Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Shalom Lamm Voter Fraud Case Continues Without Preet Bharara

Correction Appended

The case of Jewish real estate developers charged with voter fraud in the Catskills will continue through the federal court system this week, a legacy of dismissed U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Shalom Lamm and co-conspirators Kenneth Nakdimen and Volvy Smilowitz are accused of federal voter fraud conspiracy in a bid to elect public officials sympathetic to their multi-million dollar plans for Bloomingburg, N.Y.

They are slated to appear before a federal district court judge in White Plains, N.Y. Wednesday. The trial date has not been set, according to Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the Department of Justice.

The three suspects allegedly tried to rig Bloomingburg’s 2014 mayoral race by registering people to vote who did not live in town. The developers provided the would-be residents with fake back-dated leases, and accessorized empty apartments to appear occupied by the ersatz residents.

The three are also charged with paying out $30,000 to entice people to unlawfully register.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced their charges in December, calling their actions “a cynical ploy to corrupt the electoral process.” In a statement, Bharara showed his signature crusader approach to the law, saying, “profit-driven corruption of democracy cannot be allowed to stand no matter who does it or where it happens.”

Bharara was dismissed from his post Saturday by President Donald Trump.

The rap sheet mentions that Lamm and Nakdimen, two real estate developers, chose to build in Bloomingburg because as a small town of 420 residents, its government could quickly be taken over. They intended to develop hundreds of housing units in a development they would sell to Smilowitz.

Correction, March 14, 12:30 pm: An earlier version of this article stated that the trial of Shalom Lamm would begin Wednesday. In fact, a pre-trial conference will be held Wednesday.

Contact Daniella Cheslow at [email protected].

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.