Rabbi Hurt In Poway Synagogue Shooting Admits Tax Fraud

Speaker 1: 00:00 For the past year, a media spotlight has been on rabbi Israel, Goldstein, and the Habbat of Poway after a gunman's attack during services, a congregant was killed and Goldstein was wounded in the attack, drawing sympathy from across the nation. But that spotlight shifted this week with news of the rabbis guilty plead attacks and wire fraud charges, and he was not alone. Joining me to discuss this startling. Turn of events is Mary Peyton investigative reporter for NBC seven San Diego Marie, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me Mark. Well, it seems that when we last heard about rabbi Goldstein, he was being hailed by president Trump at the white house, honored at the United nations in Europe and elsewhere. Tell us about his criminal charge and the plea this week. How did this 90 10 scheme work? Speaker 2: 00:45 It wasn't really intricate scheme and there were several schemes, but the one that you touched on the 90 10 scheme, that seems to be the most prominent. Supposedly this had been going on according to one of his co-conspirators Bruce Baker. Uh, this had been going on since the early or mid 1980s, where basically what would happen is that a donor would give rabbi Goldstein a large contribution that was supposed to go towards the Habbat of Poway, which she founded. And instead that money would not be going to the synagogue. And 90% of it would go back to the donor, according to the indictments and the, and the prosecutors, 10% of it would be kept by the rabbi. And then the donor would then claim a big charitable contribution on his or her taxes. Speaker 1: 01:33 Now, as you say, an elaborate scheme, going back a long, long time, let's take these, these folks who are also involved one by one, start with Bruce Baker. What are the details? Who was he and what was the charge against him? Speaker 2: 01:46 Bruce Baker pled guilty to filing false tax returns. Like I mentioned, supposedly they had to working together since the 1980s. And in Baker's case prosecutor said that he made millions of dollars conspiring with the rabbi. He's a local dentist here, or he was a local dentist. Um, we looked up his records and his license says that he practices in Poway, but we do know that he owns and operates a couple of different dental office than he, he lives in the Hoya, but, um, basically would work with Goldstein and instead of Goldstein actually giving him cash back, basically in order to cover his tracks, the rabbi would, according to prosecutors give, uh, creditors or relatives or would pay off bills for Baker. Um, on behalf of like his son who wanted to attend dental school Speaker 1: 02:33 And next up are former executives of the local Barron's market, grocery store chain and Pacific natural foods, distributor company out of Poway. Tell us about those two, Speaker 2: 02:44 These two men, they live here in the community and it's [inaudible] he's 63 and that's Yusef Shima, Ronnie 74. Again, we were told they are former executives of the local Barron's market grocery store, but we did reach out to barons yesterday and bearings had a, a lengthy statement that they gave to us saying that the two men had cooperated and they had paid the money back. Um, and they also pleaded guilty this week to filing false personal tax returns. These two, it was interesting because they would use code according to the documentations with, uh, Goldstein, instead of using the word money, they would use the word holla, which is a description of a bread in the Jewish cuisine. And they would say, you know, the Baker is ready for you or the Baker came in today and that was referring to the banker or the money. So it was sort of interesting that they were covering their tracks. Really. They all were, they each face a maximum of three years in prison Speaker 1: 03:49 And there was a middleman involved, Alexander [inaudible] if I'm saying that right. Another co-conspirator, that was a, an interesting case explained to what happened there. According to the indictment, Speaker 2: 04:00 His involvement was more complicated than just the 90 10 ski because Alexander ever goon, he would actually use shell companies and he had a construction company called imagination construction, whether or not that construction company did actual work. Uh, I'm not sure, but basically what Alexander African would do was he would create fake invoices for services and repairs at the hibachi of Poway. He would say he was doing such things as, uh, stolen carpets or doing repairs. Um, what was interesting is that after the wildfires back in 2007, the rabbi and African got together, and aggregan said he had made repairs to the HubSpot of Poway after the wildfire had damaged it. And then those invoices were submitted to FEMA, the federal emergency management agency, and then also Cal OES, who then wrote checks back to the rabbi. Um, and so Africans basically fled the country. Speaker 2: 05:01 Uh, he went to Lafayette and then in August, 2019, he was eventually located by law enforcement and he was extradited back to San Diego. He's been in custody since he appeared on Tuesday, um, by, by video conference where he pleaded guilty, but he was also a realtor here in San Diego. Some people might recognize his name and he had a separate real estate Ponzi scheme where he actually cheated a retired investors out of $12 million. So he's facing the most time with his involvement with Goldstein, as well as that Ponzi scheme. He could be in prison for 20 years for wire fraud and then an additional 20 years for money laundry. Yeah. Speaker 1: 05:42 Who else? That brings me to another question I had, who else, uh, among this group of conspirators, uh, figures to go to prison and, or pay fines in the scheme? Speaker 2: 05:52 Well, they're all going to have to pay fines. The assistant us attorney in this case said, they'll all have to pay money back for what, you know, the, the tax evasion. And then most of them will, could face, I guess, a maximum of three to five years and present. What's interesting to note and has been reported on pretty extensively now is that the rabbi will not likely not spend even a night in prison. Um, he was being investigated before and after the Poway synagogue shooting, of course, but then, you know, he garnered this huge following this reputation and the us attorney's office said because of his dedication to the community and because of his good deeds a before and after really for years now, they are granting him some leniency. And he also helped of course, um, with the indict, the other, uh, people who eventually pleaded guilty and he still is working with them. Um, but they are, uh, you know, they are not going to be imposing as strict of a target of a penalty on the road. Speaker 1: 06:55 Did you get any response from the co-conspirators or their attorneys? Speaker 2: 06:59 We did contact all of the co-conspirators and, uh, we did not hear back. No one wanted you to make a comment. Like I said, Darren's grocery store did send us back a statement. Uh, but besides that silence and we also reached out to the rabbi's son, I did personally, um, it's interesting because the rabbi has five sons. One of them took over, I believe it was last November. The rabbi had cited exhaustion. And so his son, uh, Mendel Goldstein took over leadership of the synagogue and the associated school. I did call Mendel on Tuesday, as soon as I heard the news and he's not returned my call, but the HubSpot of Poway, uh, did put out a statement later on saying, you know, that they were saddened about what had happened. That was not the rabbi that they knew, um, talking about Israel, Goldstein, but they had been cooperating and they were hoping to hear. Speaker 1: 07:49 And finally, I did want to point out the timing of the indictment, because as we've said, this happened, they rated Goldstein's home. And this was all in the works long before the attack on the hibachi Poway. Yet the president invited Goldstein to the white house, the vice president visited here at the out of Poway, uh, last year. Um, you think the attorney general might've told the administration that he was under investigation, but we don't really know that. Do we? Speaker 2: 08:16 Right? I mean, Mark, that would be purely speculation. Um, it is interesting that you mentioned the timing of this all, um, because he, like you mentioned, he did go to the white house. Not only did he go to the white house, but when you'll recall, president Trump, uh, came here, uh, rabbi Goldstein was one of the few people waiting on the tarmac for air force. One shook hands with the president, Mike Pence and his wife has also visited the rabbi. Um, but really we don't know what the connection is. All we know at this point is that this investigation had been going on for a long time, as early as 2016, the us attorney's office said the rabbi was ready to plead guilty in late 2018. And of course, that terrible attack on the HubSpot of Poway happened in 2019. They did say that the rabbi did help. Uh, they led to the other co-conspirators and there are still people that could be, um, found guilty and charged. So they needed his help. And so, uh, possibly that is why it took so long to actually, um, have this play that happens Speaker 1: 09:20 A lot to wonder about in this story. I've been speaking with Marie Peyton, investigative reporter for NBC seven San Diego. Thanks very much. Thanks Mark.