$20 Million Hasidic Mortgage Fraud Suspect Bribed Witness in Nechemya Weberman Case
Nechemya Weberman Image by Youtube
By Josh Nathan-Kazis November 13, 2014
One of the men arrested in a $20 million Satmar family mortgage fraud conspiracy is the same man who was convicted of trying to intimidate a witness against notorious Hasidic sex abuser Nechemya Weberman, the Forward has learned.
Abraham Rubin is fresh out of prison after serving three months for trying to bribe into not testifying against Weberman, an unlicensed counselor who was convicted in 2012 of repeatedly abusing a teenage girl in his care.
Rubin was arrested November 13 along with 14 of his family members and associates in a sprawling mortgage and public fraud conspiracy. He now faces up to 35 years in prison.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office confirmed to the Forward that Abraham Rubin had been cited for a $500,000 bribery attempt in the past. The man he tried to pay off, Boorey Deutsch, the victim’s husband, confirmed to the Forward that the man who tried to bribe him was the same Abraham Rubin as was arrested in the fraud scheme.
Rubin admitted in August 2013 to having offered $500,000 to Deutsch to have his wife drop her case. Prosecutors claimed that Rubin had suggested that the couple flee to Israel. Deutsch declined the bribe. Rubin was sentenced to four months in prison at a hearing in January 2014 for the attempted payoff. He was reportedly released in late March.
According to the latest indictment, Abraham Rubin, his brothers, and other family members conspired between 2004 and 2014 to obtain mortgages using false information, then default on most of the loans.
“As alleged, the scheme carried out by the Rubins and others ripped off banks, welfare programs, and taxpayers,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
Abraham Rubin is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, which carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison, and conspiracy to make false statements to lenders, which carries a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.
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.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
