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.