Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) in New York, and Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced today the arrest of TRACY REYNOLDS, a/k/a “Sara,” and IZHAK COHEN, for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with their ownership and operation of VIP Escorts, a nationwide multimillion-dollar business offering high end prostitution services, as well as the seizure of bank accounts and 391 websites related to the VIP Escorts business. REYNOLDS was arrested this morning at Tampa International Airport while boarding a flight to Mexico and was presented today in Tampa federal court. COHEN was arrested by Israeli authorities in Hadera, Israel. The United States Attorney’s Office will seek COHEN’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.
According to the allegations in the Complaint sworn out in Manhattan federal court:[1]
From at least 2012 to the present, REYNOLDS and COHEN have operated an online high-end prostitution business through their company and its affiliates known as “VIP Escorts.” VIP Escorts maintains a website, http://wvvw.vipescorts.com (the “VIP Escorts Website”), which it used to promote its prostitution services and was registered to COHEN. VIP Escorts also operates an array of affiliated escort websites, which also advertised its prostitution services, with names such as “Prestige Escorts,” “American Escorts,” “Russian Escorts,” and “Manhattan Exotics,” all of which are registered to COHEN.
As part of their prostitution business, REYNOLDS and COHEN arranged for escorts to meet clients in Manhattan and in numerous other locations for prostitution services, charging them thousands of dollars. REYNOLDS and COHEN required escorts to deposit the proceeds of their commercial sex acts into a large number of bank accounts that they controlled, many of them in the name of fake entities. REYNOLDS and COHEN then laundered the money through thousands of domestic and international financial transactions. In total, over $10 million passed through various personal and business accounts controlled by REYNOLDS during the course of this conspiracy, and over $1 million was sent from REYNOLDS in the United States to COHEN in Israel in thousands of small transactions designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds.
REYNOLDS and COHEN then used the proceeds of the prostitution scheme for personal gain and to further their illegal prostitution business. They paid, for example, over $295,000 from bank accounts under their control to advertise the VIP Escorts business on a known advertising platform for the prostitution industry.
* * *
REYNOLDS, 45, of Alamosa, Colorado, and Cohen, 53, of Hadera, Israel, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and two counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI, NYPD, and the El Dorado Task Force, and expressed his sincere gratitude to the Israel National Police and the Israel Ministry of Justice for their support and assistance with the investigation. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance in the arrest of COHEN.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Michael R. Herman is in charge of the prosecution.
The charge contained in the Complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
This would mean that there was mortgage fraud, and probably property tax fraud, and TARP.
I speculate that if you squint your eyes really, really hard, then look at the financials, you will see the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but, hey, what do I know?
Jona Rechnitz was arrested on corruption charges in New York and then became a star witness. His testimony led to the conviction of several officials.
Jona Rechnitz & DeBlasio
Jona Rechnitz, center, made large donations to the campaigns and causes of Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, as a way to gain access.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called him a “liar and a felon.”
The man, Jona S. Rechnitz, was a wealthy real estate scion who made large donations to the mayor’s political campaigns and causes, gaining access to key officials, including Mr. de Blasio.
But Mr. Rechnitz became an instant pariah in City Hall after pleading guilty in 2016 to corruption-related charges. He admitted that those contributions — as well as direct bribes given to police officials — were a means to gain influence.
His admissions formed the core of a cooperation agreement in which he became a key government witness in three federal corruption trials, leading to the convictions and guilty pleas of half a dozen people, including a powerful correction officers’ union boss, a hedge fund mogul, a police official and a Brooklyn businessman.
Mr. Rechnitz became, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, “one of the single most important and prolific white-collar cooperating witnesses in the recent history of the Southern District of New York.”
On Thursday, Mr. Rechnitz was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest, followed by three years on parole, an outcome that contrasted sharply from the possible 20 years in prison he faced when he was first arrested and charged. The start of his sentence has been suspended pending the outcome of an appeal.
Before he was sentenced, Mr. Rechnitz apologized to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein for his “criminal and moral” behavior, and asked the judge for leniency.
“I cannot express, your honor, how distraught I am at how I desecrated my religion,” he said, acknowledging that he had “made many poor choices, and many people suffered because of them.”
Mr. Rechnitz had endured intense public scrutiny as a government witness, federal prosecutors said. He met with prosecutors more than 80 times, often traveling to New York City from the West Coast, where he lived.
His testimony in one of the trials helped expose years of sordid and petty corruption within the New York City Police Department — officials who had provided favors in exchange for junkets, prostitutes and expensive gifts — that reached the highest echelon of the department.
Mr. Rechnitz’s testimony, the government wrote, had “exposed the sordid underbelly of multiple New York City institutions, exposed serious crimes and held powerful people who fell short of their obligations to the broader public to account.”
The cases cast a cloud over City Hall and the mayor, who was never accused of wrongdoing. Mr. Rechnitz asserted that he had bought access to City Hall with his donations to Mr. de Blasio’s campaigns and causes; the mayor said that Mr. Rechnitz was “exaggerating in many, many ways,” characterizing him as a “horrible human being.”
Mr. Rechnitz had undoubtedly hoped to make a different kind of impact when he moved to New York City from Los Angeles in 2008 to follow in his father’s footsteps in real estate.
He got his start with Africa Israel USA, an international real estate development firm owned by Lev Leviev, an Israeli real estate and diamond mogul. Mr. Rechnitz wanted badly to be a “big shot,” federal prosecutors said during one of the trials.
Mr. Rechnitz eventually met Jeremy Reichberg, an enterprising Brooklyn businessman who had built a reputation as a “fix-it guy” who used his police connections to help friends and associates with moving and parking violations for a fee. (He was sentenced to 48 months in prison in May.)
The men bonded, it seemed, over a shared desire to secure access to New York City’s most powerful and influential officials.
“He had all these connections to police,” Mr. Rechnitz testified. “I didn’t know many people that had connections with police, growing up in Los Angeles, and I thought this would be an awesome tool for me personally and for my business.”
The men became partners, federal prosecutors said, trading gifts with police officials for favors. Mr. Rechnitz testified that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on meals at luxury restaurants, sporting events, on private jets, jewelry, hotel stays, all-expense paid trips and prostitutes for officers.
The men used their connections to officers in one instance to shut down a lane in the Lincoln Tunnel to allow a police escort to take Mr. Leviev, Mr. Rechnitz’s boss, to his Manhattan hotel.
Jeremy Reichberg
Jeremy Reichberg, center, was Mr. Rechnitz’s partner; he was convicted earlier this year on bribery and conspiracy charges.
“This will earn me lots of points,” Mr. Rechnitz recalled thinking.
Three years later, he launched his own firm, JSR Capital, in midtown on Fifth Avenue.
By 2013, their police connections included four deputy chiefs in commands throughout the city.
Emboldened, they chartered a $60,000 jet to Las Vegas in February 2013 with a prostitute on board for an all-expense-paid Super Bowl weekend with two police officials.
On Christmas Day that year, they dressed as Santas and delivered expensive gifts to high-ranking police officials. In exchange, they got favors and police escorts.
Around the same time, they began courting Philip Banks III, a former chief of the department. They bought him a ring that once belonged to Muhammad Ali, took him to cigar bars and on trips to Israel, the Dominican Republic, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
In return, they asked Mr. Banks for a parking placard, and to promote a police official — which Mr. Banks did. Mr. Banks was not charged with a crime. He resigned in 2014 citing unspecified personal and professional reasons.
Mr. Banks introduced Mr. Rechnitz to Norman Seabrook, the longtime leader of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, who was one of the most politically connected figures in the city.
Mr. Rechnitz played a key role in the prosecution of Mr. Seabrook, who was convicted last year on bribery and conspiracy charges. Mr. Seabrook had steered $20 million from the union into a risky hedge fund in exchange for a promised kickback worth more than $100,000. The union lost $19 million of its investment.
Still riding a wave of “unbridled ambition,” prosecutors said Mr. Rechnitz turned his attention to City Hall.
“We’re going to become significant contributors, but we want access,” Mr. Rechnitz told Mr. de Blasio’s chief fund-raiser. “When we reach out for things, we want them to get done.”
Over the next several months, Mr. de Blasio received more than $150,000 in contributions for his political campaigns and causes. In return, Mr. Rechnitz had the mayor’s personal cellphone number and email, which he used to invite the mayor to a Knicks game.
At his sentencing, Mr. Rechnitz who now operates a jewelry store in Los Angeles that is frequented by celebrities, told the judge that if he were given a lengthy prison sentence, he doubted that he could “start over a third time.”
Judge Hellerstein cited the Seabrook case in how he determined what sentence to give Mr. Rechnitz. He ordered Mr. Rechnitz to pay $10 million in restitution for the correction officers’ union’s loss.
“All of us do bad things,” the judge said. “Some of those bad things are criminal acts for which we must account.”
Hedge Fund Founder Pleads Guilty To Fraud In Connection With Bribery Of Former Correction Officers Union Leader
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the guilty plea of MURRAY HUBERFELD to wire fraud conspiracy in connection with funds used to bribe the former president of the nation’s largest municipal correction officers union. Specifically, HUBERFELD, founder of the Platinum Partners hedge fund (“Platinum”), pled guilty to conspiring with an intermediary, Jona Rechnitz, to cause the fund to pay $60,000 to Rechnitz’s company by falsely representing that the money was payment for courtside tickets to eight New York Knicks basketball games. Instead, as HUBERFELD knew, the actual purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz for having paid Norman Seabrook, then-president of the Correction Officer’s Benevolent Association (“COBA”), for Seabrook’s efforts to get COBA to invest millions of dollars in Platinum. HUBERFELD pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Murray Huberfeld caused his former hedge fund to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a criminal partner in order to enable another crime – paying off the head of the correction officer’s union for the investment of millions of its members’ funds. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to fight fraud and corruption.”
According to the Superseding Information, Superseding Indictment, Indictment, and Complaint filed in this case, other public filings, statements made during the plea proceeding, and evidence and testimony presented at trial proceedings in October and November of 2017:
HUBERFELD was the founder of Platinum, a hedge fund that he continued to help operate unofficially even after his formal affiliation with the fund had ceased. In late 2013, HUBERFELD and Rechnitz, a real estate businessman who was an acquaintance of HUBERFELD, sought to attract public and institutional investors to the fund. At or around that time, Rechnitz told HUBERFELD that a contact of his – COBA President Norman Seabrook – would likely invest COBA’s money in Platinum. Over the next few months, Seabrook caused COBA to invest approximately $20 million of its funds into Platinum, including $15 million from a retirement benefits program funded by the City of New York that invests money for correction officers’ retirements.
In or around December 2014, arrangements were made to pay Seabrook personally for the millions of dollars the Union had invested over the course of that year. Rechnitz paid Seabrook $60,000 in cash, delivered to Seabrook in a men’s luxury handbag. HUBERFELD and Rechnitz then arranged for Platinum’s management company to receive a fraudulent invoice for $60,000 – generated by Rechnitz – that, on its face, billed Platinum for eight pairs of courtside tickets to New York Knick games given to Platinum by Rechnitz, who owned Knicks season tickets. In truth, and as HUBERFELD knew, the reason given to Platinum was false, and no Knicks tickets had changed hands. The real purpose of the payment was to reimburse Rechnitz, who had paid Seabrook for his efforts in securing COBA’s investments. Three days later, Platinum issued Rechnitz a $60,000 check.
HUBERFELD, 57, of Lawrence, New York, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum term of five years in prison. HUBERFELD is scheduled to be sentenced on September 14, 2018. The maximum potential penalty is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Trial against Seabrook, on charges of (i) conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, (ii) the substantive offense of honest services wire fraud, and (iii) the substantive crime of wire fraud with respect to COBA’s right to control its assets, is scheduled to commence on July 30, 2018, before Judge Hellerstein. As to Seabrook, the charges in the various charging instruments are merely allegations, and Seabrook is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department, Internal Affairs Division.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Martin S. Bell, Russell Capone, and Lara Pomerantz are in charge of the prosecution.
I am pretty sure The #MeToo Girls, who would be Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar because that is how they got elected, still are ignorant to what is going on, but hey, what do I know?
I know someone should make sure to have Rashida watch this because I am waiting for Nancy Pelosi to throw The #MeToo Girls under the bus.
I also know I am waiting for someone to #sayhisname.
"Turn up the pressure, we need to finish powerwashing civil rights history."
The time has come to stop the political propaganda psyoptics.
Rallying the desperate few who are willing to do anything to put food on the table, for the purposes of furthering the objectives of foreign operations to interfere in elections?
I was at the birth of the #coloredrevolution, watching the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) come up with their bleachbitted, or in this instance, powerwashed, civil rights history to recycle some of their best operations.
I call this the Water Dousing - Water Hosing psyoptic to seduce the public with historic civil rights visuals of the mistreatment of innocent persons, for the political purposes of legislating from from the media bully pulpit.
I only am skeptical because I know there are big time, ongoing investigations in New York, which includes its police department and human trafficking, but I do take great concern in the well being of the officers of peace.
I also know there are many laws already on the books that may be applied to remedy this situation, leaving no need for this psyoptic.
Then, Bill deBlasio held a press conference on Eric Garner.
There was an ongoing investigation, or should I say, investigations, with an 's'.
We have everything, anyway, so that entire "Q is an idiot" propaganda of Loretta Lynch and the SCOTUS appointment is now verified as crap because the cute little "Wanna-Be Junior Spy" graduates from the Naval Academy are absolutely clueless about the entire pro forma Blue Slipping of how one gets to be a Justice.
This is a very sad day of reflection in the open and obvious educational depravity in the history of civil rights, branches of government, and its administration from our Super Secret Smarty Pants institutions of national security.
My question, now, is..."What did they do with all those millions and who are the rest of the individuals involved?"
I bet they were running honey traps, which are nothing more than recording compromising situations with individuals of prominence and power, like elected officials.
Yes, there will be lots and lots of porn with your favorite public figures and I will bet it will be with individuals who hail from the world of foster care and adoption, domestic and international.
I will even standfast and say they were money laundering through child welfare NGOs and funding of political campaigns.
I bet you can even find pictures and videos from child welfare fundraisers, like....oh, I do not know.....let me think of an example... not that I am alleging anyone of any violation of law or policy, nor am I accusing any individual or organization... well, let us just use, as an example, only The Children's Defense Fund.
Simple, both groups use, verbatim, the exact same mission statements, which immediately lets me know that we are probably dealing with "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending).
To ensure all states have a strong and effective childrens trust or prevention fund capable of leading and investing in strategies, policies and best practices that prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs. To initiate and engage in national efforts that help State Childrens Trust and Prevention Funds in strengthening families to prevent child abuse and neglect. To promote and support a system of services, laws, practices and attitudes that supports families by enabling them to provide their children with safe, healthy and nurturing childhoods.
This is the work of Loretta Lynch, so do not be confused because this action goes far deeper than we really know as our schools never taught us about our civil rights or the history, thereof.
This is about human trafficking and the trafficking of tiny humans, the term I use for complex, financial fraud schemes in child welfare.
If you think this is wild, just wait until we get to Detroit.
A retired Vice detective and his wife allegedly were the masterminds behind an elaborate prostitution and gambling ringthat had brothels in three counties and led to the indictments of more than four dozen people, including seven active-duty NYPD officers, the Queens district attorney's office said Thursday.
Ex-NYPD detective Ludwig Paz, of Queens, allegedly helmed the sweeping enterprise along with his wife, Arelis Peralta, who prosecutors say helped operate brothels in Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau counties and gambling rooms in beauty salons and other businesses throughout the city.
Seven active members of the NYPD, including detectives and a pair of sibling sergeants, are also named in the indictment for alleged various roles in the operation. Those include 43-year-old Brooklyn South Vice Detective Rene Samaniego, who allegedly helped Paz run both the gambling and prostitution operations and "outed" undercover detectives as they entered the brothels.
Sgt. Carlos Cruz, 41, and detective Giovanny Rojas Acosta, 40, are accused of giving Paz information on law enforcement activities related to prostitution to help him avoid detection. They, along with Paz, all face charges of enterprise corruption, according to the indictment.
Two brothers who are NYPD sergeants -- Cliff Nieves, 37, and Steven Nieves, 32 -- are accused of promoting prostitution and operating an invite-only "pop-up brothel" within another established brothel, the indictment says. Another cop, Giancarlo Raspanti, allegedly gave Paz confidential police information in exchange for discounted sex at a brothel. And yet another sergeant, Louis Failla, allegedly helped Paz get out of a jam following a brothel ride.
Prosecutors say a tip from an officer about gambling and prostitution issues within the department to the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau in 2015 launched the investigation. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says over the course of the probe, investigators used wiretaps and surveillance, among other techniques, to map out the flow and players in the complicated enterprise.
At the top of that flow chart, Brown said, was Paz, who allegedly ran or helped run the day-to-day operations at seven of eight brothels. He also allegedly used his knowledge of NYPD Vice procedures to set up protocols for new prostitution clients. Knowing that detectives could not expose their genitals during their interactions with prostitutes, Paz allegedly required the new clients to undress and allow themselves to be fondled to pass the brothel’s security screening. The retired detective also allegedly used his contacts within the NYPD to thwart raids by paying for confidential police information, the indictment charges.
The brothels used online ads to attract customers and after passing the screenings, clients would be allowed to choose a prostitute and paid anywhere from $40 for 15 minutes of sexual activity up to $160 for a full hour, according to the indictment. And between August 2016 and September 2017, prosecutors say the prostitution ring took in more than $2 million.
At the same time, Brown said Paz and his wife allegedly profited from several illegal lottery businesses set up at a deli and beauty salon in Queens.
The bust also snared nearly three dozen civilians on various charges. The seven active NYPD members all pleaded not guilty at their arraignments Thursday; all of their attorneys declined comment. Paz's arraignment was still pending Thursday afternoon, and court officers said the rest of the dozens of arraignments would likely take place through the day Thursday into Friday.
Officials for the PBA, DEA and SBA unions representing officers, detectives and sergeants, did not have immediate comment on the arrests.
NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill praised the tipster who came forward and blasted the officers in a statement Thursday afternoon, saying, "Whenever officers betray trust by engaging in criminal behavior, they tarnish the shields they wear. The New Yorkers we serve will never tolerate this, and neither will this police department."
"How much longer is it going to take the Justice Department to stop trafficking us?"
Human trafficking?
I wonder if it has anything to do with the trafficking of tiny humans?
US Attorney Amanda Kramer named in Anthony Weiner's unsealed indictment specializes in.. HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Buckle up.. This doc is likely a precursor to the house of cards that is ready to fall. Cruising at 40,000 ft.. Weiner was a "useful" idiot.. who kept an insurance file. pic.twitter.com/09MRdyWBOK
\
