Spinka Tax Fraud: US Attorney Targeting More Than 100 Spinka "Donors" – Uri Mandelbaum Pleads Guilty

I'm not a lawyer, but Mandelbaum's plea looks a lot like he's throwing himself on the mercy of the court.

I guess you would, too, if you had been caught…

…getting 95% of your "charitable contributions" kicked back in cash:

Man to plead guilty in tax fraud scheme involving Orthodox Jewish group
Uri Mandelbaum admitted avoiding nearly $300,000 in federal taxes because of donations he made to the Spinka sect that were mostly refunded to him. He could face 10 years in prison.
LA Times staff report
July 19, 2008

A Hancock Park man agreed to plead guilty to federal tax evasion charges for making donations to an Orthodox Jewish group that were mostly refunded and then deducting them on his tax returns, federal prosecutors said today.

Uri Mandelbaum, 70, agreed to plead guilty to two felony tax charges and to pay more than $1.5 million in back taxes, according to his plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Mandelbaum's plea agreement is the first involving a "donor" to a charity associated with Spinka -- a Hasidic sect within Orthodox Judaism that is at the center of a pending federal tax fraud case. The group is based in New York.

"Mr. Mandelbaum deeply regrets what he did," his attorney John Vandevelde said in a statement today. "Prior to any contact by the government, he decided to do what was right by voluntarily coming forward, not to provide information about others, but to take full responsibility for his own conduct and his own personal tax obligations."

The Grand Rabbi of Spinka, Naftali Tzi Weisz, several other defendants and five Spinka charities were indicted last year by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on tax fraud and money laundering charges.

Two other defendants in the case -- Israeli banker Joseph Roth and Weisz's assistant Moshe Zigelman -- have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit tax fraud and are to be sentenced later this year.

The U.S. government is now targeting more than 100 people who contributed to Spinka organizations, said U.S. Attorney's Office Spokesman Thom Mrozek.

Mandelbaum admitted to not paying nearly $300,000 in federal income taxes in 2005 and 2006. During those two years, he donated nearly $900,000 to Spinka organizations, 95 percent of which was returned to him, court papers state.

Mandelbaum admitted that he claimed the entire amount as charitable contributions on his federal income tax returns for 2005 and 2006, according to court documents.

Mandelbaum is set to appear July 28 for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The charges carry a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and $500,000 in fines.

Mandelbaum - PLEA AGREEMENT.pdf

Mandelbaum - INFORMATION-1.pdf

Spinka Tax Fraud Background: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.

Comments

[Yochanan Lavie]

Spinka stinkas in the clinka.

[anon]

The other scam is that those who give get business from the organizations and can charge more as long as they give a big donation

[Archie Bunker]

Only 100?

[Yisrael Medad]

And Olmert?

In 1997, Olmert was acquitted in court of responsibility for an election scam in which Likud officials provided fictitious receipts to donors in 1988, when Olmert was the party's co-treasurer. Olmert pleaded ignorance, but three other Likud officials were convicted

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1211434110802

[Yochanan Lavie]

Olmert's egregious corruption does not exonerate Spinka.

by: William Wordsworth
England, 1802

MILTON! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
O raise us up, return to us again,
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power!
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

The situation Wordsworth describes is the situation of world Jewry: it is a fen (swamp) of stagnant waters. altar= clergy, sword= gov't and pen= literature/philosophy. Wordsworth could invoke Milton, the author, philosopher, and statesman. Perhaps:

Ze'ev [Jabotinsky]! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
Israel hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient Jewish dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
O raise us up, return to us again,
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power!
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

[Isa]

Can you imagine what Spinka and Co said to these business men?
"This is perfectly safe because Ha-shem will protect since this is going for Torah good etc,etc, etc, etc
I hope someone tweets on these idiots