Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto ordered a New York City police officer to arrest his top aide’s business rival, according to allegations in a civil complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court on February 19, 2014

The officer, Detective Eric Patino, allegedly said that he would release the rival, an Israeli businessman named Tomer Shohat, if Shohat gave him a computer containing information that he had gathered on alleged misconduct by Ben Zion Suky, Pinto’s right-hand man. Pinto, a powerful Israeli rabbi, is at the center of an unrelated scandal that’s made headlines in Israel in recent weeks. Haaretz reported on February 21, 2014 that authorities are preparing to indict Pinto on charges of bribing and threatening Israeli police. Pinto is about to be indicted for threatening and attempting to bribe Israeli police officers. In October 2012, Pinto and his wife were placed under house arrest in connection to the same bribery case. Suky is a former pornography distributor with multiple legal entanglements related to his real estate investments.