New York Post
Jail Deal for
Rabbis in Holocaust scam
By Christopher Francescani
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KICKBACK SCHEME:
Rabbi Efroim Stein (left), with an unidentified
companion, was sentenced yesterday by a judge who
reluctantly OK'd the plea deal.
Mary Altaffer
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August 10, 2001 -- A Brooklyn federal judge reluctantly
agreed to a plea deal yesterday in which two Brooklyn rabbis - one a
former adviser to then-Mayor Ed Koch - will serve 33 months in prison
for swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars earmarked for
Holocaust survivors.
Noting the "wanton fraud and venality" of rabbis stealing from
Holocaust victims, U.S. District judge Raymond Dearie said he "might
think twice about buying into this agreement," but said he'd been
swayed by the two rabbis' apparent lifelong service to the Hasidic
communities in Brooklyn.
"As you read this file and try and reconcile all the things people
say about these two men with the crimes they committed, it's
seemingly in contrast to everything they stood for as members of the
community."
Rabbis Jacob Bronner, 51 - who served for 12 years as Koch's
unpaid adviser - and Rabbi Efroim Stein, 55, controlled the
non-profit Project Social Care. The group received a $2.5 million
grant in 1995 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development to create a counseling program "tailored to meet the
needs of elderly Holocaust survivors," helping them "deal directly
with the Holocaust experience."
The rabbis then paid grant money to the Council of Jewish
Organizations of Borough Park in a deal in which the council kicked
back the cash to businesses controlled by Bronner and Stein. Several
COJO officials were convicted of fraud in the late 1990s.
The pair also paid for nonexistent goods and services from
companies that also kicked the money back to the rabbis.
Funds were also paid to several of Stein's relatives for
nonexistent training; that money was then funneled into a
Stein-controlled synagogue.
Dozens of letters of support detailing the rabbis' charity work in
Borough Park were submitted to the court, and a crowd of Hasidim
turned out to voice their support.
"I did a very stupid thing," Bronner said in court. "I literally
ruined Project Social Care. I regret this more than anything
else.
"I guess you might say that good you have done has been
undermined," Dearie told the rabbis before sentencing them.
The pair, who paid $162,500 in restitution, will surrender on Oct.
15, after the Jewish holidays.
