Orthodox Man From Queens Busted For Allegedly Hiding Mother’s Death To Steal 4 Years Of German Holocaust Reparations Payments

A 61-year-old Orthodox man from Forest Hills, Queens, New York allegedly hid the death of his mother for four years to illegally keep collecting German Holocaust reparations meant for her.

Above: Gary Jacoby leaving a Queens courthouse 7-31-2014 (Daily News)

Orthodox Man From Queens Busted For Allegedly Hiding Mother’s Death To Steal 4 Years Of German Holocaust Reparations Payments
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A 61-year-old Orthodox man from Forest Hills, Queens, New York allegedly hid the death of his mother for four years to illegally keep collecting German Holocaust reparations meant for her, the New York Daily News reported.

When 93-year-old Laura Jacoby died in January 2008, her son Gary allegedly colluded with a notary public and forged papers to hide her death from the Germans, going as far as going to the German Embassy in March 2012 and telling embassy officials that his mother was still alive.

Over the four-year period between Laura Jacoby’s death and the the fraud being exposed, Gary Jacoby allegedly illegally collected $56,000 in reparations from the German government.

“We are not guilty,” Jacoby’s wife told reporters as the couple left a Queens court yesterday. For his part, her husband, who was wearing a green polo shirt and a black leather yarmulke, said he expects the charges against him will be dropped.

Jacoby’s attorney, Samuel Karliner, called the arrest of his client a publicity stunt by Queens DA Richard Brown.

Karliner noted that Laura Jacoby first applied for reparation from Germany in the 1960s but was repeatedly rejected until her claim was finally accepted in the 1990s, apparently implying that the German’s owed the family the money Gary Jacoby allegedly stole.

Karliner also said if his client really did steal the money, it could have been repaid without an arrest and criminal charges.

“This arrest never had to happen. This arrest was about a press release,” Karliner insisted, adding that the New York-based liaison to the German government had insisted the case be criminally prosecuted.

Jacoby was arraigned yesterday in Queens Criminal Court on grand larceny and forgery charges. If convicted, he faces as much as 15 years in prison.

He was released without bail and has a scheduled court appearance October 14.

Comments

[hirsh y]

The New York Daily News does not describe him as an Orthodox man. How do you know that he is orthodox? Is he perhaps an orthodox Christian?

[hirsh y]

"who was wearing a green polo shirt and a black leather yarmulke" is not in the New York Daily News report.

[normpress]

I disagree with the concept of this posting. When leaders of orhtodox communities do bad things or use their official capacity to perpetrate frauds its a legitimate story which should reflect badly on their groups. Here a person did something bad-yes it was related to holocaust reparations but he just happened to be a Jew and probably Orthodox. Things like this happen involving all groups and social security checks. If there is some kind of organized scam (like the IRS scam you reported on yesterday) its a story-here its just something that happens in the US all the time and identifying the perp as orthodox just is not relevant.

[Account Deleted]

I hear your point normpress: "Things like this happen involving all groups and social security checks," but it has been said before countless times, when you claim to be god's chosen people and superior to all humankind, greater scrutiny in in order.

In addition, I for one derive tremendous chizuk and inspiration from such reported events. It reminds me that that the only way to even begin to approach morality in my own life is to reject the orthodox culture.

Why? The typical haredi will view what this man did as no big deal. Most would actually be impressed by his activity. They, the Haredim would however look down upon him for the color of his shirt, his lack of hair on his face, and most importantly, his use of the internet.

[revevread5]

seen him around ..creepy

[Shmarya]

hirsh y –

The P-H-O-T-O the Daily News posted shows him in a green polo shirt and black leather yarmulke.

The C-A-P-T-I-O-N of that photo reads: "Gary Jacoby leaves Queens Criminal Court on Thursday after being arraigned on charges of grand larceny and forgery."

[Shmarya]

normpress –

I report crime in the Orthodox and haredi communities just like local papers report crime in their communities and hyper-local sites like patch report crimes from their neighborhood or block.

Haredim make a claim – that they are holier than other Jews and more correctly Orthodox than other Orthodox Jews, and their theology is that they are supposed to be "a light onto the nations."

Non-haredi Orthodox Jews make similar, although less strident, claims.

Therefore the crime members of those communities commit is newsworthy, just as it is newsworthy.

Additionally, haredi rabbinic leaders are very lax about these types of crimes and generally do nothing to discourage them from being committed – until the crimes are exposed in teh media. And often they fail to oppose the criminals and the crimes even then.

To say this is just like what happens with the atheist community or liberal religious communities is false.

The only true parallel is with other closed and semi-closed societies.

[Yahoshua David]

Wow thats terrible that he's stealing like that.

Also terrible how people feel entitled to collect payments. Sorry not a fan of anything Holocaust because it causes moral hazard like the above to happen. When you send out payments, you create reliance, lose your dignaty, and the alternative religion of Holocaustism now owns you. Holocaustism is a false religion that damages the soul and is bad for Us as a whole.

[Isa]

American authorities are starting to catch on with regarding these scams

One guy got caught with hiding some dead person in a freezer. The authorities noticed that the dead person had not seen a doctor in three years

[seth]

His mother's abuse gives new meaning to the title of holocaust survivor. Extradite him to Germany and let him serve time there.

[Edith]

She's not dead, she's resting.