TRENTON, N.J. - An Orthodox Jewish rabbi today admitted conspiring to travel to New Jersey to coerce a Jewish man to give his wife a religious divorce – referred to as a “get” – through threats of violence, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Martin Wolmark, 56, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Aug. 7, 2013, Wolmark, an ordained Orthodox Jewish rabbi, spoke with a woman and her brother about obtaining a Jewish divorce from the woman’s recalcitrant husband. A get is a divorce document which, according to Jewish Law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. Unbeknownst to Wolmark, the woman and the brother were actually undercover FBI agents. During the conversation, which was recorded by law enforcement, Wolmark informed the agents that there were two ways to go about obtaining a get from such a recalcitrant husband, one of which was to “nail him.” Wolmark also told the agents that coercing the husband into giving a get could be expensive. He then recommended that the agents speak with his colleague, Mendel Epstein, who he knew had previously used violence to coerce recalcitrant husbands into giving gets to their wives. Wolmark then initiated a conference call with the agents and Mendel Epstein.
On Aug. 14, 2013, the agents met with Mendel Epstein at his home to discuss the case further. On Oct. 2, 2013, Wolmark convened a rabbinical court (a “beth din”) with Mendel Epstein and Jay Goldstein in his office in Suffern, New York. The purpose of this proceeding was to determine whether there were grounds under Jewish law to coerce the husband into giving the get. The female agent also attended and recorded the meeting. During this meeting, Mendel Epstein discussed openly the plan to kidnap and assault the purported husband in order to obtain the get.
On Oct. 9, 2013, a group of Wolmark’s conspirators – including Jay Goldstein, Moshe Goldstein, Avrohom Goldstein, Simcha Bulmash, Ariel Potash, Binyamin Stimler, and Sholom Shuchat – traveled from New York to a warehouse in Edison, New Jersey, with the intent of forcing the purported husband to give his wife a get by means of violence and threats of violence. Six of these coconspirators previously pleaded guilty to traveling to New Jersey to commit extortion.
The conspiracy count to which Wolmark pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for May 18, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Joseph Gribko and Sarah Wolfe of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton.
The pending charges and allegations against related defendants are merely allegations, and they are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
15-016
Defense counsel: Benjamin Brafman Esq., New York
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An Orthodox Jewish rabbi from Monsey admitted Wednesday to traveling interstate to use threats of violence to force a man to give his wife a religious divorce.
Martin "Mordechai" Wolmark — along with Rabbi Mendel Epstein, a prominent Ultra-Orthodox divorce mediator from Brooklyn — had initially been accused of heading a gang of eight thugs who used cattle prods and other devices to torture men into giving their wives a "get," a document a woman must obtain from her husband should she seek a divorce under Jewish law.
On Wednesday, Wolmark, 56, appeared in a federal courtroom in Trenton, New Jersey, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement.
Justice has prevailed. Let him serve as a living lesson to anyone else thinking of physically coercing men with the threat or actualization of violence into giving a divorce. (Which makes it invalid under Jewish law, in any event, as Epstein/Wolmark's "clients" now are facing the realization that their subsequent children are being recognized as mamzeirim, thus ending any shidduch prospects for them.)
ReplyDeleteI hope he receives serious jail time.
ReplyDeleteHow many children has he deprived of their father? I know of several.
How many children have grown up with all sorts of emotional issues - which were resultant of his nasty tactics? I know of several.
How many married women are cohabiting with another man due to their false gitten obtained through his horrible tactics? I know of several.
How many mamzeirim is he responsible for?
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/Press/files/Wolmark,%20Mark%20Plea%20News%20Release.html
ReplyDeleteWhat is odd is that Wolmark, who was one of the longtime ringleaders of this violent gang along with Epstein, was allowed to plead guilty to a charge only carrying a 5 year maximum sentence whereas the other little defendants, who were probably hired just for the case they were busted on and maybe a small number of previous ones, got a plea bargain to plead guilty to charges carrying over 10 years in prison.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the "predicate acts", i.e., the previous acts that led the fbi to investigate them. Names, places, and dates, etc.
ReplyDeleteDon't think the prosecutor is really interested in rabbis beating husbands.
ReplyDeleteThey're really interested in money laundering, improper donations to 501c3, mosdiot, yeshivot, etc.
Now whoever donated to various yeshivot, even legitimately, is gonna be investigated.
Does he still have a yeshiva? Who would send their children to such a
ReplyDeletedespicable Roshe, achzar, rotzeach, marbitz glollim? There were shmuos lo toivos
at the time, that within this gang they also bartered ESNAN in lieu of a fee. As
it states, Im harav dome lemalach... veim lav al yevakshu torah mipihu. He
is quite at the opposite end of malach Hashem, actually a malach ra and malach
hamovess. At his sight, people curse his bearers. What a piece of human debris.
As for invei hagefen beinvei hagefen, you should be meshadech with your alleged
freed Agunos children, highly passendig. Has anyone seen the pictures of their
victims all beaten up? Imagine all those shocking pain they went through, and
the waterboarding threats to be drowned and choked to death. Not even in Abu
Ghraib torture chambers did they inflict such inhumane pain, these are high
crimes against humanity of international denominations, vetzorich bdika achrov
im hu mizera yisroel. Of course he consulted with the gedaylim of yisroel first,
and dan lfi chukei vetoyras yisroel, everything in accordance of the home grown
dynamic shulchan aruch (long table), such as the nidon being present in front of
these yoshvei kronais, beis din chotzuf, although in absentia, yoshvei riv
umodun korach ve'edosoi, and dan bekoived rosh of chiyuv Get toch kedei dibur,
umakin osso makas mardus ad sheteitzei nishmoso, veim kol ze velo yotzo
nishmoso, lo yotzo ved'al. Never mind the money, never mind the shloisho aveiros
Shfichas domim, G. A. and Avoido zoro zu kessef, it was all done LESHEM
SHAMAYIM. And what about Dinah demalchusei... ? Eh, that is chicken feed.
SHOIMU
SHAMAYIM....!!!
They worked in tandem, in concert, to kidnap, threaten to kill, spill
Jewish blood, applying deadly force, not even the Kappos inflicted such. You
ROSHE, could you not feel his pain, his pain of "bonecho uvnoisecho nesunim
le'am acher ve'ein loel yodecho" ? How could you? How dare you? Is this what you
call a 'res yesiva'? Shame on you, shame on who brought you into this world. You
should cut off your beard and peyos if you only have one, take off your frock
with the buttons and undo the arba kanfos curvature, you are a walking chilull
Hashem! Did anyone see the parents of this victim nebach? The pain was all over
the father's face, just the sight broke everyone's heart, and this poor father
nebach passed away from a broken and shattered heart H'Y'D. We the people will
not stand idly by! We despise such unbecoming behavior from amongst us. Lo
Sa'amod al dam reacho. Veda, ki al kol ele heviacho E... bamishpot. Dina
demalchusei dina. We hope and pray they will throw the book at you for life and
a half. Vegonev ish umchoro mos yumos, tovach umochar meshalem dalet veheh.
Sahadei bamromim, that no one ever was megale ponim batorah shelo kehalacha like
these despicable bnei bliyaal ubnei avlo, not to mention cases where the Meagen
was lo hoyo velo nivra, the Agunah was lo dubim velo yaar, a kangaroo moshav
leitzin in absentia, except for the Karate Kid, Electric prod, brass knuckles,
razor blades, plastic bags, and all other klei chomos uklei mashchis bideihem,
ready on moments notice, veod yodom neutyo. If you should ask how can they be
dan an eino roeh veineh nireh, the answer my friend is, a beis din chotzuf can
create a yesh meayin according to their long dynamic shulchan aruch, especially
when it is all lesem samayim, just like in The Emperor has no clothes!
They should lock you up and throw away the key, velo yezidun od!