AUSTRALIA

Jail not kosher for three in $42m laundering scheme

THREE members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, who admitted involvement in a million international money-laundering scheme, have escaped going to jail mainly because of their religious beliefs.

Judge Strong said few members of the public would have any understanding of the rigours of the “Adass strain of ultra-Orthodox Judaism”.

He was satisfied the Goldbergs were genuinely devout in their beliefs in a sect which banned television, radio, cinema, alcohol and tobacco and newspapers other than certain Jewish publications.

All four Goldbergs had pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the
Commonwealth.

“I am convinced that prison for a Jew of this level or orthodoxy would be extraordinarily difficult,” Judge Strong said.

“Delivery of kosher food to the jail and concerns about its contamination would be a constant issue — and absolutely vital for the prisoner.”

The jail would
not be able to provide for the
observance of many Orthodox
requirements for daily living.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish prisoners would
be a prime target for “discrimination
and abuse or worse by other prisoners
because of their unusual
appearance”.

The same considerations applied to
Naphtali and Hershel Goldberg.

He sentenced Rita Goldberg to 15
months, Napthali Goldberg to 12 months and
Hershel Goldberg to nine months, all suspended.

Judge Strong said all three had played relatively minor roles in the scheme.
Nachum Goldberg had been in complete control of the enterprise.

Judge Strong said that while it was impossible to determine the amount of tax evaded, it was likely to have exceeded $20
million.

He said the principal offenders had not come before the court. Judge Strong said the fraud in which the Goldbergs conspired was committed not by them but by the tax evaders themselves whom the Goldbergs refused to identify. The Goldbergs’
“commission” earned from the money-laundering had been at least
$800,000.

The scheme Nachum Goldberg operated masqueraded as a conduit for charitable funds to Israel, said the judge.

False documents and a sprinkling of legitimate charitable cheques maintained the charade.

“When the
investigators tried to follow the money
trail they hit a brick wall in the form
of the refusal of the Israeli
Government or the Israel banks to
co-operate,” the judge said.

Judge Strong sentenced the Goldbergs on
June 21, but suppressed reporting of the sentences because disclosure of certain information in the sentencing remarks could have aborted another unrelated trial.

[Headline is original Sydney Morning Herald text]

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Website comment: Truly the mercy of some men surpasseth all understanding.