A federal judge in New Jersey sentenced Chaim “Eli” Puretz to 24 months in prison for his role in a multi-million mortgage fraud scheme.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kirsch cited that Puretz should be “treated very differently from his co-conspirator father,” and called the younger Puretz a “novice swimming in a shark’s pool.”
The judge also considered what Puretz’s attorney described as a childhood marked by neglect and abuse, and that he struggled with several unaddressed mental health issues, including obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression and a learning disability.
The sentence was short of the maximum sentence of five years in prison. The judge also permitted Puretz to surrender on or before July 1, to give him time to help his family. Kirsch said he didn’t consider Puretz to be a flight risk. Puretz must also pay $20 million in restitution, though he is not solely responsible for that amount.
Ahead of the sentencing, Puretz read a prepared speech, his voice breaking with emotion at times.
“I’ve committed an egregious criminal act,” he said. “I look in the mirror and I don’t recognize who I am today.”
He expressed regret about bringing shame to his family, including his two children and wife. The couple also have a baby due in May.
Puretz pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, connected to a 2020 deal for an office building outside Detroit.
Puretz, his father Aron Puretz and Boruch Drillman purchased Troy Technology Park, an office complex in Troy, Michigan, for $42.7 million in 2020. The trio, however, provided the lender with a bogus price of $70 million, which was used to obtain a larger loan of $45 million. A Lakewood, New Jersey-based title insurer, Riverside Abstract, handled closings for both the real price of the property and the inflated one.
The case was part of a broadening crackdown against commercial mortgage fraud by the Department of Justice and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
This month Kirsch sentenced Aron Puretz to five years in prison, citing what he called “a lack of full candor, cooperation, contriteness, and remorse.” He was also ordered to pay $22 million in restitution to his lenders.
He plans to appeal the ruling.
During Thursday’s sentencing, the judge summarized letters written in support of Eli Puretz, which described Aron Puretz as “cold, rigid and dictatorial” and prone to slapping his sons or locking his daughters in closets as punishment. Kirsch said Eli was viewed as the “black sheep of the family,” the eldest of seven children whose relationship with his father was strained as he struggled to excel in school.
An attorney for Aron denied the allegations on his client’s behalf, and referred to him and his wife as “loving, caring and devoted parents.”
Eli’s attorney, Sarah Krissoff, said he struggled with “untreated and unrecognized” mental health challenges and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which affected his schoolwork. When he was 13, Eli was sent to an out-of-state boarding school in “the dead of the night.” He was later expelled and sent to another school. Both the judge and Krissoff described the boarding school experience as traumatic.
“I”m not a family court judge. I’m not a therapist. What can’t be refuted was the trauma that was inflicted,” Kirsch said.
Prosecutors originally sought a 60-month sentence, but the sentencing range was downgraded, in part, due to Eli Puretz’s lack of a criminal record, his acceptance of responsibility and his willingness to provide financial information to the court. Given the reduced range, trial attorney Siji Moore asked the judge to impose 46 months, and reminded the judge that many defendants face personal hardships but are held accountable for their actions.
The judge agreed that the case involved “significant fraud” and said he was not exonerating Puretz. He said his ruling should deter others from thinking they can get away with similar acts of “greed at the expense of others.” Kirsch also noted that in every other case he’s ever overseen involving a parent and a child, this is the first where a parent has not taken any responsibility for their role in their child’s criminal activity.
In an unusual move for someone awaiting sentencing on criminal charges, the younger Puretz spoke publicly about his case on Halacha Headlines, a podcast hosted by Lightstone Group’s David Lichtenstein. Puretz told Lichtenstein in November that he was “almost relieved” that he was charged in the Michigan deal, that the experience has changed him for the better.
“If not for this, I probably would have found myself doing a lot worse,” he said on the podcast. “I’m sure that the consequences after would have been a whole lot worse as well.”
On Thursday, Kirsch commended Puretz for speaking out and warning others to avoid his mistakes.
The judge repeatedly returned to the idea of Puretz’s upbringing as part of the Lakewood-based Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood. He said the community had much to be lauded for, springing into action to help others facing poverty or other forms of distress. But he said that while the community was close-knit, it was also insular and did not intercede when it saw a young Puretz “floundering.”
“Dirty laundry is not shared,” he said. “What happens in one family’s household is that family’s business.”
Before the sentencing, a dozen family members and friends gathered in a lobby outside the courtroom, some praying.
Dozens showed up for the sentencing, filling the courtroom’s 14 benches. Puretz’s wife could be seen crying in the front row throughout the hearing, as two women on each side of her embraced her, and another seated behind her gently rubbed her back. Puretz would occasionally look back to his wife with a pained look.
After the sentencing, one person in the crowd turned to another and said the term was better than expected. Puretz embraced attendees as they left, smiling at some. He declined to speak to TRD about his sentence. He did, however, confirm that he has cut ties with his father.
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