Rabbi Pinto told NYPD to arrest aide’s rival, lawsuit claims

New York City real estate adviser Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto urged a New York Police Department detective to arrest the business rival of his top aide, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the rival last week.

A police detective allegedly said he would release Tomer Shohat, a rival businessman to Pinto aide Ben Zion Suky, on the condition that Shohat provide a computer that contained information Shohat had collected on alleged misconduct by Suky. An attorney for the business rival said Shohat, apparently a hedge fund manager, is attempting to recover $10.5 million in investments that he and others made in a building at 440 West 41st Street, which is partly owned by Suky. 

Shohat accused Metro Apartments, the company that owns the building, of failing to pay back loans that Shohat’s group had extended, the Jewish Daily Forward reported.

Meanwhile, Pinto, head of a New York-based nonprofit called Mosdot Shuva Israel, is facing indictment from the Attorney General of Israel Yehuda Weinstein for attempting to bribe an Israeli police officer for information on a closed investigation. He was arrested in 2012 after millions of dollars connected to his real estate investments disappeared, as The Real Deal previously reported. [Jewish Daily Forward] — Mark Maurer