Two US mayors, five rabbis among dozens held over money-laundering

TWO NEW Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis are among dozens of people arrested yesterday in an FBI investigation into alleged international money-laundering.

Federal investigators said a two-year inquiry had uncovered a scheme operating between New Jersey, Brooklyn and Israel in which tens of millions of dollars were laundered through charities.

More than 40 people arrested yesterday included the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, the deputy mayor of Jersey City and the commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs. Among the rabbis picked up in one of the biggest corruption sweeps in recent years was the grand rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in the United States, Saul Kassin of Brooklyn.

Acting US Attorney Ralph Marra said the arrests of elected officials accused of taking bribes highlighted “the pervasive nature of public corruption” in New Jersey. He said the rabbis used “a facade of rectitude” to conceal extensive illegal activity.

“In both parts of this investigation, respected figures in positions of public and private trust engaged in conduct behind closed doors that belied the faces of honesty, integrity and rectitude they displayed daily to their respective constituencies,” Mr Marra said.

“For these defendants, corruption was a way of life. They existed in an ethics-free zone.”

Investigators used an undercover witness posing as a real estate agent to offer bribes to elected officials in return for help with fake developments.

Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano, who took office just three weeks ago, is accused of accepting $25,000 in bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday.

Rabbi Kassin (87) is accused of laundering more than $200,000 between June 2007 and December 2008.

New Jersey governor John Corzine expressed shock at the scope of the alleged corruption.

“Any corruption is unacceptable – anywhere, anytime, by anybody,” he said.

“The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated.”