Nearly two years after emerging as the lynchpin in a massive corruption and money laundering sting, federal informant Solomon Dwek was sent to jail today for lying to the FBI in the wake of his arrest in Baltimore last month for failing to return a rental car, and then trying to conceal it from investigators.
Calling him a “cunning liar and a serial defrauder,” U.S. District Judge Jose Linares revoked Dwek’s bail for violating the terms of his cooperation agreement with the government. Federal marshals immediately took him into custody,
Dwek had been free on bail since pleading guilty in October 2009 to an unrelated $50 million bank fraud that first led to his cooperation deal with the government that led to the arrests of more than 44 people — including three mayors, two legislators and five Orthodox rabbis — in a three-year investigation that has yet to fully play out.
Details of Dwek’s new problems in Baltimore were revealed in a special noontime hearing, when an FBI agent recounted his discovery of an outstanding warrant against Dwek involving the rental of a car on behalf of another individual.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Howe said Dwek filed a false affidavit with Hertz and made false statements to the FBI, claiming at first not to know about the vehicle rental which was paid for using his father’s credit card, Rabbi Isaac Dwek.
In a filing to the court, prosecutors — who are still using Dwek in the ongoing investigation — sought house arrest.
Linares, however, threw the book at the informant.
“He knew what he was doing was illegal and improper,” said the judge, violating the terms not only of his cooperation agreement with the government, but the terms of his release on bail by the court.
Linares called Dwek an “extremely accomplished liar” who could not be trusted.
“I do not accept house arrest,” Linares said. “He is not above lying to the FBI, Hertz and thumbing his nose at the court.”
Dwek made no statements in court and surrendered his coat, belt and blue tie before being escorted out of the courtroom by marshals.
Wearing a hidden surveillance camera, Dwek — a disgraced real estate investor from Monmouth County — had set up friends, former business partners, and dozens of public officials in a wide-ranging FBI sting that documented tens of thousands of dollars in cash slipped in FedEx envelopes to candidates for office, and millions more laundered through religious institutions and charities.
Thirty people have already pleaded guilty in the case, three more were convicted at trial and two were acquitted. Charges are pending against nine others, including former Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, who is currently on trial before Linares on charges of taking $10,000 through a middleman in exchange for his support on a purported hotel development project.
Before his arrest for attempting to cash two bogus $25 million checks, Dwek appeared to be a successful real estate investor, buying properties with abandon, while giving generously to charitable organizations and political candidates.
But filings in the bankruptcy case that following described his business enterprise as a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Dwek involving dozens of fraudulent land deals.
Dwek, who has been attacked by defense attorneys over that criminal past, has been held back as a witness in recent trials after Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez was acquitted of extortion and bribery. He was scheduled to testify for the prosecution in Elwell’s trial. However, the U.S. Attorney’s office withdrew him as a witness after learning of the Baltimore arrest.
Calling him a “cunning liar and a serial defrauder,” U.S. District Judge Jose Linares revoked Dwek’s bail for violating the terms of his cooperation agreement with the government. Federal marshals immediately took him into custody,
Dwek had been free on bail since pleading guilty in October 2009 to an unrelated $50 million bank fraud that first led to his cooperation deal with the government that led to the arrests of more than 44 people — including three mayors, two legislators and five Orthodox rabbis — in a three-year investigation that has yet to fully play out.
Details of Dwek’s new problems in Baltimore were revealed in a special noontime hearing, when an FBI agent recounted his discovery of an outstanding warrant against Dwek involving the rental of a car on behalf of another individual.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Howe said Dwek filed a false affidavit with Hertz and made false statements to the FBI, claiming at first not to know about the vehicle rental which was paid for using his father’s credit card, Rabbi Isaac Dwek.
In a filing to the court, prosecutors — who are still using Dwek in the ongoing investigation — sought house arrest.
Linares, however, threw the book at the informant.
“He knew what he was doing was illegal and improper,” said the judge, violating the terms not only of his cooperation agreement with the government, but the terms of his release on bail by the court.
Linares called Dwek an “extremely accomplished liar” who could not be trusted.
“I do not accept house arrest,” Linares said. “He is not above lying to the FBI, Hertz and thumbing his nose at the court.”
Wearing a hidden surveillance camera, Dwek — a disgraced real estate investor from Monmouth County — had set up friends, former business partners, and dozens of public officials in a wide-ranging FBI sting that documented tens of thousands of dollars in cash slipped in FedEx envelopes to candidates for office, and millions more laundered through religious institutions and charities.
Thirty people have already pleaded guilty in the case, three more were convicted at trial and two were acquitted. Charges are pending against nine others, including former Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, who is currently on trial before Linares on charges of taking $10,000 through a middleman in exchange for his support on a purported hotel development project.
Before his arrest for attempting to cash two bogus $25 million checks, Dwek appeared to be a successful real estate investor, buying properties with abandon, while giving generously to charitable organizations and political candidates.
But filings in the bankruptcy case that following described his business enterprise as a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Dwek involving dozens of fraudulent land deals.
Dwek, who has been attacked by defense attorneys over that criminal past, has been held back as a witness in recent trials after Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez was acquitted of extortion and bribery. He was scheduled to testify for the prosecution in Elwell’s trial. However, the U.S. Attorney’s office withdrew him as a witness after learning of the Baltimore arrest.
