Oye: Rabbi Off to Fed Prison for A Not So Kosher Tax Fraud Scheme

Simply put, it wasn’t kosher — not even close.

Naftali Tzi Weisz, 61, the grand rabbi of Spinka, a religious Jewish orthodox group, was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to two years in prison for orchestrating a tax-cheat scheme prosecutors called “an astonishingly complex and sinister enterprise.”

Authorities say the Brooklyn rabbi and his assistant Gabbai Moshe E. Zingerman, 62,  solicited millions of dollars in donations and then refunded up to 95 percent of the money, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Donors were then able to claim tax deductions for the entire amount while only actually donating five percent of the money, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The assistant also received a two year sentence.

To date, authorities said, seven people have been sentenced in the case and the investigation is ongoing.

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