The scheme, which came to light two years ago, led to charges against two rabbis and eight others in an operation that involved threats of kidnapping, beatings, and stun guns — all aimed at convincing recalcitrant husbands to grant their wives religious divorces under Jewish law.
TRENTON -- Moshe Goldstein was the muscle.
The 32-year-old Brooklyn man had been part of a group recruited to force a reluctant Orthodox husband to grant his wife a religious divorce, in a bizarre plot that involved beatings, handcuffs and an electric cattle prod.
It was all an FBI sting centered on a prominent Lakewood rabbi who specialized in divorce proceedings, in an operation that stretched from Brooklyn to a warehouse in Middlesex County. There was no husband, no wife and no divorce.
And on Monday, Goldstein--the first of 10 to face sentencing in the case, was hit with a four-year term in federal prison, after pleading guilty to crossing state lines to commit extortion.
The scheme, which came to light two years ago, led to charges against two Orthodox rabbis, along with Goldstein and seven others charged in a torture-for-hire operation that involved threats of kidnapping, beatings, threats of death, and stun guns -- all aimed at convincing recalcitrant husbands to grant their wives religious divorces under Jewish law.
Divorce in the Orthodox community is governed not by secular law, but by a rabbinical court. But under Jewish law, a wife may not sue for divorce unless her husband agrees to provide her with a document known as a "get." The court, known as a "beth din," can order the husband to issue a get, however, in a bitter divorce dispute there is often no quick resolution and no guarantee he will accept the edict.
Without a "get," however, a woman can end up in limbo for years, unable to remarry. She becomes known as an "agunah," a woman chained to her marriage.
The religious rules can give a lot of leverage to husbands seeking advantageous property settlements, and some women or their families have gone to great lengths to resolve matters by whatever means possible.
The cost of a religious divorce
According to court filings, the men charged with Goldstein were willing to provide the "convincing" for a hefty price--as much as $70,000.
Arrested in the case were Rabbi Mendel Epstein, 70, of Lakewood and Brooklyn, who was well-known in the community for specializing in divorce proceedings, and Rabbi Martin Wolmark, 57, a school administrator at a yeshiva in Monsey, N.Y., along with eight other men who were said to be enforcers or witnesses -- Moshe Goldstein; his father Jay "Yaakov" Goldstein, 61; his brother Avrohom, 36; Binyamin Stimler, 40; David Hellman, 33; Simcha Bulmash, 32; and Sholom Shuchat, 31, all of Brooklyn, and Ariel Potash, 42, of Monsey.
During his plea hearing, Moshe Goldstein admitted he and others traveled from New York to a warehouse in Edison in October 2013, with the intent of forcing a Jewish husband to give his wife a "get." According to court filings, some showed up wearing Halloween masks and was one in a Metallica T-shirt, as they waited to grab a supposed victim. Once there, they met with an individual purported to be the husband's brother-in-law and discussed a plan to confine, restrain and threaten the victim.
However, it was all a set-up. The brother-in-law was actually an undercover FBI agent, as was the woman who hired them. There was no husband.
Later that evening, the two rabbis were arrested as well.
http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2015/04/verdict_in_lakewood_rabbi_conspiracy_trial_--_do_n.html
During his guilty plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton, Goldstein also admitted that he and others had also gone to a home in Brooklyn in August 2011, where they restrained, assaulted and injured another husband and his roommate in an attempt to extort a divorce agreement.
Avrohom Goldstein, Hellman, Bulmash, Potash and Shuchat all pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion and are scheduled to be sentenced later this week. Wolmark, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion, is to be sentenced in December.
Epstein, Jay Goldstein and Stimler were all convicted at trial in Trenton, and also face sentencing in December.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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