Allan Ripp, a spokesperson for Lamm’s attorney, confirmed Lamm’s arrest, but could provide no further details.
UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chestnut Ridge developers Shalom Lamm and Kenneth Nakdimen were arrested on voting fraud charges Thursday morning.
An indictment unsealed Thursday charges Lamm, Nakdimen and businessman Volvy "Zev" Smilowitz with conspiracy to corrupt the electoral process for their efforts to bring in and pay people who did not live in the Village of Bloomingburg to vote in the 2014 election for mayor and trustee.
Lamm and Nakdimen established a presence in Bloomingburg when they began plans to build a 396-unit townhouse development called Chestnut Ridge, on land that was annexed from the Town of Mamakating into the Village of Bloomingburg. It became apparent in 2012 that the homes were designed to accommodate Hasidic families, which caused an uproar in the village of only a few hundred residents.
Vehement opposition to Chestnut Ridge grew, and a series of lawsuits and planning board decisions slowed construction of the project.
"When met with resistance, rather than seek to advance their real estate development project through legitimate means, the defendants instead decided to corrupt the electoral process in Bloomingburg by falsely registering voters and paying bribes for voters who would help elect public officials favorable to their project," the indictment said.
Lamm, Nakdimen and Smilowitz bribed non-local residents with money, subsidies and other items of value to vote in the 2014 village election, the indictment said. Lamm paid one person $500 per voter recruited, totaling more than $30,000 per month.
Lamm, owner of Black Creek Holdings LLC, was taken into custody by F.B.I. agents. Lamm is the son of Norman Lamm, the prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi and longtime leader of Yeshiva University.
Lamm has bought up hundreds of acres in Bloomingburg, a small village in Orange County. According to internal documents revealed in a lawsuit this year, Lamm planned to eventually build 5,000 units of housing around the village for Hasidic Jews. His plans have drawn deep opposition from some locals.
The Forward published a feature this morning on the fight for Bloomingburg. The feature was published before this newspaper was aware of Lamm’s arrest.
A spokesperson for the F.B.I. confirmed that three people were arrested this morning, but would provide no details. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said that a statement was forthcoming.
Lamm and his allies have been dogged with allegations of voter fraud for years. Residents claim that Hasidic non-residents were brought in to vote in village elections. Opponents challenged ballots in local elections. And the FBI raided Lamm’s offices in 2014.
AH! WHAT A KIDDUSH HASHEM! MI K'AMCHO YISHMOEL
ReplyDeleteIts about time, however there should be more arrested including our current sitting mayor Mr. Wood. Fbi needs to stop dragging their feet before we have no town left to call home!
ReplyDeleteOy gevalt siz take gevaldig :)
ReplyDeleteWhen our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel are defending themselves from the murderous Arabs and trying to hold on to our God given land,these Satmar Romanian Hungarian gypsy Jew hating criminally insane barbarians, are busy screaming " HISGAROS B"UMOS,they are antagonizing the Gentiles,but stealing and robbing from your gentile neighbors who have welcomed us with open arms after the holocaust that is perfectly alright,
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the day when their chief mafia godfathers Aron and Zalmen Teitel-bum are finally locked up behind bars where they realy belong
They need some new housing in Ottisville.
ReplyDeleteThe right contractors are bidding and on the way to help.
The question is just whose rebbishe territory is it.
Don't forget where lamm was educated and where he belongs, a graduate of YU and a modern orthodox Jew NOT a Satmar chasid
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:20 PM
DeleteWhen you lie down with a corrupt SHITA"ah and hashkafa you'll get infested with fleas. That's what happened with Lamm and why he's facing at least 15 years in prison.
Here's hoping that he'll turn state's evidence to reduce his sentence and testify against the criminal conspiracy known as Satmar.
Finally this smug, crooked little carpetbagger and his Monsey co-conspirator have been exposed. This was a hostile criminal takeover, of a vulnerable little upstate village whose equally crooked town board greedily sold their neighbors down the river for cash. Duane Roe, Berentsen and Wood should be joining them in front of a federal magistrate any day now. Once Lamms "top secret documents" came to light, the jig was up. Let's hope these 3 arrests are only the beginning of a much more thorough mop up. Cuomo continues to serve his Satmar masters. Prison for Lamm, Nakdimen, Smilowitz.Prison for Roe ! Prison for Berentsen ! Prison for that little weasel Wood. Baird is singing like the canary he is to save his own hide.
ReplyDelete