Brooklyn lobbyist Rabbi Milton Balkany convicted of extortion

Israel Info Press - Brooklyn Rabbi Milton Balkany, a Jewish day school director and political activist, was convicted in federal court of extortion.

Balkany, 64, was found guilty Wednesday by a jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan of extortion, blackmail, wire fraud and making false statements.

He was convicted of trying to extort a $4 million donation to his school, Bais Yaakov of Midwood, from billionaire Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital, using damaging information he obtained from an inmate at a federal prison where he served as a spiritual adviser.
Balkany will remain under house arrest until his sentencing on Feb. 18. He could face 20 years in prison.

The rabbi has been active in fund raising for Republican politicians and has lobbied in Washington for several causes.

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In 2003 the Village Voice reported that Balkany was charged with defrauding the U.S. Government of $700,000 ... earlier that year he had opened Congress with the prayer: "I stand here today among the jewels of our nation," he told the House, "men and women who are precious, who radiate dedication, and they have been selected as the leaders of our land."


The Voice reported: "Balkany, 57, is also famous for his generous campaign contributions, and many of the jewels of the nation who received his prayers had already received his sizable checks. Over the past decade, Balkany, directly and via family members and business associates, has showered politicians, most of them Republican and conservative, with a staggering amount of money, an estimated $300,000, according to one count, enough to earn him the title the "Brooklyn Bundler" from Common Cause when it investigated the influence of big money in Congress in the early 1990s.... Read more

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Wikipedia gives some details on Balkany's connection to Israel: ... In 1994 Balkany tried to have David Luchins an Orthodox Jew and official of the Orthodox Union as well as a former aide to Senator Daniel Moynihan[4] placed in Cherem (excommunication) after Luchins wrote memos complaining about Balkany's heavy-handed efforts to compel Israeli government officials to use U.S. aid money to fund projects Balkany favored in Israel.

… In 1996 a request for $2.3 million in federal funding for a charitable project was accepted after then-U.S. Senator Bob Dole interceded on his behalf. Dole had been a beneficiary of Balkany's political fundraising and got involved after the proposal had first been rejected by the U.S. Agency for International Development.[7] The request was in relation to funding for an obscure Yeshiva in Jerusalem run by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Ohr Torah. Read more