers or biotechnology. They are surprised to find out that non-profits companies are the fast growing area of the economy. Why because all that is required is a serious disease or a worthwhile cause that invokes sympathy and a willingness to give money. What a ripe area for sneak thieves and lairs to make big money with little investment, in other words Jews. And if you look at who is flooding into non-profit businesses, you will discover that they are Jews. Most of the money donated to non-profit charities goes into administration costs, i.e., the fat salaries and perks for the Jews that head them up.
To Jews charities and nonprofits represent a means of giving, receiving, and distributing bribes, as in the case of Marc Rich. They also act as conduits for Jews to make illegal political contributions, both in America and in foreign countries. Charities and nonprofits are used by Jews to funnel money into their off-shore bank accounts via charities that act as fronts in foreign countries, such as Israel, in order to escape paying taxes in the U.S. Charities and nonprofits provide a way of laundering money obtained through Jewish criminal activities. If Jews are the heads of a charity or nonprofit, you can be sure that it is a scam or a criminal operation!
 Rabbi's Supporters Ask Judge for Mercy; Prison Possible For Illegal Deposits —The San Francisco Chronicle
Members of San Francisco's Russian Jewish community and fellow rabbis from around the world have flooded a federal judge with pleas to forgo a prison term for Rabbi Bentziyon Pil, who admitted making illegal bank deposits of more than $ 1.7 million for his now-defunct charity. In papers filed by Pil's attorneys for his sentencing, hundreds of supporters described him as a man dedicated to the service of his fellow Russian Jewish immigrants, irreplaceable in the community, and guilty of only a technical mistake in evading federal currency laws. Federal prosecutors are recommending an 18-month sentence, the minimum provided by federal guidelines. However, they say Pil deserves a longer term if he fails to accept full responsibility for his crime, as suggested by some of his statements since his guilty plea last December. Sentencing is scheduled next Thursday before U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins. As director of the Jewish Educational Center, Pil pioneered the use of radio ads asking people to make tax-deductible donations of their used cars to benefit the needy. The technique made him one of the nation's largest car dealers in the mid-1990s. However, according to a sworn affidavit by an Internal Revenue Service investigator in 1997, hardly any donated cars were turned over to needy people, and the ads greatly overstated the JEC's charitable work. [click here to continue]
Jewish Charity's Assets Seized, Accounts Frozen —The San Francisco Chronicle
In a three-pronged crackdown, authorities moved to shut down the controversial Jewish Educational Center yesterday, seizing the San Francisco charity's assets and freezing its bank accounts. The combined action by the U.S. attorney, the state attorney general and the San Francisco district attorney accused the charity -- known for its radio ads that solicit donations of cars -- of fraud, false advertising and tax violations. The moves cap a series of controversies involving the center, which aids Russian Jewish immigrants. The group has been criticized for its fund-raising methods and spending practices. The attorney general's office, which oversees charitable organizations, obtained an order yesterday from San Francisco Superior Court appointing a receiver to take control of the charity. Alleging fraud and diversion of charitable funds, the attorney general also was granted a temporary restraining order freezing the organization's bank accounts. Meanwhile, District Attorney Terence Hallinan filed an 18-page civil action charging false advertising and unfair business practices on the part of the center's founder, Rabbi Bentziyon Pil and his wife, Matti Plotkin Pil, as well as two subsidiaries of the center, United Business Management Enterprises and ChariSource Inc. [click here to continue]
Judge Orders Beleaguered S.F. Charity to Close —The San Francisco Chronicle
A San Francisco judge yesterday ordered the embattled Jewish Educational Center to close its doors, terminate its employees and liquidate assets that were seized last month by authorities investigating the center for misuse of funds. Superior Court Judge William Cahill also called for the termination of all of the organization's leases, including two properties in San Francisco used to store cars solicited for charity. The judge's order to close the charity is the latest blow to the organization, which was established to benefit immigrant Jews from Russia. One of the largest used-car dealers in the country, the San Francisco-based group is widely known for its radio ads seeking donated cars to be repaired and then resold at auction. The center is facing two civil lawsuits alleging fraud, diversion of funds and the use of false advertising to receive millions of dollars in donations. The charity said the contributions would be used to help seriously ill children brought to San Francisco from Russia. Cahill's order came in response to a request from the state attorney general, who has accused the center's founders -- Rabbi Bentziyon Pil and his wife, Mattie Plotkin -- of diverting some of the the charity's funds to help buy a home and pay for their son's bar mitzvah. [click here to continue]
Ex-Leader of Jewish Center to Plead Guilty —The Washington Post
A Montgomery County prosecutor said yesterday that the former executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington will plead guilty to seven felony charges related to the embezzlement of nearly $ 1 million -- charges that have drawn a separate Jewish welfare agency into the investigation. Lester I. Kaplan, 48, accused of looting the community center at a time when it was struggling to serve the young and elderly, will plead guilty to four counts of felony theft, two counts of theft conspiracy and one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary, said Deputy State's Attorney I. Matthew Campbell. Meanwhile, court documents filed this week named as an unindicted co-conspirator the former executive director of the Jewish Social Services Agency, Craig M. Shniderman, whose office was next door to the community center in Rockville. Kaplan conspired with Shniderman to steal an unspecified amount of social service agency property described only as worth "more than $ 300," the documents say. Kaplan was released on his own recognizance after appearing yesterday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. Kaplan and his attorney, Robert Levin, could not be reached for comment. Shniderman, his attorney and agency officials declined to comment. Shniderman resigned in August 1994, shortly after the allegations of theft from the center surfaced. After being unemployed for several months, the professional fund-raiser took a job with Food & Friends, a Washington charity group that provides food and services to AIDS patients. [click here to continue]
Yeshiva Faces Fed Takeover —Daily News (New York)
A judge today plans on taking the highly unusual step of ordering a federal takover of a suburban Jewish religious school to help prosecutors in an ongoing fraud probe. Manhattan Federal Judge Leonard Sand said yesterday he would likely put the Yeshiva of New Square, Rockland County, into federal receivership so investigators can gain access to the school's multiple bank accounts and cooperation from its officials. If he follows through on his plan, it will mark the first time the federal government has put a religious institution into receivership, according to John Russell of the U.S. Justice Department. Normally, federal authorities have used receiverships to take over unions and businesses suspected of mob control. In a brief hearing yesterday, Sand ordered prosecutors to draft an order of receivership immediately, for presentation during a noon hearing today. Since September 1994, a grand jury has been hearing evidence in an ongoing fraud case that targets the yeshiva and some of its former officials. A source familiar with the investigation says it focuses on criminal tax evasion whether the yeshiva deserves the tax-exempt status granted charitable organization and fraudulent use of government funds. The school owns properties that receive thousands of dollars in federal housing grants. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Landis declined to comment on the ongoing probe. Residents of the Rockland County village of 2,600 which is nearly 100% Hasidic have repeatedly refused to cooperate with investigation. In May, they used a sound truck and cellular phones to warn one another about approaching FBI agents and at one point encircled agents trying to serve subpoenaes. [click here to continue]
Fraud Squads Chase 'Hasidic Robin Hood' Who Took Millions —The Gazette (Montreal)
Joseph Prushinowski was a one-person crime wave. Eleven years ago he was dubbed "an international economic menace." Today, Scotland Yard, the FBI and the Dutch police are all investigating his activities. Prushinowski is already wanted by the New York City police department and the RCMP. An international con artist who apparently gives away all the money he steals, Prushinowski is suspected of being implicated in a property crash that could cost British banks and insurance companies $ 200 million. Banks in the United States and Europe have also been hit by fraudulent deals involving another $ 200 million. In a criminal career spanning almost 20 years, Prushinowski has defrauded financial institutions using multiple false identities, dummy corporations, bogus offshore banks and trading on his status as a highly religious man. But, unlike other con artists, Prushinowski, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, does not rob for himself. According to investigators, he distributes the money to Hasidic communities around the world for housing, education and charitable causes. It is not believed that these communities realize the source of the money. "He sees himself as a Hasidic Robin Hood," said Frank Keating, head of security for the Bank of New York, one of Prushinowski's lesser victims. Keating described Prushinowski as brilliant. Corporal Normand Denis of the RCMP fraud squad in Montreal views Prushinowski more prosaically: "He's a thief who gives a very bad reputation to Detective Frank Senerchia of the New York City police said: "He is an international con man operating on a worldwide scale and something has to be done about him." [click here to continue]
Germans Are Wary Of Jewish Scandal —The New York Times
In the week since the news broke that the much-honored head of West Germany's main Jewish organization evidently helped himself to millions in money intended for victims of the Nazis, the dominant reaction among politicians and newspapers has been a nervous circumspection. Government leaders have avoided comment, and the few newspapers that have carried editorials have focused not on the scandal, but on how Germans should or should not react to it. In the affair itself, the main unanswered question now is what happened to the money that Werner Nachmann, for 19 years the head of the organization, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, is said to have appropriated over seven years from the interest on a special ''hardship fund'' for victims of the Nazis. Various estimates put the embezzled funds at up to 33 million marks, or $20 million. Another puzzle was how neither the Central Council nor the Finance Ministry ever noticed the disappearing money. Mr. Nachmann, who left Germany before World War II, died suddenly at the age of 62 in January. At his funeral Chancellor Helmut Kohl eulogized him as a man ''who has made his mark on the history of our republic by the force of his personality.'' His family found his businesses - including textile and metal recycling plants - in deep trouble, forcing them to file for bankruptcy. The family lawyer, Peter Papcke, said he found Mr. Nachmann's records in disarray. Some money was evidently spent on a house; some went to two bogus charities, a ''Rothschild Fund'' and a ''Hebrew Institute.'' But the best guess was that most of the money went to try to salvage the businesses. Such mystery and sensation normally would have dominated the popular German dailies and weeklies. But most articles about the affair were limited to factual accounts. The nervousness was explained in part by a fear that the embezzlement could provoke an anti-Semitic reaction. [click here to continue]
Firms Target Of Rich Probers —Daily News (New York)
The FBI will take a close look at several companies and a nonprofit trust through which fugitive financier Marc Rich could have funneled illegal campaign donations to win a pardon, the Daily News has learned. The companies and the trust are listed as employers on more than $375,000 in campaign donations from Rich's ex-wife, Denise, to Democratic causes. Denise Rich is a songwriter and heiress who works for no one. But in making some political donations, the recipients listed different companies as her employer. These firms include an entity called W&R Group, the public relations firm of Zarem Inc. and a fund-raising trust fund set up after her daughter died of cancer. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and New York FBI Director Barry Mawn confirmed yesterday they had opened an investigation into the Rich pardon. They're looking into whether Marc Rich, who renounced his U.S. citizenship, made illegal donations as a foreign national to an American campaign, said a source familiar with the investigation. Denise Rich gave more than $1 million to Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democratic causes since the former President arrived at the White House in 1993. [click here to continue]
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