A Brooklyn rabbi has been sentenced Monday to two years in prison after pleading guilty in a Los Angeles court in a tax fraud and money laundering scheme benefiting the ultra-Orthodox Spinka sect.
Rabbi Moshe Zigelman was a key figure in an alleged
conspiracy in which he and others solicited millions of dollars for
five Spinka charities. Contributors received receipts for large sums
to use as charity write-offs on their tax returns, while secretly
getting back 80-95 percent of their “donations.”
In 2006 alone, Zigelman helped solicit more than $8.5
million, of which $750,000 was kept by the Spinka charities, the
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported.
Zigelman, 61, served as gabbai (assistant) to Grand Rabbi
Naftali Tzi Weisz, leader of the Chassidic sect, who will go on trial
June 19, together with four Los Angeles businessmen.
Israeli banker Joseph Roth was previously sentenced to 14
months, after entering a guilty plea in the scam.
Spinka is a Chassidic group which originated in 19th century
Romania and has adherents in Israel, Europe and Brooklyn.
According to the indictment, the operation lasted from 1996
to 2007 and involved a network of Los Angeles businesses, donors, and
the Tel Aviv-based United Mizrahi Bank and its Los Angeles branch.
At the sentencing, Zigelman, who spoke through an
interpreter, again acknowledged his guilt, expressed remorse and
asked for leniency, drawing a parallel to Kol Nidre and teshuvah
(atonement), the Jewish Journal reported.
However, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter noted that
Zigelman was the No. 2 man in the scheme, adding, “It’s difficult to
understand how such an individual could lose his moral compass.”
Present in the courtroom were more than 50 Spinka adherents
who had flown in from Brooklyn, including Zigelman’s wife and 10 of his 12 children.