By Bob Norman, Tuesday, Mar. 23 2010
He won't give his name, but as he sat across from me in a Fort Lauderdale eatery today, he was clearly stressed as he talked about the place of worship, the Downtown Jewish Center Chabad.
The chabad has been in the news because Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein was not only a dedicated member but he helped build it with his ill-begotten money. Rothstein's name, which used to be on the building, has been removed, but the stain he has left on the congregation is far from removed, said the man.
He wouldn't give his name for fear of retaliation and losing, as he put it, "everything." He said he has become disillusioned with the DJCC, Rabbi Schneur Kaplan, and the entire chabad movement since Rothstein's billion-dollar Ponzi scheme imploded in late October.
But a slight smile crosses his face when he remembers first meeting Rothstein five or six years ago.
"He was driving a red Rolls-Royce, a Corniche II convertible with red leather interior," said the man. "It was a very nice car. And he had a great voice, a beautiful voice,
voice, a beautiful tenor. There was a joke that if the law career thing didn't pan out he could have a career as a singer. Who knew how funny that would become? Now he's singing like a canary."
Rothstein has indeed been cooperating with the government since his return from Morocco and is expected to join the Witness Protection Program after helping to make a case against an alleged Sicilian mobster. His former chabad, however, isn't being quite so talkative. Earlier this month, Rabbi Kaplan invoked the "clergy privilege" to try to thwart bankruptcy attorneys' attempts to determine if the chabad owes Rothstein creditors any clawback funds.
The insider says he has come to expect such secrecy from the chabad, which he calls, at its heart, a cult. The Chabad Lubavitch movement is too complicated to be described here, so I turn to our old friend Wikipedia for a link to help you understand it.
"The whole Chabad Lubavitch movement is a cult," he said. "They encourage you to do more and then a little more and then a little more. If you did a dollar today, they ask that you do a dollar-ten tomorrow. They deify the rabbi, and the whole thing is geared toward a united world Jewry. Everything that goes well is the work of God. What goes bad is the work of Satan, so you must do more tzedakah, charity. It's a very secretive organization, and at its core, it exists as a fundraiser."
Bankruptcy investigators want all records the chabad has related to Rothstein and a list of all its donors since 2007. A court hearing on the chabad's attempt to block those requests is scheduled for April 7. A phone call I left with Rabbi Kaplan at the chabad was unreturned at the time this post was published.
"The privilege protects Kaplan from being rolled up in the Rothstein case, and it prevents the government from seizing the building," said the chabad insider. "Think about it: Right around the time Scott started with Kaplan was the time he started giving the money to build the synagogue. Rothstein put a lot of money into building that chabad."
How much?
"I believe it's three to five million dollars, but I haven't seen the numbers...," said the insider. "Rothstein once told Kaplan that he was going to buy him a house. Rothstein said he loved Kaplan. Rothstein never refused the rabbi a dollar, and when the rabbi needed money, he went to Rothstein. The rabbi comes across as this charming, charismatic man who is otherwise unassuming and doesn't make judgments. But I'll tell you now, he's the fucking Jim Bakker of Judaism."
The insider remembers the dedication of Kaplan's new chabad last year, when Rothstein gave a speech. Rothstein's name was placed on the outside of the chabad, along with that of his good friend, Ovadia Levy.
"I remember Scott gave this speech where he talked about how walking with the rabbi was like he was a little boy again and walking with his grandfather," said the insider. "Then he said, 'I go down on bended knee for you people for your good works. I salute you.' And there he is on his knee in his $10,000 suit. It was great theater and total bullshit."
The source recounted how Rothstein would drive to the chabad in his array of sports cars, the Ferrari, the Rolls, the Bugatti. He recounted seeing his giant rolled wad of cash held together with a rubber band. He said he would throw hundreds at waiters like someone "throwing dollar bills at a stripper."
The source also said that Rothstein made several day trips to New York in his plane, and he suspects he went there to hide money. And he suspects, though he's not certain, that he may have hidden some money in what he calls the "invisible banks" of the Jewish Orthodox world.
"Chabad has a system of invisible banks; it has internal, in-house money lenders and internal deposits," said the source. "It's all based on trust and who you know. Say I'm going to give $100,000. I give the money, and then I get a little piece of paper with writing in Hebrew on it that has instructions. I get to Israel, I give them the piece of paper, and they give you the money. It's the same thing that's been going on in banks for centuries, only there is no oversight, no records, no taxes."
Interestingly, Kaplan's chabad isn't even recognized on chabad.org, a website that is run "under the auspices of the Lubavitch World Headquarters." The insider says the reason for this is simple: Kaplan broke away from the sanctioned Lubavitch world and started his own renegade chabad in downtown without authorization.
The source said that the chabad system is all based on a territorial system and that the leader of the South Florida territory is Rabbi Abraham Korf, director of the Lubavitch Education Center in Miami Beach. Korf, he said, oversees all chabad operations from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys, and any new chabad must be approved by Korf, he said.
Kaplan came to South Florida in the late '90s and initially worked with Rabbi Moishe Meir Lipszyc of the Chabad Lubavitch of Fort Lauderdale. He said that Kaplan eventually broke from Lipszyc's chabad and took several of his followers with him, including former NFL player Alan "Schlomo" Veingrad and attorney Peter Itzler.
"He broke contact with the [chabad hierarchy] and set out on his own and did what he had to do," said the source. "In other words, he put his interests first. It was right around that time that he met Scott."
The insider says he wonders if the truth will ever come out about the Ponzi money Rothstein paid to Kaplan's chabad and likens the secrecy around the transactions to the Catholic Church scandals involving pedophilic priests.
"It's like dealing with the pope: Everything is a secret," said the source. "Why does the Catholic Church cover up child molestation? It's the same story here, only on this end, it's all about the money."
The insider said that in the end, the government has a duty to get to the bottom of everything when it comes to Rothstein, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.
"If we are cleaning out the criminals, we have to get them all," he said. "You have to go all the way. You can't leave just a little bit of the cancer behind."
From the comments section:
Allen Dulles says:
Now we are getting somewhere. The italian bullshit was entertaining, but a diversion.
____________________________________________
March 22-23, 2010 -- SPECIAL REPORT --WMR reporting from Rabat, Morocco --Morocco and AIPAC -- what they have in common
As the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) begins its annual meeting in Washington on March 22, all the focus will be on the reported frayed relations between the Obama administration and the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu. One might think Morocco would be the furthest item on AIPAC's agenda. However, a nexus between leading American Jewish organizations, including AIPAC, the U.S. embassy in Rabat -- which appears to have become an ambassadorship virtually guaranteed to AIPAC loyalists -- and Morocco's own version of the Palestinian Occupied Territories in Western Sahara, has turned Morocco into a vital part of Israel's overseas influence peddling network....
One of the net results of the Israeli full-court press in Morocco is increased Israeli investment, particularly in Tangier, where an Israeli investment firm has bought land for a hotel, shopping mall, and housing complex. Morocco is also expanding its resorts, including world class golf courses, with a heavy infusion of American Jewish investment capital.
___________________________________________
Where did Scotty fly to again when the proverbial shit hit the fan?
NEGOT8R says:
Zouheir Chorfi, Director of the Treasury and External Finance, says that money laundering has a negative impact on the country’s economy and is threatening its stability by enabling organised financial crime to take root.
He explained that Morocco’s full range of financial services combined with lax oversight has made the country a favorite location for criminals seeking to stockpile money earned through fraud.
Allen Dulles says:
WMR reports:
"AIPACers will also be pressing for the cause of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and the resultant expansion of Moroccan settlements in that illegally-occupuied territory -- including those financed by Israeli interests linked to Moroccan and American Jews anxious to turn the California-like northwest coast of Africa, from Tangier to the Mauritanian border, into a new playground for the "rich and famous."
____________________________________________
You know where Scotty is going? No one will ever know. POOF.....he's gone. That's all we'll ever know. Anything is possible.
POOF!
Menachem Mendel lll says:
Mr. Norman,
As you know the majority of my post were at first directed specifically at Chabad.
Because of my fluency in Yiddish and Gemmarah at first I was a real novelty to them as they were to me. Similar to Carleton Heston (Taylor) in The Planet Of The Apes. The "novelty" wore off quickly once I understood who and what I was dealing with.
One experience comes to mind. I had a discussion with a Chabad Rabbi and I quoted a line from the Tanach. He had no expression at all as if we were sitting across from each other at a professional poker tournament. Fast forward he had no clue about what I was taking about and what I mentioned was grade 9 Hebrew Day School material.
I was curious so I begin investigating the courses one must take to become a Chabad "Rabbi". Chabad churns out "rabbis" and ordains them with a "Smicha" so quickly they know little more when they "graduate" than before they walked in with the exception of the Tanya that nobody in their right mind except Chabadniks reads or gives a rat's ass about.
There are 3 levels of Simicha that one can obtain. The majority of Chabad "Rabbis" are level one at best whatever that means according to their "standards". They are good for Jews who know absolutely nothing about Judaism and "need" something to grab on to.
A congregant with too much formal education is a bad thing when you being to Chabad.
That is why I question how much so called Jewish knowledge The Hebrew Avenger had.
Scotty needed Chabad as much as Chabad needed Scotty.
IMHO the Benevolent one wanted to rewrite history with the deck stacked in his favour and with a billion dollar advantage over everyone else he couldn't help but "win". The fact that he made it his business to attend Chabad with a new half million dollar car means only 1 thing to me and since Scotty's mom is reading this perhaps she can verify what I am suggesting.
Showing off by driving anonymously up and down Sunrise doesn't cut it. He needed to be validated. For that he needed "his own" to compare and contrast against. He needed to "succeed" not for himself but in the eyes of others and specifically The Jews.
Attending services at Chabad was not for religious reasons for Scotty it was for him to be acknowledge and worshipped by all. At Chabad he was a big fish in a very small " pond . If he went to the Yacht Club with Mega Billionaires and tried the same tricks and moves they would see though him and he would know it.
Menachem Mendel lll says:
Chabad will NEVER ever return a thing.
Finders keepers losers weepers.
Short of a court ordered repossession they will NEVER surrender a red cent.
Since Jewish Law takes a back seat to "the laws of the land" it will be very interesting to see how this unfolds when that day finally arrives because by then everything will be long gone and they no speaky english while the innocent investors are screwed.
Much of the Wikipedia info you quoted is incorrect.
Wikipedia as you know can be edited by anyone including you or I.
"Everything that goes well is the work of God. What goes bad is the work of Satan, so you must do more tzedakah, charity." This is not accurate or true.
"It's a very secretive organization and at its core it exists as a fundraiser."
This is so accurate I was shocked to see it in print. BULLS EYE.
Chabad Shuls are very similar to a McDonalds or Pizza franchise. Each so called "rabbi" has his 'territory' and he gets to 'works it'. They all hope and pray to land a "whale" since that is the name of the game as far as the business end of Chabad goes since the majority of congregants who attend Chabad are not big spenders. If they were big spenders they would go to a synagogue where annuals fees are not cheap.
Landing a "Rothstein" was a textbook example of what you read about and how it's done Chabad style. Very similar to how Casinos woo high rollers.
If Chabad did Kimee's conversion (Chabad does NOT do conversions) I suspect that the "conversion" may be questionable especially based on the millions of dollars involved (motive) and not upsetting the delicate balancing act that went on at "Chabad" of Downtown Fort Lauderdale between the "rabbi" and Rothstein.
S. Rosenberg @ failedmissiah.com is an expert on the subject matter and he is a nice guy as well!
Dwight Mostofsky says:
Menachem Mendel -
I grew up in Canada too (your "Grade 9 is the giveaway!) and we probably learned at the same yeshiva.
Your story reminded me of a similar experience. I was at a shabbat lunch with a Chabad shliach who gave a dvar torah that amounted to the deification of Moshe.
When I went over after the lecture and told him that his comments directly contradicted the psukim (verses) that immediately followed the ones he quoted, he looked at me with the same glazed poker-face you describe, then looked up at his wife, and must have given her some sort of signal because she came to the rescue, saying they needed to leave but we could pick up the conversation at another time (rolling my eyes).
Chabad people are great for a meal and a shot of vodka, but don't bother talking religion with them, they're less equipped than a Grade 7 Eitz Chaim kid!
Pulp says:
Rothstein met Kaplan around 2005. For a while, the chabad met in a ballroom at the Riverside Hotel.
Fun fact: Kaplan used to drive to Ovi Levy's house in the mornings where he put a tefillin on Levy and prayed with him. Levy, of course, was Rothstein's pal and another big donor to the chabad.
Menachem Mendel lll says:
Chabad is a owner operated franchise.
The Rabbi 'may' get some coin to start the "Chabad House" in order to get the ball rolling if he is sent to a desolate location. If they can't make it, there is no magical Chabad.Org out there that will pick up the tab for rent, kosher food, passover seders, hebrew schools etc. to make sure lowlifes such as myself are assured a sence of Yiddishkite Uber Alles and to help guide my sole or Neshumah.
Get this, Chabad O/O franchisees must kick back Chabad Central for organized events, travel, for the use of Chabad.Org etc where
They read up the Parsha the Shabos of, then regugitate it back to their congregrats since they churn out the "rabbis" so quickly they retain little at best when they walk out the door to "guide wondering Jews" such as yours truly.
One Chabad Rabbi tried to skin me alive finacncial. He asked me for a "loan" of $10,000.00 because of the above reasons that I mentioned (my wife a lawyer begged me to allow her to write up a contract) I refused because I "believed" in them at the time. Very big mistake!
Fast forward.. the so called Rabbi called me at home and asked if I am willing to "convert my interest free LOAN to him into a GIFT" while knowing that I desperately needed the money to pay my property taxes and mortgage.
If I did not get the loan back we would have lost our house.
According to Jewish law you cannot charge a fellow Jew interest. Not only did I squeeze that fucker Rabbi to pay me interst compounded daily I threw in a service charge for all the pain and suffering I went through.
He just took it the money from some unsuspecting person who donated and paid me because he had no choice.
Next stop for me...Buddhism or Wiccanism with a Yiddish accent on the side.
Joe Friday says:
Back to the beginning....Scott bankrolled the first house on 46th ave, neighbors complained, hollywood started fining them, feds got involved, sued the city and won a million, bought up 12 new forclosed homes in the hills and still counting, park their CASH FOR GOLD emblazened van in the bank parking lot behind newly purchased property across the street, and the house next door, all the cult walk from million dollar houses in emerald hills to our lowly hollywood hills, zoneing laws bedammed.
Allen Dulles says:
WMR reported on November 29/30, 2008:
"There is a history of Chabad Houses not only being used as safehouses and logistics centers for Israeli intelligence but as storefronts for criminal activity. In March 1989, U.S. law enfocement rounded up a criminal network in Seattle, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Colombia, and Israel that involved a Chabad House that was involved in money laundering and currency violations."
"In 2007, Israeli police arrested top Chabad leaders for laundering money from Kfar Chabad, Israel. Israel's Channel 10 reported that one of the suspected money launderers using the Chabad operation was Arkadi Gaydamak, a Russian-Israeli mafiosi figure who recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Jerusalem. Among those arrested was Yosef Aharanov, director of the Young Chabad Association, who the Jerusalem Post reported had been the head of the "Bibi is Good for the Jews" campaign that championed Chabad support for Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister in 1996."
Allen Dulles says:
WMR reports:
July 27, 2009 -- North Jersey: epicenter of "Kosher Nostra" and Mossad activity
"The recent rolling up of a Syrian Jewish criminal syndicate that was involved in buying off local elected and appointed government officials in north Jersey is but one in a long series of law enforcement operations directed, sometimes unsuccessfully due to the immense power of the Israel Lobby in the United States, against Jewish criminal networks in the New Jersey-New York region. These criminal networks also have one important thing in common: close connections to Israeli politicians and businessmen.
The FBI used a confidential witness to identify a number of Syrian Jewish rabbis who were using synagogues and yeshivas as money laundering fronts reportedly for the illegal sale of knock-off designer hand bags and even human organs. The witness, Solomon Dwek, is a major real estate developer and gambling boat owner who was arrested in 2006 for trying to pass a bad check and defraud PNC Bank of $25 million. Dwek is a member of the powerful Syrian Jewish clan in New Jersey and New York, which has been called the SY Empire" and the "Dwek clan."
Dwek's father, Isaac Dwek, is a rabbi of a synagogue and yeshiva school in the Syrian Jewish enclave of Deal, New Jersey, on the Jersey shore. Deal is a nexus for the radical Israeli right that is opposed to any peace agreement with the Palestinians and the ultra-orthodox Israeli Shas Party, a member of the current Israeli coalition government, has held fundraisers in Deal. The Syrian Jewish community is also heavily involved in worldwide Chabad Houses"
_________________________________________
How is your jigsaw puzzle doing? Mine is coming along quite well.
The Prolific Pulp reports:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/02/murray_huberfeld_and_solomon_dweck.php
larryboy says:
Re the Dwek faction of the Syrian Jewish mob. Guess its pretty obvious why the ancient Dweks settled in Syria and didn't venture into the Pale of settlement. A name like Dwek doesnt translate well into Polish.
Re Solomon Dwek, master criminal, a question,
Who looks more like Peter Griffin, beloved cartoon character, Peter's ancestor Nate Griffin
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj150/Kosheen618/web%20stuff/NateGriffin.png
or
Solomon Dwek, master criminal:
http://blogs.app.com/inthemoney/files/2009/07/dwek.jpg
Just Sayin' says:
I recall my only little personal observation about Rabbi Kaplan that seemingly confirms he is a charlatan. I was at Bova's Las Olas back in late 2008 (it was October or November) on a Friday evening around 8 pm. I was having drinks with some friends who worked at RRA. Keep in mind I wrote this was a FRIDAY EVENING (i.e., the Jewish Sabbath) and in walks a bearded guy in a suit and Lubavitch hat (sames as Kaplan is wearing in all the above pictures). One of the people I'm with comments "Oh, that's Scott's rabbi at the Chabad." IN A BAR ... ON A FRIDAY NIGHT ... AFTER SUNSET. I raises some real questions about what kind of rabbi is this? I'm just sayin' ...'
Menachem Mendel lll says:
FYI 99.9% out there cannot speak a word of Yiddish other than the few words that have made their way into maninstream english via Websters and many of those words are infact Polish. Blasphemy!
Even the vast majority of Chabad grads over the past say 10-20 know little at best since it is a 'dying' language similar in a way to what happened with Latin.
Christy says:
Deserves a repost:
"The bidding went around the room, with people bidding $200 or $300. Then it came around to Scott Rothstein.
"One thousand times chai," Rothstein said.
Chai is 18, the holiest Jewish number. So Rothstein bought the aliyah -- basically the honor of standing at the bima when the Torah is open and read -- for $18,000."
"Between the two of them, Rothstein and Levy bought all the aliyahs, said an attendee at the chabad that day. "Rothstein must have dropped over $100,000 that day alone," said the source"
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/11/rothsteins_spending_swagger_we.php
lawyer says:
It has been rumored for years that jewish members of the bar would donate money to the synagogue. Get the write off on their taxes and then get the money back in cash less the taxes or some portion of the taxes form the Rabbis. The cash could then be used to pay off the police, tow truck drivers and other runners that demanded cash from the attorney for sending clients/cases his way.
Did Ovi or Scott clean the money to make payoffs to politicians? Or some other sinister purpose? Inquiring minds want to know Rabbi Kaplan.
Go4It says:
CASH CASH CASH. Not enough focus is being put on this. Do you think he bought the jewelry with just his credit cards and checks???NO WAY...he used lots of cash. And they didn't report it as income you can bet.
Kimmie spent a million on the Amex card and twice that in CASH.
The cigar man, the Bova man, the Chabad man, Chief Adderly, Lamberti, Meatballs...all received CASH baby you better believe it and NONE of them reported it. If the FEDs don't get this out of Scotty boy along with the "who knew and where's it hidden crap" they are not doing their job!! Boca PD is in on it too and no one even mentions them.
CASH is the name of the game.
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