Rabbi Milton Yehoshua Balkany Defends Rabbi Dovid Cohen & Ohel, Attacks Media, NY Jewish Week

The rabbi who misappropriated a $700,000 federal grant meant to help disabled children defends rabbi who said Jewish law allows you to cheat on your taxes.

Rabbi Milton Yehoshua Balkany is also the son-in-law of Aaron Rubashkin. And, like the Rubashkins, Balkany continues to claim he did nothing wrong, when in fact he was barred from participation in federal grant programs and from access to prisoners in the federal penal system due to his misbehavior. He was also forced to repay in full  the grant money he improperly used. (Please see the links here.)

When asked about Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Balkany replied:

Comments

[Hometown Postville]

These rabbis obviously think they are above gov't law. Their only regret seems to be "getting caught." One then has to question their loyalty to being American. Where does their money go and what are the causes that DO motivate them?

[jewishwhistleblower]

You missed this: Rabbi Balkany vs. The Village Voice.
It also never was reported in the media or Balkany's Wikipedia page.

Summary Judgment motion from Voice succeeds March 19, 2008.
"ORDERED that defendants’ motion for summary judgement is granted and the complaint is dismissed with prejudice as against defendants Village Voice Media, Inc., Tom Robbins and
Alexznder Zakharov."
Materials filed March 25, 2008, New York County Clerk's Office.

http://www.nycourts.gov/index.htm

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Excerpts from Order only posted below:

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - NEW YORK COUNTY
Judge Shirley Werner Kornreich
Present
Part 54
Index Number : 112604/2004
BALKANY, MILTON RABBI
vs.
VILLAGE VOICE MEDIA
Sequence Number : 003

Excerpts:

...

Regarding thc Zakharov Statements, Robbins avers that he did not simply rely on The Daily News’ reporting. He claims that he obtained a copy Zakharov’s October 30, 2003 hearing transcript in federal court before Judge Allen Hellerstein. At the hearing, Zakharov detailed the specifics of his involvement in the bribery schcme. The transcript quotes Zakharov as stating that from January to August 2001, he along with Vadim Kaplun (Sam Kaplun’s son) collected money from federal inmates for the purpose of moving them from one federal facility to another. He claimed he then gave the money to Sam Kaplun, who would give it to a rabbi for the purpose of conveying the money to officials inside the federal government. Zakharov did not identify the rabbi, but he described him as being associated with a Jewish school in the Borough Park area of Brooklyn. Judge Hellerstein then asked Assistant United States Attorney Evan Barr if the government knew who the rabbi was. Mr. Barr stated that the government did know the identity of the rabbi. Robbins next avers he was independently able to verily Rabbi Balkany as the rabbi named in the prison bribcry scheme by tracking down Zakharov in Florida and interviewing him on or about February 24, 2004. During the interview, Zakharov told him that Rabbi Balkany was the rabbi referred to at his hearing bcfore Judge Hellerstein and that the money he gave to Sam Kaplun was supposed to go to Rabbi Balkany and then onto federal officials. According to Robbins, this interview served to independently corroborate what was originally reported in the Daily News from its “law enforcement sources”.
Robbins also avers that he obtained the transcript of Sam Kaplun’s appearance before Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gornstein on November 24, 2003. This transcript details Kaplun’s guilty plea to conspiracy to bribe a public official and outlines how he collected money and passed it on to a rabbi in an effort to secure the transfer of inmates from one federal prison to another. Robbins interviewed Rabbi Balkany for the story and included the rabbi’s denial of the
allegations and his statement that Zakharov and Kaplun both implicated him in order to receive leniency from prosecutors. Finally, in support of this motion, Robbins submits the allocution transcripts of Sam Kaplun and Zakharov, both of which took place after the Second Voice Article was published. During their allocutions, both Kaplun and Zakharov identify Rabbi Balkany as the rabbi who solicited bribes in connection with the requests to have prisoners transferred. In fact, during Zakharov’s allocution, Judge Hellerstein stated that Rabbi Balkany was the "major culprit” in the plan and expressed his disappointment that the government did not charge him.

...

Rabbi Balkany submits his deposition testimony, in which he stated that he never charged families fees for the processing of the daycare voucher applications. He testified that he charged institutions lees in order to “hire lobbyists” and that before charging any fee, he asked Commissioner Scoppetta for permission. He further testified that he kept no records regarding the fees. He simply dealt with each institution on an ad hoc basis. In addition, Rabbi Balkany
stated that the DOI never formally charged him with distributing any vouchers improperly. Moreover, Rabbi Balkany testitied that he did help Leona Helmsley while she was in prison by providing her with traditional Rosh Hashanah meals and helping her get released from prison temporarily to visit her son’s grave the day before Yom Kippur. In reference to Antar, Rabbi Balkany stated that he never helped Antar directly and that he only met Antar once in a kitchen during the tour of a prison. Rabbi Balkany claimed that he actually helped Antar’s cousin, who was in prison around the same time. When asked whether providing Antar with kosher food and assistance on religious holidays reflected poorly on him, Rabbi Balkany stated it did not.
Regarding the Congressman and Appeals Brief Statements made by Davis, Rabbi Balkany admitted that he helped Davis attend his son’s Bar Mitzvah. He contended that he never spoke to any congressman and detailed the process by which he attained Davis’ release. See
EBT of Rabbi Milton Balkany pp. 426-427; 445-449. Rabbi Balkany denied arranging for Davis’ appeals brief to be read by a federal judge. However, he stated that he did meet with the Maryland U.S. Attorney, and that he may have received some paperwork from Davis prior to the meeting. However, he further stated that he was not sure he read the paperwork, and, did not state whether or not he brought these papers with him to his meeting with the Maryland U.S. Attorney.
Regarding the Zakharov Statements and the prison bribery scandal, Rabbi Balkany testied that he never met with Zakharov, but did meet with Sam Kaplun and helped his son Vadim get transferred to another federal prison. He denied that he met with or spoke to Vadim, stating he merely spoke with Rabbi Laskin who helped arrange for Vadim to receive prayer books, food, etc. Following this assistance, Sam Kaplun made a $5,000 donation to Rabbi Balkany’s yeshiva. Rabbi Balkany claimed he provided Kaplun with a receipt and thank you letter. Finally, Rabbi Balkany testified that he did not ask for the donation from Kaplun in return for helping his son.
...
In addition, Rabbi Balkany testified that he helped Davis. He averred that he did not speak to a congressman, rather, he spoke to several government officials including the Maryland U.S. Attorney, head of the Bureau of Prisons, Attorney General Janet Reno, and finally, White House counsel Abner Mikva.

[jewishwhistleblower]

Also, Balkany is appealing the summary judgement decision in Balkany v. Village Voice Media, Inc. and brought a Motion on March 17, 2009 before the Appellate Division, First Department. This Motion No. M-604, Slip Opinion No: 2009 NYSlipOp 66958(U)
was before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Gonzalez, Moskowitz, Renwick, JJ. The court extended the time to perfect the appeal to the September 2009 Term.

Will the J-Media cover this? Unlikely.

Us bloggers? Absolutely.

[yudel]

the real problem chaveri is we are cowards...all of you rationalize we have to stay in community...we have to raise our kids...whatever...

look i was the same...then i decided to not keep my mouth shut...and not let people feed revisionist dead yiddishkeit to our people...

but we be cowards and we are now following something like theravadan southern buddhism from what used to be called ceylon...all wanged banged in texts and arcane minutae..

but hell at least there --they have monks out of the way of people..

but we are cowards...

funny is it not how our na-avim never had a coward sickness -they got their nikama out and how our avos and imahos would not keep quiet even to Gd

and this despite huge personal family problems...they kept at it...we let ourselves die in the holocaust...and here we are...

but do not give up....that too is forbidden....Days are coming nuom Hashem....

but do as i do..everyday read last sentence in Malachi completely..the whole sentence...we do not have the raisha even going and the saifa is terrifying..got to find an edge...

how is it that all our neighbors except the idiots but our stam good neighbors all feel the same as we do and also are silent?

we are sadly afraid of the big bad wolf..who is more scarey in the fairy tale than any of our rabbis?

i am not recommending we hit the streets with the manoovels and street fight...leave them to the police for pedophilia...

but in case you did not know...we pay the freight for all of this...all our tzedakah goes to support all of this...

cowards can always self efface and stop giving as much money..hem and haw like cowards...and remember we teach our kids to be cowards perhaps...but we see...

but give less.do it for your children.....you give ten..this year you give five or three...blame economy ..cluck and sigh...

that is armed resistance...with money...do not put your arms out with your check book..

everyone of you can do that..and no one will say a thing to you...why?

they are afraid you will give less...they worry about your money....

and one other thing to our fearless leader of the blog here..

it is time you went out on the lecture circuit.. get listed with a firm...put word out ..send mailing, etc...

go out...and get paid the big bucks...do not go speak for little... it will help your health...no one can put anything over on you...you know that...and by that i mean the other political camp outside the frum world who are just as dirty and in some ways worse for they let generation after generation of our children waste away from our people..

and when Ben Dovid comes--he come to gather up those who stayed yidden..not frum..stayed jews..anyone remember the midrash on why we survived mitzrayyim?

the name of this is am yisroal not frum yisroel

that is bottom line...and to fearless leader you will get more threats...and yes it scares and unsettles you...but others have come before you....now it is your turn....

[jewishwhistleblower]

It seems Balkany wasn't the ony PR white-washer in the last few days. Jonathan Rosenblum of Cross-Currents was busy white-washing and protecting the rabbinical enablers in Ramat Beit Shemesh. He should tell these rabbinical enablers to CALL THE POLICE AND REPORT THE ABUSE not quietly allow them to move around.

see (2 pages, click on next for 2nd page):
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371074854&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Excerpt only)
...
Kornfeld described at length at least three cases where problematic individuals or families were forced to leave the neighborhood. In each case, the rabbis in their new communities were also alerted. Far from the more modern Orthodox community coming to the rescue of the benighted haredim, on at least two occasions Kornfeld had to work hard to convince more modern elements in the community of the potential danger posed by individuals about whom he learned through international haredi social networks.
...

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

Much as I don't like to admit agreeing with anything Milty Slimebag says, I find much of his characterization of Dovid Cohen to be accurate. He is courageous and fearless. He was one the few to take the Agudah leadership on about the silence surrounding Kolko. He has spoken up for Agunot where no one else has. He came to the aid of my cousin, Reb Yaakov Reisman, when the yeshiva world was ready to let him hang. However, sometimes courage melts into obstinacy and the refusal to see the plain truth. I have had discussions with him where once his mind is made up, you can't confuse him with facts. And there are times that he is just plain wrong! Income taxes is certainly one. Accepting money from Mark Rich's partner Pinky Green is another. In the end, he a very fallible human being who has done some very good things and some very bad ones.

Oh yes, when I was still talking to Milty Slimebag, I mentioned something Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald said about who he goes to for advice, "You're trying to tell me Reb Dovid Cohen has no idea of daas Torah?" Balkany's comment was something to the effect that not only didn't he know if Dovid Cohen had da'as torah, but he wasn't sure that Dovid Cohen was completely sane! My, how time and a federal indictiment can change his perceptions!