With the media abuzz with new developments in the Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto investigation in Israel and in the United States, it appears more than somewhat likely that a number of Israel Police senior officers will be linked to illegal activity. MK (Labor) Micky Rosenthal is pushing an agenda that will prevent Israel Police officers from becoming involved in illegal activity with prominent rabbonim, or “Babos” as they are called. Rosenthal feels the appropriate response to the unfolding case involving Rabbi Pinto is to prohibit senior public officials from visiting “babos”, choshuva rabbonim and mekubalim, the type that people often turn to for advice. This would include Rav Pinto, and if alive today Baba Sali ZT”L, Baba Elazar ZT”L, Baba Baruch, the Chalban, the Rentgan and so forth. Rosenthal explains that he differentiates between “bogus rabbinical courts” and prominent serious rabbonim who direct those seeking their guidance. He warns chassidic courts “have become a dangerous worrisome industry that do not respect democracy and I view this as being problematic.” Rosenthal does not believe a bill is required, but each person must define his own redlines for he does not believe such issues demand legislation. “I don’t tell anyone in who to believe and trust, and who not to believe in or trust but I think as a ministers in government, becoming servile to charlatan rabbis is truly problematic.” Bayit Yehudi MK Moti Yogev does not agree and he feels one cannot expect to restrict a minister’s ability to confer with others, including rabbonim. Such meetings must however be in line with acceptable norms and rules of play, citing an example that a politician should not use his influence on an IDF officer towards influencing his actions. However, as friends, people may discuss different ideas, and this includes with rabbonim. Yogev adds MKs who wear a yarmulke are not pleased with the very notion, adding “rabbis are not witches chas v’sholom, they are good people. Here rabbis and over there officers. Dialogue is important. Attempts to influence unfairly is however unacceptable,” concludes Yogev. (YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The following is from The Hill: The FBI has arrested a top fundraiser for Rep. Michael Grimm, the New York Republican under investigation over campaign donations, according to numerous reports. Ofer Biton, an Israeli national who reportedly helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Grimm’s 2010 race, was charged this week with immigration fraud. The government claims that Biton in 2010 lied on immigration forms about the source of money underlying a business-loan transfer that would have allowed him to stay permanently in the United States. The government has been investigating whether Biton embezzled money from followers of the prominent Orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto. Grimm was not named in the criminal complaint, according to the reports, but the charges were filed by the same Brooklyn-based U.S. attorney leading the probe into Grimm’s campaign finances. The New York Times reported in January that Grimm reached out to Biton in 2009 for help fundraising from members of Pinto’s congregation – an effort that yielded roughly half-a-million dollars, the Times found. Grimm, a freshman who’s seeking reelection in November, has denied any wrongdoing surrounding his campaign finances. The Cook Political Report, a prominent election handicapper, lists Grimm as among the most vulnerable Republican incumbents. (Source: The Hill)

A congressional campaign that already was promising to be tightly contested became even more contentious when incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm was charged with evading taxes, news that voters in his Staten Island district met with mixed feelings. Eddie Garcia, 70, said he voted for Grimm twice, and “I plan to vote for him again.” But others like Marc Patrick, 57, said he wouldn’t even consider supporting a candidate with this kind of cloud hanging over him on Election Day. “This is supposed to be someone who respects the law, and that’s certainly in question at this point,” the retired teacher said. Grimm was charged Monday following a two-year investigation that initially focused on alleged attempts to bypass contribution limits. He pleaded not guilty through his lawyer in federal court in Brooklyn to mail, wire and tax fraud charges in connection to a small Manhattan restaurant and was released on $400,000 bond secured by his Staten Island home. The lawmaker, using a World War II memorial across the street from the courthouse as a backdrop, later accused prosecutors of leaking “all kinds of innuendos and accusations to support a political witch hunt” intended to “assassinate my character.” He vowed to return to work in Congress while fighting the charges. “I know I’m a moral man, a man of integrity,” he added. “And I also know I have a lot more service and leadership to provide this country, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” But Grimm has even more of a challenge in running for re-election, Democratic strategist Phil Singer said. The indictment is “going to chase him every time he goes out on the campaign trail,” Singer said. Republican strategist Hogan Gidley said, “Campaigns are difficult enough trying to stay on message and stay focused on your accomplishments without having to worry about federal indictments.” Democrats have been eyeing Grimm’s seat. The Democrats’ favored candidate, former New York City Councilman Domenic Recchia, has been hammering Grimm over his ethics and has impressed Washington Democrats. Grimm stepped down Monday from the House Financial Services Committee. He told Republican House Speaker John Boehner he should be removed from the panel but said he plans to return once his legal issues are resolved. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi had sent a letter to Boehner saying Grimm should be removed, and a Boehner spokesman said the speaker believes the decision to step down was appropriate. House members suspected of crimes sometimes win re-election, but an indictment typically leads to resignation or defeat at the polls. FBI agents seized large amounts of cash when they raided the Washington home of Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., in May 2006, but voters re-elected him later that year. A federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on 16 corruption charges in June 2007, and he lost his 2008 bid for another term. He later was sentenced to prison. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is one of the best-known lawmakers to face criminal charges. In 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted him on charges of trying to violate election laws. DeLay surrendered his leadership post but kept his House seat until June 2006. That’s when he resigned, without seeking another term. U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said investigators uncovered the restaurant fraud as they conducted the campaign

Following a two-year investigation of his campaign financing, U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm was indicted Monday on federal mail, wire and tax fraud charges stemming from a restaurant he operated before entering Congress, a case he says is trumped up. The Staten Island Republican was arrested Monday morning and pleaded not guilty to a 20-count federal indictment. He was released on $400,000 bail. Grimm claims the government framed him. He says investigators couldn’t make a campaign finance case against him stick, so they trumped up the fraud accusations. He said he is the victim of a “political witch hunt.” “I’m going to fight tooth and nail until I am exonerated,” he said. Grimm is charged with engaging in schemes to underreport wages for restaurant workers, including some who were in the country illegally. He is accused of concealing more than $1 million in sales and wages. Authorities said that when he was deposed by an attorney representing former employees in a lawsuit, Grimm lied under oath about his allegedly fraudulent business practices. Authorities allege the fraud occurred from 2007 to 2010. Grimm, a former FBI agent who spent a decade working for the bureau before leaving in the mid-2000s to pursue private business interests, was elected in 2010 and took office in 2011. “Rep. Grimm billed himself as a patriot and an American hero,” said George Venizelos, head of the FBI’s New York office. “… But Rep. Grimm was anything but an upstanding citizen. He cheated, evaded and then lied.” For two years, investigators had been examining his fundraising in the 2010 race and his involvement in the Manhattan restaurant. A House Ethics Committee announced in November that Grimm was under investigation for possible campaign finance violations. “From the beginning, the government has pursued a politically driven vendetta against Congressman Grimm and not an independent search for the truth,” Grimm’s attorney, William McGinley, said in a statement Friday. “Congressman Grimm asserts his innocence of any wrongdoing.” After the House Ethics Committee announced last fall that Grimm was under investigation, the panel said it would defer its inquiry because of a separate Department of Justice investigation. Grimm, 44, made headlines in January after confronting a New York City cable news station reporter who tried to question him about a long-running FBI investigation into campaign finance while they were on a balcony in the Capitol. After reporter Michael Scotto finished his report, Grimm stormed back, leaned into him and said: “Let me be clear to you. If you ever do that to me again, I’ll throw you off this (expletive) balcony.” During the 2010 race, Grimm acknowledged receiving $250,000 to $300,000 in contributions from followers of an Israeli rabbi, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. Some members of Pinto’s congregation subsequently said they made tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions, including gifts passed through straw donors. Grimm has denied knowledge of any improprieties. The Israeli businessman who had served as Grimm’s liaison to Pinto’s followers, Ofer Biton, pleaded guilty in August to an immigration fraud charge. Three days after that guilty plea, the FBI filed a sealed criminal complaint accusing a Houston woman named Diana Durand, who had been romantically involved with Grimm, of using straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions. On Friday, Durand was indicted in Brooklyn on those charges. She also

A former campaign fundraiser for U.S. Rep Michael Grimm has pleaded guilty in New York to an immigration fraud charge. Israeli businessman Ofer Biton pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn Friday to lying about his finances when he applied in 2010 for a special visa available to foreigners who invest $500,000 or more in a U.S. business. A plea agreement calls for Biton to be sentenced to three years of probation. A lawyer for Biton had no comment. The businessman was arrested last year amid an FBI investigation into money donated to Grimm’s campaign by followers of an Israeli rabbi, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. A spokeswoman for Grimm said the congressman had no knowledge of any improper donations or any other illegal activity involving Biton. (AP)

Mike Grimm, a G.O.P challenger to Democrat Mike McMahon’s Congressional seat, took in over $200,000 in his last filing. But in an effort to show that Grimm lacks support among voters in the district, which covers Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, the McMahon campaign compiled a list of Jewish donors to Grimm and provided it to The Politicker.  The file, labeled “Grimm Jewish Money Q2,” for the second quarter fundraising period, shows a list of over 80 names, a half-dozen of which in fact do hail from Staten Island, and a handful of others that list Brooklyn as home. “Where is Grimm’s money coming from,” said Jennifer Nelson, McMahon’s campaign spokeman. “There is a lot of Jewish money, a lot of money from people in Florida and Manhattan, retirees.” Nelson said that the list was compiled by the campaign’s finance director, Debra Solomon and that she did not know exactly how the finance team knew who was Jewish and who was not. “She herself is Jewish so she knows a lot of people in that community,” Nelson said. Nelson stressed that the point of compiling the list was not to show that Grimm had a lot of Jewish support, but that he had little support in the district. “I don’t think ethnicity matters. When people look at who is funding his campaign it’s not people who have a direct vested interest [in the district.]” Grimm recently went to a religious service led by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a Kabbalahist who is known as a rabbi to the rich and famous. Several of his followers, including Haim Revah, whose company owns the Lipstick Building and Ilan Bracha of Prudential Douglas Elliman, donated to Grimm. McMahon meanwhile has been struggling to gain a foothold into his district’s Jewish community, estimated to be as much as 15% of the vote. A look at campaign finance filing has shown that the two largest groups of Jews in McMahon’s district – Ashkenaz Jews in Willowbrook, Staten Island and Sephardic Jews in Gravesend, Brooklyn have not donated heavily to his campaign.  These are that neighborhoods that voted overwhelmingly for McMahon in his first race and were major contributors to his campaign at the time because of his good relations with those communities as a member of the New York City Council. However, now McMahon appears to be losing that Jewish support. Insiders say that this is a result of McMahon ignoring his Jewish constituents in Staten Island and Brooklyn.  One political strategist told YWN “These comments can not come as welcome news to these communities who are already reeling from President Obama’s lax support of the State of Israel and the perception that McMahon, a fellow Democrat, has ignored his Jewish constituents.  These two blocs of Jewish votes have well over 1,000 votes each in the Congressman’s district.  These unfortunate comments may be the tipping point that sends these communities over to the Republican nominee.” In a move seen as attempting to temper the fall-out over these remarks, this morning Congressman McMahon fired his spokesman, Jennifer Nelson. The Congressman issued the following statement: “I was outraged by these unfortunate remarks which were unauthorized and are in no way indicative of my beliefs or of my campaign. ” (Source: The Politicker/YWN News)