Tom Hester Sr.

After the fall

Who’s who: The arrested rabbis and their associates

The New Jersey corruption sting last week was responsible for the arrests of 44 people. In all, 29 people were caught up in the probe into public corruption, and 15 were implicated in the investigation into money laundering, including one Brooklyn man charged with conspiring to broker the sale of a kidney.

The money laundering conspiracy is said to have involved high-ranking religious figures and their associates in Brooklyn and Deal. Among them, allegedly, was Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim of Long Branch, the principal rabbi of Cong. Ohel Yaacob in Deal. Typically, according to the criminal complaints, Haim received bank checks in amounts ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to $160,000 at a time made payable to a charitable, tax-exempt organization associated with Haim and his synagogue. To complete the money laundering cycle, Haim would return the amount of the check in cash to the cooperating witness, less a cut for Haim, typically 10 percent.