ND: A federal prosecutor yesterday castigated a prominent businessman in the Williamsburg community for claiming that he had been prosecuted and convicted of arson, fraud and money laundering only because he was Jewish.Before he was about to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, Nathan Schlesinger, 69, said in a lengthy statement that he was a Holocaust survivor who was “here because I am a Jew.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Ferazani replied that he represented the daughter of Holocaust survivors – Roslynn Mauskopf, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District – and said of Schlesinger, “The reason he is here is because he is a thief, because he is an arsonist and because he is a money launderer.”

After the exchange, U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt sentenced Schlesinger to 15 years in prison, the minimum mandatory sentence under federal law. Spatt could have sentenced Schlesinger to more than 21 years in prison but said he felt such a sentence would be “too draconian.”

Schlesinger’s attorney, Herald Price Fahringer of Manhattan, said afterward that his client would appeal. Of his client’s statement that he was being persecuted by federal officials because of his religion, Fahringer said, “He wanted to have his say – it’s not for me to judge.”

Ferazani and the other federal prosecutor in the case, Cynthia Monaco, declined to comment.

The court was packed with supporters of Schlesinger from his Orthodox Satmar community in Williamsburg, who felt he had been unjustly convicted.

Schlesinger was convicted in May 2005 of setting fire to his huge Brooklyn garment factory in 1998 to collect $4.5 million in insurance. Schlesinger’s factory, at 750 Kent Ave., made upscale women’s clothing for department stores, including Neiman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Ave. He was also convicted of collecting $4.5 million in damages by exaggerating the damages caused by four other fires at the factory.

When Schlesinger was arrested in 2003, U.S. Attorney Mauskopf said his action “jeopardized the safety of many New York City firefighters who risked their lives” fighting the garment-plant blaze. One hundred and fifty firemen responded to the New Year’s Eve fire.