Sunday, May 27, 2012

A Brooklyn, N.Y., rabbi is the last of five rabbis arrested in 2009 in a federal corruption sting to plead guilty in a New Jersey money laundering case

Federal prosecutors say that 60-year-old Lavel Schwartz has pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge in Trenton. Schwartz admitted that he and his brother, Brooklyn Rabbi Mordchai Fish, had agreed to launder what they were told were illicit funds for failed Monmouth County developer Solomon Dwek. Dwek became a cooperating witness for the federal government after his own bank fraud arrest. As part of their scheme, about $200,000 to $400,000 was moved through purported charities, with Dwek getting cash back through an underground money transfer network. Fish took a 10% cut.

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