First I ever knew of now-Congressman Michael Grimm (AKA, "Mikey Suits") was when he was still a two-bit hoodlum playing both sides of the fence between the FBI and Organized Crime. We only discovered him because of his sleazy relationship with the now imprisoned Tommy Kontogiannis, one of the guys bribing the also now-imprisoned ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA). Before Grimm ran for Congress in Staten Island, he had been kicked out of the FBI, mostly for taking payoffs from Kontogiannis. Kontogiannis' story would be the biggest political blockbuster made in our lifetimes. He's been told he'd be found dead in his cell if he ever tries to tell it though-- and it involves Saudis, Greeks, a $400,000 cash bribe to George W. Bush and... the freshman crook who represents Staten Island in Congress today.
Now, I'm sure CREW had no idea yesterday when they launched their latest Scoundrel of the Month poll featuring Grimm, that it would come out the same day as another exposé on the congressman who makes it into the newspapers every month with another scandal-- from associates being arrested to wild frat parties at the Sea of Galilee. This one, courtesy of the A.P., involves one of the old ones uncovered earlier in the year by the NY Times... but with a twist, a really twisted twist. Grimm's illegal campaign donation and blackmail scandal around Israeli-Brooklyn Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto has veered off into the pornography business.
In mid-August, FBI agents arrested an Israeli businessman who had helped Grimm raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from Pinto’s wealthy, zealous followers in New York. The entrepreneur and rabbinical aide, Ofer Biton, was charged with lying about his financial dealings in 2010 when he applied for a U.S. visa.
The arrest came as the FBI has been investigating claims made by other Pinto followers, who say they made tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to Grimm during his 2010 run, including gifts that were passed through straw donors to hide the true source of the donations. FBI agents have recently been requesting records and interviewing people who were on the campaign staff.
Grimm, himself a former FBI agent, has repeatedly declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press about the matter. He has acknowledged raising $250,000 to $300,000 from Pinto’s supporters-- about a third of all money contributed in the first 12 months of his campaign-- but denied any knowledge of improprieties....“My campaign and I followed the fundraising rules, and took reasonable measures to vet the contributions received by my campaign,” he said in a statement to the AP. “Indeed, I relied on Rabbi Pinto’s status as a clergyman and holy man when agreeing to meet with individuals associated with his congregation.”
Campaign records and other public documents make it clear, however, that after tapping the rabbi’s followers for money, Grimm wound up getting help from people who candidates normally keep at arm’s length.
One of the rabbi’s closest aides, Benzion Suky, owned a company that distributed porn videos and has settled lawsuits by adult film studios who accused him of selling bootlegged DVDs, according to court records. Suky and his wife gave a combined $9,600 to Grimm’s 2010 campaign and a real estate partnership that lists Suky as its managing member gave $4,800, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Another big donor was Rafi Maman, proprietor of companies in North Bergen, N.J., that distribute adult films and sex toys. He also has settled lawsuits accusing him of bootlegging, including two which also named Suky as a defendant. Maman, his wife and a real estate partnership that he listed as his employer gave $19,200 to Grimm’s campaign. That total includes $7,200 in individual contributions from Maman, or $2,400 more than is allowed by law.
A third Grimm contributor, Eli Halali, is listed in business records as the agent of another company that distributed pornographic movies. His name also appears on at least one such video, “Blonde & Beautiful Vol. 1,” as the keeper of records verifying that the film’s performers were over age 18. He gave $4,800. Two apparent relatives, Bluria Halali and Jaclyn Halali, each contributed $4,800.
Biton, formerly one of Pinto’s top aides, also had a hand in adult entertainment. Florida business records list him as being the president of AMOB Inc. The company is registered at the same address as the Miami Playground, a shop once named by an alternative newspaper as the city’s the best adult video store.
Election records do not list any donations from Biton, who, as an Israeli citizen without permanent residency in the U.S, is barred from giving money to political candidates.
But the Israeli helped Grimm in other ways that are allowed, including accompanying him on fundraising visits to congregation members, several of whom were heavy hitters in New York’s real estate and jewelry businesses.
...At age 38, Pinto has achieved a fervent following in Israel, and has become famous there for his connections to political figures and business tycoons, some of whom credit him with mystical powers to bless their deals.
His success as an adviser to the rich and famous has made his organization wealthy; the Israeli edition of Forbes magazine recently ranked Pinto as Israel’s 7th richest rabbi, based on organizational holdings. Long based in the Mediterranean port city of Ashdod, Pinto opened a second headquarters in 2002 in New York, where he resides in a $6.5 million town house and delivers sermons in a building purchased in 2009 for $28.5 million.
When Grimm’s campaign began, Pinto’s U.S. followers had also begun to establish themselves as a source of campaign cash for pro-Israel candidates. A handful had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political committees controlled by U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, and U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat.
Grimm, a Catholic ex-Marine and a ferocious supporter of Israel, received his first bundle of checks from the rabbi’s supporters in December of 2009, just two months after entering the race.
One donor, New York deli owner Josef Ben Moha, said he and his wife gave a combined $4,800.
“It’s not something that I had to have my arm twisted. I was asked nicely. I decided he was a nice guy,” said Ben Moha, who has been one of Suky’s partners in a real estate venture. “The people who seemed to be helping him, they saw good qualities in him. I guess I did too.”
In the two years since the election, Pinto’s religious organization, Mosdot Shuva Israel, has been a frequent target of media scrutiny. News articles in the Jewish press accused it of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury travel and raised questions about its handling of millions of dollars in donations.
Pinto’s own father-in-law, an influential rabbi in Argentina, complained in a court filing that Pinto-- who professes to have no worldly possessions-- had enlisted him in a scheme to conceal his ownership of luxury apartments in Jerusalem.
More recently, a Pinto aide, rabbi Abraham Israel, was detained by Israeli police in April as part of an ongoing investigation into suspected money laundering and theft at an anti-poverty charity, Hazon Yeshaya. A spokesman for Pinto said he had no involvement in that charity.
Large amounts of Shuva Israel’s money have also disappeared, according to the organization’s lawyers. In December, Pinto and his supporters publicly blamed Biton, claiming he had embezzled large sums. They also made allegations, first reported last year in the New York Times, that Biton had conspired with another member of the congregation to extort money from the rabbi by threatening to plant damaging stories about him in the media.
Biton has called the extortion and embezzlement allegations lies.
In the waning days of the 2010 election, Pinto also began telling associates, including then-Congressman Anthony Weiner, that his support of Grimm had been coerced.
Weiner wound up reporting that murky allegation to the FBI. He told the AP he didn’t say anything publicly at the time and won’t discuss the details of the rabbi’s allegations now, because, “I didn’t know whether it was true or not.” A law enforcement official confirmed that the FBI had received the report.
Grimm has called any suggestion that he was tied up in some sort of plot with Biton, “profoundly absurd.”
So far Grimm has spent $320,000 in campaign contributions for lawyers fees to keep him out of prison on the "profoundly absurd" charges. And, yes, I voted for Grimm... in the CREW poll.
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