In 1988 Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin was arrested – and later was convicted – along with another Orthodox Jew and 12 others for participation in an international money laundering ring. The ring sent the money it laundered to Colombia and Panama and was linked to cocaine trafficking.
A FailedMessiah.com reader sent me a surprise this morning: video from Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin's 1988 arrest.
I'm told that the rabbi standing next to Levitin, Rabbi Moses Londinski was later run of the Seattle Jewish community after multiple sexual allegations about him surfaced. Londinski, who was at the time one of the most important Orthodox rabbis on the West Coast, was accused of propositioning many female members of his congregation.
Levitin is still head of Chabad's Pacific Northwest and Seattle region, as you can see in the following screenshot. The video is posted immediately below it.