>Mr. Dwek passed a $25 million bad check at a PNC Bank branch in 2006, Maybe this is off topic, but how the hell do you "pass" a $25 million bad check? Do you take it to the branch, give it to the teller and they wheel out $25 million in cash for you?
On Jul 23, 5:23 pm, dick thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > N.Y. / Region <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/index.html> > > * World <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html> > * U.S. <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.html> > * N.Y. / Region <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/index.html> > * Business <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.html> > * Technology <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html> > * Science <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html> > * Health <http://health.nytimes.com/pages/health/index.html> > * Sports <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/index.html> > * Opinion <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html> > * Arts <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/index.html> > * Style <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/index.html> > * Travel <http://travel.nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html> > * Jobs <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/jobs/index.html> > * Real Estate <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/realestate/index.html> > * Autos <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/automobiles/index.html> > > Advertise on NYTimes.com <http://www.nytimes.whsites.net/mediakit/> > > 2 N.J. Mayors Arrested in Broad Inquiry on Corruption > > * Sign in to Recommend <javascript:void(0);> > * comments > > <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyre...> > (208) > * > E-Mail <javascript:document.emailThis.submit();> > > * Send To Phone <javascript:void(0);> > * Print > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au=&emc=au&;...> > > * Reprints > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > * Share > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#>Close > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > > o Linkedin > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > o Digg > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > o Facebook > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > o Mixx > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > o MySpace > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#> > o Yahoo! 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HALBFINGER > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/david_m_...> > Published: July 23, 2009 > > The mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, two state assemblymen, five rabbis > and dozens of others were rounded up early Thursday as the F.B.I. > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/f...> > swept across New Jersey and Brooklyn as part of a two-year corruption > and international money-laundering investigation, the authorities said. > > Skip to next paragraph > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?8au&emc=au#s...> > > Enlarge This Image > <javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/07/23/nyregion/23jersey2.ready..., > '23jersey2_ready', > 'width=394,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> > <javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/07/23/nyregion/23jersey2.ready..., > '23jersey2_ready', > 'width=394,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> > David Bergeland/The Bergen Record, via Associated Press > > Mayor Dennis Elwell of Secaucus, left, boarded a bus at the F.B.I. > building in Newark, N.J. on Thursday after being taken into custody as > part of a corruption and money laundering conspiracy probe. > > Related > > Document Criminal Complaints in New Jersey Corruption Inquiry > <http://documents.nytimes.com/criminal-complaint-u-s-v-peter-cammarano...> > > Readers' Comments > > Share your thoughts on this article. > > * Post a Comment » > > <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyre...> > * Read All Comments (208) » > > <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyre...> > > The case ranges from the Jersey Shore to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and > even reaches into the State House in Trenton. It apparently began with > bank fraud charges against a member of an insular Syrian Jewish enclave > centered in the seaside town of Deal, N.J. But when that man became a > federal informant and posed as a crooked real estate developer offering > cash bribes to obtain government approvals, the case mushroomed into a > political scandal that could rival any of the most explosive and sleazy > episodes in New Jersey's recent past. > > "For these defendants, corruption was a way of life," Ralph J. Marra > Jr., the acting United States attorney in New Jersey, said at a 12:30 > p.m. news conference. "They existed in an ethics-free zone." > > Mr. Marra said that average citizens "don't have a chance" against the > culture of influence peddling the investigation had unearthed. > > Weysan Dun, the special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of > Investigation's Newark office, said the rabbis arrested --- including > the grand rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in the United States, > Saul Kassin of Brooklyn --- were part of a vast money-laundering > conspiracy with tentacles in Israel and Switzerland. Another person, > Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, was accused of enticing vulnerable > people to give up a kidney for $10,000 and then selling the organ for > $160,000. > > Mr. Dun emphasized that the case was motivated by neither religion nor > politics --- an important point given that the New Jersey governor's > race pits a former United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/christop...>, > under whom the investigation began, against the Democratic incumbent, > Jon S. Corzine > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/jon_s_co...>, > whose administration was not spared in the arrests Thursday. > > Agents also raided the homes of Joseph V. Doria Jr. > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/joseph_v...>, > commissioner of the state's Department of Community Affairs and a former > mayor of Bayonne, and the president of St. Peter's College > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/s...>, > the F.B.I. said. > > Among the roughly 30 people arrested by midmorning were Mayor Peter J. > Cammarano III of Hoboken and Mayor Dennis Elwell of Secaucus, both > Democrats, and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, a Republican from Forked > River, Ocean County. Mr. Cammarano, who turned 32 on Wednesday, was > elected mayor June 9 and sworn in July 1, after serving as councilman at > large since 2005. > > Mr. Corzine called a 1:30 p.m. news conference in Newark with Attorney > General Anne Milgram > <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/anne_mil...>. > "Any corruption is unacceptable --- anywhere, anytime, by anybody," the > governor said in a statement. "The scale of corruption we're seeing as > this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated." > > Also taken to the Newark office of the F.B.I. were the president of the > City Council in Jersey City, Mariano Vega, and the city's deputy mayor, > Leona Beldini. A criminal complaint said Mr. Vega took $10,000 just > before the municipal elections in May. > > The mayor of Ridgefield, Bergen County, Anthony R. Suarez, was charged > with accepting $10,000 in bribes. > > Mr. Van Pelt, who as an assemblyman oversees the Department of > Environmental Protection, was accused of accepting money to help the > informant obtain environmental permits. > <http://documents.nytimes.com/criminal-complaint-u-s-v-peter-cammarano...> > In a meeting in Atlantic City in February, prosecutors charged, Mr. Van > Pelt assured the informant that the environmental agency "worked for" > him, then took $10,000 in cash and told the informant to call him "any > time." > > The rabbis arrested were from enclaves of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn and in > Deal and Elberon, communities along the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County. > > The timing of the investigation dovetails with the timing of bank fraud > charges against Solomon Dwek, son of the founders of the Deal Yeshiva, a > religious school that teaches children in the Sephardic Jewish > tradition. Mr. Dwek passed a $25 million bad check at a PNC Bank branch > in 2006, according to The Asbury Park Press. > > In the investigation that yielded the arrests Thursday, the cooperating > witness posed as a real estate developer looking to build in one city > after another, repeatedly engaging politicians in illegal conduct > through a variety of middlemen, prosecutors said. > > In Hoboken, for example, prosecutors charge in their complaint, > <http://documents.nytimes.com/criminal-complaint-u-s-v-peter-cammarano...> > Mr. Cammarano eagerly agreed in a meeting at a diner earlier this year > to help the fake developer with his projects in exchange for cash. > Prosecutors said that when the man asked for assurances that his > requests would be expedited by the Hoboken City Council, Mr. Cammarano > replied, "I promise you," adding, "You're going to be, you're going to > be treated like a friend." > > The fake developer responded that he would give a middleman $5,000 in > cash for Mr. Cammarano and another $5,000 after his election as mayor. > > "O.K.," Mr. Cammarano replied, according to the complaint. "Beautiful." > > And Mr. Cammarano expressed confidence that he would be elected no > matter what, according to the complaint. "Right now, the Italians, the > Hispanics, the seniors are locked down," he is quoted as saying. > "Nothing can change that now." > > "I could be, uh, indicted," he continued, "and I'm still going to win 85 > to 95 percent of those populations." > > Reporting was contributed by Kitty Bennett, David W. Chen, Kareem Fahim, > William K. Rashbaum, Nate Schweber and Karen Zraick. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
