Haredi New Jersey Real Estate Developer Sentenced To 41 Months In Prison

A Union City real estate developer who pleaded guilty last year to laundering $668,000 in dirty checks for government informant Solomon Dwek was sentenced this morning to 41 months in prison today.

 

Union City developer ensnared in Operation Bid Rig III sentenced to 41 months in prison
The Jersey Journal / NJ.com

A Union City real estate developer who pleaded guilty last year to laundering $668,000 in dirty checks for the government informant at the center of the sweeping Operation Bid Rig III sting was sentenced this morning to 41 months in prison.

Moshe "Michael" Altman, of Monsey, N.Y., had pleaded guilty in December to two counts of a 41-count indictment.

Altman sobbed in court this morning, distraught over the effect his actions have had on his family, Jersey Journal reporter Michaelangelo Conte says from the federal courthouse in Newark.

Altman pleaded guilty to "washing" about $668,000 for informant Solomon Dwek through the charity Cmach Shefa Chaim. Altman was charged alongside Union City real estate investor Itzhak Friedlander, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in April.

Altman admitted to engaging in some 15 separate money laundering transactions between February 2007 and July 2009, returning $547,350 in cash to Dwek and profiting $109,650.

According to the terms of his plea agreement, he faced 41 to 51 months in prison when he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Newark this morning.

Altman also admitted passing a bribe to John Guarini, a suspended Jersey City Housing Authority employee, in exchange for Guarini's official assistance getting approvals for a project in Jersey City.

Guarini is accused of accepting $50,000 in bribes and is also charged with tax fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Comments

[Garnel Ironheart]

Here's a thought: let's say this guy wasn't religious. Or let's say he wasn't Jewish. Would this story have made it into your blog?
Now you might say that you're trying to expose crime and corruption in the Chareidi world but think about this: this guy was a criminal who happened to be Chareidi. He didn't steal because he was Chareidi though. Had he been non-religious or non-Jewish, odds are he'd have had the same proclivity towards unearned gains as he does now. Certainly official Chareidism doesn't endorse this behaviour (even if its self-styled representatives seem to tolerate it).
So is your flashing his name across your blog for all to see fair, or is it anti-Semitic in a way?

[What kind of goyishe name is Harold z"l?]

Only 41 months? And Rubashkin gets 27 years? Where's the justice? My Rav says there is a tsunami coming our way.

[Monsey]

Garnel, I believe as a religious Jew myself that the point is as follows: We proclaim ourselves to be on a higher moral and spiritual plane than the rest of the world. If that is so then we need to either live up to that reputation as the chosen people or else give up that idea and fade into the masses. Chillul Hashem exists because we are seen by the world as Gods chosen ones. We tend to want to be seen as such and exploit our position. This is a wake up call to us telling us that our reputations are on the line and reforms are needed.

[itchiemayer]

Yasher Koach, Monsey. I could not have said it better myself. I hate when someone excuses this garbage by saying that all groups have their ganavim, rotten apples, etc.. Rabbis typically respond this way. My response to them is "aren't we supposed to be better, aren't we supposed to be an Or l'goyim? If we don't hold ourselves to a higher standard we will not reach that higher standard.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Monsey, I agree but here's my point: Being Chareidi, or any kind of Orthodox for that matter, is no longer about being better morally. It's about lifestyle. The differences between this criminal and the guy in the cell next to him are all superficial. The way he dresses, his daily routine, his dietary limitations, and so on. But morally, in terms of his ability to distinguish right from wrong, he has received no guidance from being Orthodox because Orthodoxy today doesn't provide such guidance. It tells you how to behave in a religious fashion but not a moral fashion. So why pick on him because he lives a Chareidi lifestyle?

[steve]

Garnel,

Isn't "being chareidi" by definition supposed to mean "being better morally?" After all, "chareidi" means one who fears G-d. If one indeed has the fear of G-d, how does he dare commit morally reprehensible acts?

[Deremes]

And the answer is Yes we are suppose to be better and by and large they are better.Even though many times we will hear how some will commit crimes and its a shame.
But still Frum orthodox Jews who go by what the Torah says,doesn't need any guidance from secular Jews how to behave ethically,morally or in any aspect.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Steve, you're right. That's the ideal and probably the original intent but over time it's clearly involved into a different definition: wears black suit and hat with white shirt, sways while davening and speaks fluent Yeshivish and won't admit in public to watching naughty videos on the internet. That seems to be the limit of it.

[Deremes]

Admitting sins in public,is against what it says in the Talmud.

[Mitch]

Thats funny,I'm just up to that part in the book....

[Isa]

"""Only 41 months? And Rubashkin gets 27 years? Where's the justice? """

Altman pled guilty cried his eyeballs out
Thats how come he 'only' gets 41 months

[Shlomo]

Garnel that's the whole point of this being published we have forgotten what it means to be religious we concentrate on looking different which in turn makes our sins stand out more. It used to be that only the truly pious would wear hasidic garb but now its just become a uniform.
We should be reminded that being religious primarily means being righteous in our relations and the rest is secondary

[heiligeyid112]

go ahead camp shira, take dwek's kids in camp. show people that theres nothing wrong with destroying the lives of so many people.
you should burn in hell forever.

[anon]

Why should the children be punished?
I guess the heilege yid thinks that the children should be run out of town along with the parents Did that to the accuser of Kolko

[Yona]

Halacha:

1. When a Goy loses an object, you don't have to return it, if the fact that you found it or the fact that you will not return it, remains anonymous.
2. If a Goyish store-owner makes a mistake in your favor, you don't have to tell him.
3. There is a dispute within the Rishonim, whether we must return a Goy's loan.
4. If our Ox hurts his Ox. there is no payment due.

This is thaught in Yeshivos, and then the children go out into the open world.

[WoolSilkCotton]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/
2011/03/nj_developer_gets_prison_term.html

Nice photo here.

Altman also did some singing for the feds:

"...The judge also noted that Altman had no previous run-ins with the law and that he had given the government information after his arrest..."

[esther]

Garnel:

I submit to you. That iit is a virtually religious tenet among Charedim and others of the Brooklyn/Monsey ilk to "help" other Jews, regardless of whether that constitues stealing according to civil law. THAT is why this is fair game -- and a crucial matter for Failed Messiah and ALL of us to scrutinize and address.

[Dave]

41,000 years would have been a more appropriate sentence.

[Moshe aron kestenbaum, Williamsburg ODA]

Altman is a MUSER that's why he got of light

[carlmen j kaplan]

i am a non observent jew who deals with religious jews, i am a kosher food distributor, and they all want to convert me to their way of life. when it comes time to perform in a fair and proper business manner they all have the same response--- try to get -over on the person with whom they are involved with so reading these stories about these folks are true the non believers are naive