General

Who’s left to run New Jersey?

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.

Washington Post

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