Lakewood, NJ – Federal authorities continue to probe the dealings of a Lakewood real estate investor charged with having masterminded a $200 million Ponzi scheme that preyed on members of the Orthodox Jewish community.
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Eliyahu Weinstein, 35, was charged Thursday with one count each of bank fraud and wire fraud, and remains incarcerated at least until a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
“The investigation is continuing,” said U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael. Carmichael said she couldn’t comment on whether more charges are imminent.
Meanwhile, Manalapan resident Vladimir Siforov, also named in the criminal complaint with Weinstein, remained at large Friday. Carmichael said she could not comment on federal efforts to apprehend him.
Weinstein and Siforov were charged with defrauding a Chicago-based financial institution and an investor based in the United Kingdom of about $200 million.
FBI spokesman Bryan L. Travers said Friday that a house in Westfield was also raided Thursday morning in connection with the Weinstein arrest, but he would not go into further detail about the raid.
Weinstein also faces an arrest warrant in New York, spurred by his refusal to obey subpoenas in a 3-year-old lawsuit against him.
Wallace Neel, a New York City lawyer who represents a consortium of investors suing Weinstein for $6 million, said the subpoenas were issued in an effort to find Weinstein’s assets after the judgment was issued.
“We’re anxious to see what the government can come up with in terms of assets,” he said.
There is a line of Weinstein’s creditors, all with judgments in hand, asking the same question.
As of early August, Weinstein had about $200 million in judgments issued against him, his associates and entities they control.
One lawyer who won a judgment against Weinstein, Ari Weisbrot of Hackensack, said it “remains to be seen” how Weinstein’s arrest will affect his client’s case.
Weisbrot represents Harvey Wolinetz, who contends in court papers that Weinstein defrauded him of about $90 million.
when will this stop, when robbonum finally speak out against such actions and refuse to take any money from such bums, and to show they are serious return most of the money he gave and say we do not want dirty money.
Its nice to cream fairy tails
Wow real smart of them, when he was making them money everyone was happy, then the market drops everyone looses their pants and they scream Eli stole from them, now Eli can’t even try to get their money back in new deals. Real smart of them to be moser on Eli.
No one ever made money on Eli, he was a ponzi scheme from day 1. His clients will never be the same. He should rod in jail for the rest of his life I’yh
I am not here to defend ElI W. On what he did and even if all of the inversers where stupid or even if they knew that his dealing are not 100% kosher He still had to tell them what he is doing with there money but I am going to another point for one did the invedterd that want to the Feds have a Heter Besdin to Muser and 2 one of the UK investers had stolen a big portion from another Jew and a Moysed and Now He lost the stolem money and every penny he had and he became A MUSER, RABOYSI We can’t Step on the Torah
He should take off his yamaka. He’s a disgrace
He didn’t make them money one day
He never even invested the money gave them
It was all a scam
How LOW can some get????
Having been there and seen first hand how people like Mr. Weinstein operate, do not be fooled. Do not be don lekaf zechus. Nobody and especially not the FBI ever went after anyone for a business deal gone bad in an economic downturn. It is unimaginable, however, there are bad people in our community. There are people who will take your money fraudulently. They are always charismatic and give lots of other people’s money for tzedokah. As soon as we accept this horrible fact, perhaps we will stop throwing money at these fraudsters. Mr. Weinstein is not the first to prey on our community in recent years. Please make him the last.
No one ever made money with this crook. They all just got taken for a ride. He tapped into their greed and talked big.
Just wait until the feds go after all the charities that made money off Weinstein. This could be the end of some Lakewood institutions.
I have honest deals and no one will invest
Sdreit Zich a redel.
What an absolutlly dumb comment. When was the last time you where at a darasha where the rav ok’d it. Im not here to say that there aren’t these problems by unzere, but to blame it on rabanim is stupid. Furthermore you cant tell them not to accept the $ cuz nobody knew that he’s a ganev, otherwise why would anybody be investing with him?! Basically your post is pretty stupid.
The rambam says whoever goes to court not run al pi torah is “MERIM YAD BETORAS MOSHE”. So these people who are classed as first class moisrim better sort something out! We are in elul!
Reply to #13 Thanks for reading and replying to my comment, You mention Shien Pi Ches (SPC) very nice that you know that SPC is Hilces Mesireh but there is no heter there at all
Perhaps the time has come to stop giving so much kavod and placing so much emphasis on ashirus. Perhaps we need to return to simpler times, when a yeshiva building didn’t need to look like grand.
Rav Moshe’s a”h yeshiva was a run down building when he was rosh yeshiva and it still is a run down building today but the purity of the torah learned and taught there brought and still brings in the most difficult and critical shilos.
We have built a society where too many people want too gashmi’us for the sake of learning torah lishmah. This has created an environment of ‘matanah lebais hamedrash uber alas’ in some circles.
When roshai yeshiva publicly honour ehrlichkeit over ashirus and shun the company of gevirim to attend the weddings of struggling no-bodies, when they tell their bochrim to find tzni’usdik maidloch from ehrlicher mishpachos instead of wealthy fathers in law who pledge five or ten or twenty years of support, we will see the whole frum velt change for the better.
Less white collar crime, less broken marriages, less of the derech kids, less depression, less drugs, less drinking, less suicide, less of all the machlos from which we suffer today.
Get Shaul back from vacation. We need him to point out to the weinstein defenders there is no kaf zchus to be dan on. If you read the court inditement (whatever its called) you see weinsteins attitude was a real baal gayve and a reall azus ponim to tell inesters too bad I got you go live with it (cleaned up language) This is the danger of making tzadikim out of the money men which we all know money = kuvid. When did u see a building named after a lamdin and not the money? Ikve demeshicha vadai!
I know ppl who worked with/for him. He was not a scam from day. Some pl made serious $$ with him. But I would give would-be investors advice: don’t invest in deal #2 till u get every penny back from deal #1 .
Q,while everything you said is true,every generaton has it’s tests and certainly money is one of ours.it’s ultimately up to the individual to be honest in buisness or not.it is also up to each family to learn to live within their means and not go nuts with extravegant clothing,furniture weddings etc. unfortunately many frum communities have their priorities in this arena very confuesd.
Mesirah? Bais Din? If this person really ripped off people to the tune of $200 million, who in their right mind thinks that he would listen to a Bais Din?
Well said Mr 10 but one thing remeber when some one is offering 30% on your money think of maydoff Weinstein and don’t go there ! If u do -u were warned -dont come crying after
I don’t believe any of this and nebach on his innocent wife and kinderlach that don’t deserve this this living in rundown lakewood they will struggle even harder now.
i think alot of inzere yiddin get sort of hypnotized when they hear of making alot of money in a short time, they loose all self control and are like under hypnosis what shame people let themselfs be duped so easily
If the geneiva is ongoing….then it is not mesira to go to the cops.
Mesira and erkaos are for past debts and wrongdoings, not for stopping an ongoing thievery.
I don’t know the details here, but I’m sure that at some level, there was an ongoing geneiva.
And of course, an ehrlicher Yid asks a shayla by a reputable Rov before going to the cops, as I’m sure these people did,.
The above P’sak was given to ME by Harav Zalmen Nechemia Goldberg shlit’a, a very respected member of the Rabbanut. (Respected by the frummest in Eretz Yisrael, not a kalyaker at all.)
I had been Ponzi’d by another “frum” Yid, and had no recourse but the police, but he told me I couldn’t go, until thank G-d, we found that the crook had actually bought one of the buildings he had pronised to buy, and was stealing the rent money every month, so he told me to go to the cops.
That was the pressure needed to loosen up this guy from the remaining $, and we stopped prosecuting when he paid .40 on the dollar.
Agav, he ended up doing what seems to be a real teshuva, and I was moichel him afterwards.
Halevai oif alla gezugt.
#28 : I wouldn’t worry too much about his wife and children. He surely hid enough money for them to live on quite well. These characters tend to be quite controlling right from their jail cells.
Everybody who invested their money with this guy, or with Madoff, is complicit in some fashion with the crook. My father, A”H, always said that you can’t cheat an honest man. The con man’s promise of easy money or big returns always sounds to good to be true, and people of weak moral character, who know in there hearts that the promises can’t be true, nevertheless are drawn in because the think that they’re getting over on someone or something. Meanwhile the con man is, in reality, getting over on them. Everyone knows the rule, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is”, but some people still don’t believe it. Rabosai, believe it.
Who gives a 35 year old Millions without making sure its secure?
He’s a scam from day 1. I know ppl personally who lost their savings by giving it to this Conartist. Its unforunate that good ppl need to suffer and they need to lose their wealth. May hashem pay those who were scammed back their wealth. And may eli have a refuah shlemaih a refuah uf in cup.
#27 ,
I just offered 50% return for 6 months on a deal… True the guy knows me for 20 years and knows its legit (he wired to the guys I bought the goods from) It was a 1 time bonanza blowout inventory and the capital + 50% was still wayyyyyyy below the market value of the merch.
My father always told me , when someone comes to you and offer u x amount % return on ur $ always ask urself this question ” why me ?” Why did he come to me ! Don’t get fooled u want to invest put in a bank and make 3-5% and at least you will be save , don’t be greedy because it doesn’t make sense , think with your head and not with ur wallet “taveh” I’m sorry for all those ppl who lost $ with him , and I feel bad for him even tho he is wrong he is still one of us , forgive him hashem will take care of him ! A git gebench yuhr
Guys you have no idea how good of a schammer he was.
I was just involced in a case where the plaintiff won a judgement against weinstein.
He succesfully fooled the reachest people worldwide!!!
Just look into any of those cases, he was genuis!!
(And look how many people are still fooled by supporting him!!!
Don’t belive anything, just dig in to ANY of the cases, and you will scratch your had!!
(Sorry but I will not list them, as it was a private case, and I am not working for the feds) but its all ducomented, and he was found guilty by full Jury!!
Raboisei wait and see eli used a lawyer to back him up on his ponzis. the truth is gonna come out shortly. This weinstein was a unique thief and played it much better than any other Ganev,he used to prey on his imshildige customers in the first class section on route,there is so much and so many stories to tell that I wonder if there might be a sefer written by him (in jail)from all his crookedness stories ,any suggestions for a name?how about PONZY ELI…?!(By the way which Rabbonim will give him Haskomos and how many?!
Guys, there is no reason to post personal experiences about this guy. He’s in enough trouble already. No reason to feed him to the dogs. I’m sure the Feds read VIN