Rabbi charged in Brooklyn housing subsidy fraud case

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has announced charges against a former chaplain and Satmar rabbi with the New York City Department of Corrections with the largest individual case of tenant fraud ever discovered by the Department of Investigations.

Bharara’s office charged Leib Glanz and his brother Menashe Glanz each with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of federal funds and one count of theft of federal funds in connection with a $200,000 Brooklyn housing fraud scheme.

“As alleged in the complaint, Leib and Menashe Glanz engaged in a years-long subterfuge to take criminal advantage of federal housing subsidies,” Bharara said. “Especially in these trying economic times, we cannot tolerate stealing from the public.”

Recipients of Section 8 benefits must follow strict regulations on residency and household composition, DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn explained in a statement. Menashe Glanz allegedly applied for and obtained the benefits to live in an apartment at 85 Ross Street in Williamsburg. After obtaining these subsidies he then allowed his brother to live permanently in this apartment for around 15 years while he lived in another apartment that was not subsidized.

Leib made headlines in 2009 when he was forced to resign from the Department of Corrections after he arranged for a wealthy inmate to host a lavish bar mitzvah behind bars for the inmate’s son at the Lower Manhattan lockup called the Tombs.

Neither of the Glanz brothers’ attorneys was immediately available for comment. — Katherine Clarke