The New York State Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, is investigating allegations of financial malfeasance involving one of the state’s most influential political power brokers, William E. Rapfogel, the NY Times reports.
The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, headed by Rapfogal since 1992 as chief executive and president, issued a statement announcing Mr. Rapfogel’s immediate termination.
“The board of directors of Met Council recently became aware of specific information regarding financial irregularities and apparent misconduct in connection with the organization’s insurance policies,” the statement read. “The board retained outside counsel to conduct a full investigation. Based on that investigation, which is ongoing, the board has terminated Mr. Rapfogel, effective immediately, and notified the proper authority. To date, the investigation has not revealed evidence that any current employees of Met Council engaged in any wrongdoing.”
In a statement, Damien LaVera, a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman, said, “This matter is the subject on an ongoing criminal investigation conducted in conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller as part of Operation Integrity.”
People familiar with the matter told The Times that he was informed of the board’s decision last week, when he was on vacation, and that he was not allowed to retrieve most of his personal effects from his office, because all materials were being reviewed by investigators.
“It is very serious,” said one person who has been briefed on the allegations, but spoke on condition of anonymity because of the investigation.
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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5 Responses
I wonder who is out to get him. This sounds political.
i dont believe it for a minute, this is pure loshon hora. someone is making him responsible for something he would never do, it could be he is getting blamed for something hinky going on there
Mosh3, No, not really, He has apologized, and asked for public forgiveness. He has basically admitted something he did wasn’t kosher. I never liked the fact that he was called Mr. Tzedakah, when in essence he was always using others peoples tax dollars to fund his “tzedakah” programs. This is what happens when people mix liberalism and religious ideals.
This is not lashon hora or a political witch hunt. Rapfogel has released a statement through his lawyers aplogizing to the public for letting them down. And Menachem Lubinsky has said that this is very serious because Rapfogel wasn’t simply suspended but fired. Maybe if frum Jews wouldn’t always make excuses when one of ours does something criminal or unethical, we’d have less of this constant flow of bad news. We keep patting ourselves on the back for our supposed high level of ethics and morality, yet it seems that not a week goes by without a financial or inappropriate scandal rocking our community. Do you really think an outsider, whether a non-Jew or a non-frum Jew, can look at us and think, “What an exemplary group of people. Their Torah must be true, because look at how you never hear a breath of scandal about them.” Halevai.
wow, how quick you people are to blame, remember innocent till proven guilty!!!can you stop for one minute and think that maybe he is covering for someone or something more sinister is going on there, and maybe he was forced to apologize??