Rabbi PintoRabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, the spiritual advisor to many big names in the city’s real estate industry, and his supporters may finally get an explanation for the repeated stories about his shady financial dealings. The New York Times reported that federal investigators are looking into claims that the rabbi is the victim of an embezzlement and extortion scheme perpetuated by two former congregants who stole money from his congregations in Manhattan and Ashdod, Israel and tried to frame him.
Pinto has been skewered in the Israeli and American Jewish press. A recent story in Israel newspaper Ha’aretz has records showing Shuva Israel, a network of charities, schools and religious institutions run by the rabbi, has funded the rabbi’s $70,000 stays in the Hamptons mansions and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry purchases. The publication also touches on Pinto’s involvement in Metropolitan Real Estate’s purchase of a stake in the Lipstick Building, and points to his extravagant mansion in Israel and townhouse in Manhattan as other dealings that do not suit a rabbi. More shady reports include an alleged money laundering scheme for property in Israel, and his close aide’s participation in a bootleg pornography ring.
But supporters who have stayed loyal to the rabbi through the media storm are turning their attention to an Israeli man named Ofer Biton, who is under investigation for pocketing millions of dollars of donations intended for the rabbi’s charities. The investigation also includes public relations executive Ronn Torossian who is believed to have worked with Biton to leak damaging information about the rabbi to reporters. Biton denied the allegations and Torossian declined to comment on allegations he deemed “absurd.”
The pair worked closely with the rabbi, the Times said, helping to secure donations for the charity, but a rift occurred over the rabbi’s rental agreement for an apartment in the Essex House in March 2010. Torossian and Biton allegedly began demanding money when Pinto said he no longer wanted to rent the unit, and the schism deepened from there. [NYT] and [Ha'aretz]
