$3.1 million in Shuvu Banim property was also allegedly stolen through an apparently fictitious loan agreement made with key Shuvu Banim supporter Eran Hochberg, a ba'al teshuva (newly Orthodox Jew) and "chess genius" who is also a businessman who specializes in real estate and who is well-connected politically.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Ha'aretz has published a long piece on the tangled financial web of intrigue that makes up alleged sex criminal Rabbi Eliezer Berland's Shuvu Banim institutions and the Nechamat Zion Institutions of Breslov that funds them.
Essentially, a split in the Berland family between the alleged sex criminal and Shuvu Banim head Rabbi Eliezer Berland – now on the lam in Zimbabwe – on one hand and his son Rabbi Nachman Berland and Nachman's son Rabbi Natan Berland on the other has allegedly led to the theft of millions of dollars from the bank accounts of Nechamat Zion Institutions of Breslov.
That allegedly stolen money was then transferred into private bank accounts controlled by the younger Berlands or their wives and in to personal real estate owned by them.
Millions of dollars allegedly went missing this way every year.
$3.1 million in Shuvu Banim property was also allegedly stolen through an apparently fictitious loan agreement made with key Shuvu Banim supporter Eran Hochberg, a ba'al teshuva (newly Orthodox Jew) and "chess genius" who is also a businessman who specializes in real estate and who is well-connected politically.
Hochberg – allegedly in collusion with Nachman Berland – claimed millions of dollars he donated to Shuvu Banim - Nechamat Zion was really a loan – even though there was no documentation to support that claim.
Hochberg and Berland then allegedly used a rabbinic court to get a judgement for Hochberg worth $3.1 million, and took it to a state secular court which rubberstamped that religious court's decision without proper investigation.
Hochberg then took Shuvu Banim properties and sold them, netting $3.1 million – which he allegedly split with Nachman Berland.
Hochberg denies stealing the money.
In August, police arrested Hochberg, Nachman Berland (and apparently Natan Berland and another Breslov leader) and questioned them about the alleged looting of Shuvu Banim and Nechamat Zion.
The criminal investigation is reportedly ongoing.