Politicians, rabbis swept up in raids targetting money laundering and kidney trafficking operation
A massive sweep targeting an alleged kidney-trafficking and money laundering operation has netted the FBI a host of New Jersey politicians and officials, along with five New York-area rabbis. In all, federal investigators arrested 44 people, including three northern New Jersey mayors, two members of the New Jersey Legislature, the chief rabbi for the tight-knit Syrian Jewish community in the United States, and the chief rabbis of synagogues in Brooklyn and Deal, N.J. Also arrested was Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, known as the “the kidney salesman” for his alleged predilection for convincing Israelis to sell him a kidney for $10,000, which he would then re-sell in the U.S. for $160,000. According to court documents, the raids are the outgrowth of an investigation into a money laundering operation in which people dealing in illegal goods would funnel their money through registered charities linked to the synagogues. Meanwhile, the public officials are charged with taking bribes.