2 More Haredi Get Extortion Ring Members Plead Guilty

Two members of a haredi gang that allegedly used electric cattle prods and other means of torture to coerce recalcitrant husbands to grant their estranged wives gets (Jewish divorces) have pleaded guilty.

 

2 More Haredi Get Extortion Ring Members Plead Guilty
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Two members of a haredi gang that allegedly used electric cattle prods and other means of torture to coerce recalcitrant husbands to grant their estranged wives gets (gittin; Jewish divorces) have pleaded guilty, Reuters reported.

Brothers Avrohom Goldstein, 34, and Moshe Goldstein, 31 – two members of the ten-member gang allegedly headed by Rabbi Mendel Epstein – pleaded guilty, federal prosecutors announced this afternoon.

Avrohom Goldstein pleaded guilty today to traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion.

Moshe Goldstein pleaded guilty to the same charge yesterday.

Both men also admitted that they and accomplices restrained, assaulted and injured a man in Brooklyn in another divorce extortion attempt on on August 22, 2011.

Moshe Goldstein will be sentenced on June 16.

Avrohom Goldstein’s sentencing is scheduled for June 20.

Each could be sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Last week, another member of the divorce extortion ring – 31-year-old David Hellman, a New York City personal trainer – pleaded guilty.

Hellman's sentencing is scheduled for June 12.

The other seven men – including the brothers' father Jay Goldstein and Rabbis Mendel Epstein, Martin Wolmark, and Sholom Shuchat - reportedly still face criminal charges.

Comments

[Moe Ginsburg]

Glad to see the Feds sticking up for men in divorce proceedings that are wronged.

[Moe Ginsburg]

Good for the Feds for defending men in divorce who are wronged.

[ZocDoc]

1. NO cattle prod was EVER USED by these men. These defendents have NEVER EVEN SEEN a cattle prod.

2. the guilty plea is a reduction of charges much LESS than penalties stated above.

3. The prosecution has sensationalized the issue and invited the press to do the same.

4. All of the defendents are university students, and yeshiva studenrs. All have families and/or children of their own.

5. None received any worthy payment; most of them volunteered for what they were told is 'hatzolas nafoshos' of a trapped agunah.

6. They, themselves fell into a trap organized by a disgruntled orthodox couple working with the FBI.

7. Above all, we are to respect the American Law, and realize that the law is here to protect us all from recklessness.

8. We MUST make provisions for a woman NOT to be trapped in a marriage to an evil-minded man-- through pre-nups or kiddushin al 'tanei' -- and we MUST respect the statutes of the country in which we live.

[WoolSilkCotton; I must be seen to be believed]

Moe, the Feds are sticking up for victims of criminal assault, kidnapping, etc., not for who-did-what in their divorce.

The orthodox religion needs to get their medieval divorce laws in order. That's not the government's job.

[!]

to Zoodoc

Just curious how you could possibly know whether or not the defendantS had ever even seen a cattle prod.

[FlatEarth]

ZocDoc - "and we MUST respect the statutes of the country in which we live."

Exactly; so join society and stop being a mindless cult victim. Get a divorce from your hasidic jihad husband in civil court and walk away from these assholes. A cult religious marriage doesn't matter.

[ZocDoc]

To !

i personally know the defendents. i personally know that they have NEVER seen a cattle prod.

in addition, my family has a farm with 12 cows. we do NOT use cattle prods. we mobilize the animals by offering them fresh-cut grass.

[JekyllJacobson]

Getting a civil divorce and remarrying won't stop the future children from being mamzerim.
Ah! Now I know where all of you bastards came from.
Epstein provided a much needed service for the community. Men should give their wives a get as soon as she asks for one. Period. The terrorizing of woman has got to stop regardless of what it takes to make that happen. The government ought to stay out the heck out of our affairs since they cannot provide agunoth with a real solution. Epstein's only mistake is that he let these cretins live...

[JekyllJacobson]

Getting a civil divorce and remarrying won't stop the future children from being mamzerim.
Ah! Now I know where all of you bastards came from.
Epstein provided a much needed service for the community. Men should give their wives a get as soon as they ask for one. Period. The terrorizing of women has got to stop regardless of what it takes to make that happen. The government ought to stay out the heck out of our affairs since they cannot provide agunoth with a real solution. Epstein's only mistake is that he let these cretins live...

[Eli Weisman]

This is disgusting that they are trying to put these guys away for years for doing what absolutely needs to be done. Anyone who sympathizes with the "victims" is obviously an ignorant anti-Semite. These "victims" are filthy scum. The same people who defend them would probably defend pedophiles too. Sick!