Soon after he began running for Congress in 2009, Michael G. Grimm, a Staten Island Republican, needed to convince party leaders in Washington that he could raise enough money to become a viable candidate. Seeking help, he turned to an unlikely source: followers of an Orthodox rabbi and mystic from Israel.
Mr. Grimm, a former agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a Roman Catholic who regularly attends Sunday Mass, traveled around the New York region with one of the rabbi’s top aides, Ofer Biton, to raise campaign money from the rabbi’s followers. In all, the Grimm campaign collected more than $500,000 from the followers, according to numerous interviews and an analysis of Mr. Grimm’s campaign records.
Quite frankly, I am outraged that this NYTimes story was actually printed. The only on-the-record source of the NYTimes article is Yossi Zaga. Zaga claims to have been influenced by someone other than Pinto, yet he is INCREDIBLY close to Pinto himself. Zaga is the OWNER of Pinto's $6.65 million-dollar home, which he subsequently donated to the synagogue. Moreover, Zaga's business partner is Pinto's chief of staff, Ben Zion Suky's partner. AND Suky owns a home with Pinto's wife.
ReplyDeleteThe article claims that Zaga donated to Grimm because a "top aide" of Pinto's asked him to ... but that Pinto had no idea!?
A simple google search is evidently more sophisticated than the NYTimes research team. Here is what I found on Yossi Zaga:
"The property was purchased in April 2007 by Yossi Zaga for $6.5 million. According to a New York Times article, Zaga found the property through Ilan Bracha, a well-known broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman and a follower of Pinto. Zaga took out a $4.4 million mortgage. In August of that year, Zaga donated the property to Mosdot Shuva Israel"
Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/136250/#ixzz1kmIyb7D7
"The firm, Petermark II, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court Nov. 8 against developers Ben Zion Suky and Yossi Zaga, alleging they defaulted on a $2.5 million mortgage that they personally guaranteed at the Duplex, a 37-unit building at 215 East 81st Street on the Upper East Side."
Read more: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2010/11/16/condo-developer-faces-new-foreclosure-suit-at-east-81st-st-condo-building/
Article on Pinto in porn & owning property with Pinto
http://www.forward.com/articles/136819
PINTO's OWN FATHER IN LAW ACCUSED HIM OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
http://english.themarker.com/the-life-of-a-rabbi-diamonds-suits-and-hamptons-summers-1.402506