1 00:00:05,260 --> 00:00:11,620 In this episode of American Greed, Solomon Dweck is an expert flim flammer. 2 00:00:11,820 --> 00:00:18,800 He was a guy that ran a $400 million real estate Ponzi scheme in his head and 3 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:19,800 on the back of a napkin. 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,980 Dweck then commits a $50 million bank fraud and becomes an informant in the 5 00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:29,780 biggest case of corruption and greed in New Jersey history. 6 00:00:30,260 --> 00:00:34,440 Dweck was starring in a movie that only he knew was being shot. 7 00:00:35,180 --> 00:00:39,800 Don't forget me, and I won't forget you guys. It sounds like a guy channeling 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,240 Goodfellas. Whatever the script is for Ponzi schemes, frauds, cooperation, rip 9 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:46,820 it up and throw it out. This one's different. 10 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:09,080 In the early morning of July 23, 2009, more than 300 FBI and other federal 11 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,900 agents span out across New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York. 12 00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:18,360 They're positioned outside Orthodox Jewish synagogues and million -dollar 13 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,380 mansions along the Jersey Shore. 14 00:01:21,020 --> 00:01:25,660 This was the biggest roundup of corruption in New Jersey state history. 15 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:27,440 That is saying something. 16 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,540 Graft is nothing new in the Garden State. 17 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,080 There literally have been more than 100, perhaps approaching 200 arrests in just 18 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:40,080 the last few years out in New Jersey where politicians and municipal 19 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:45,040 have been caught taking bribes, and almost all of them have been convicted. 20 00:01:45,340 --> 00:01:51,060 At 6 a .m., the go -ahead is broadcast from FBI Central Command in Newark. 21 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,760 Newark CP to all teams. 22 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,240 Execute, execute, execute. 23 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:01,680 And like a well -choreographed dance... Arrest teams start knocking on doors. 24 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:08,620 Acting U .S. Attorney Ralph Mara, a 25 -year veteran prosecutor, waits 25 00:02:08,620 --> 00:02:10,100 for news from the field. 26 00:02:10,539 --> 00:02:13,780 We're waiting to hear reports on how they did. 27 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,700 Did they make the arrests? Were there any problems? 28 00:02:17,020 --> 00:02:18,620 What did they find in evidence? 29 00:02:18,940 --> 00:02:20,740 This is NJ Team 3. 30 00:02:21,020 --> 00:02:22,460 Subject is in custody. 31 00:02:24,060 --> 00:02:29,080 In all, the teams arrest 44 people, and one by one... 32 00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:33,830 They parade past a swelling sea of reporters into the FBI's Newark 33 00:02:33,830 --> 00:02:34,890 for processing. 34 00:02:37,150 --> 00:02:41,370 WNBC's Jonathan Deans is the first television reporter on the scene. 35 00:02:41,670 --> 00:02:46,950 They literally are carting the suspects away by the busload here. We had a sense 36 00:02:46,950 --> 00:02:49,290 that this was going to be a big case. We did not know the details. 37 00:02:49,550 --> 00:02:54,770 But then when you started seeing just the sheer volume of car after car 38 00:02:54,770 --> 00:02:57,330 up in front of the FBI's offices in New Jersey. 39 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,320 That was when it really hit me that, my goodness, this is going to be huge. 40 00:03:02,420 --> 00:03:09,040 We saw rabbis being walked in with yarmulkes on and politicians coming 41 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,720 in. We saw political operatives being walked in. 42 00:03:12,980 --> 00:03:17,560 There was a deputy mayor of Jersey City who we later found out was a former 43 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:23,660 stripper back in days of burlesque. The characters themselves made it surreal. 44 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,800 And as the criminal complaints are made public, they lift the veil on systemic 45 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,980 corruption, brazen even by New Jersey standards. 46 00:03:32,340 --> 00:03:38,880 The initial complaints as they first came out alleged massive bribery of 47 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:45,160 politicians, along with money laundering of incredible amounts associated with 48 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,380 ultra -Orthodox community leaders, rabbinic figures. 49 00:03:49,020 --> 00:03:55,560 And then what stunned everybody was an illegal kidney brokering scheme that had 50 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:56,560 been uncovered. 51 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,600 The complaints are based on hundreds of hours of secret surveillance tapes 52 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:08,000 captured by one person, a mysterious CW, or cooperating witness, who had 53 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,300 committed bank fraud some three years earlier. 54 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,960 You follow the press release, you follow the indictment, and you get a clear 55 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,019 roadmap that there was an informant involved. 56 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:20,200 and we quickly learned it was Solomon Dweck. 57 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:26,280 To understand Solomon Dweck, you have to understand where he comes from, Deal, 58 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,520 New Jersey, home to one of America's wealthiest Syrian Sephardic Jewish 59 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:31,520 communities. 60 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,900 Sam Antar grew up in the Sephardic Jewish community in Brooklyn. 61 00:04:37,820 --> 00:04:43,280 It's a tight -knit community that traces its origins back to 1492, the Spanish 62 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:45,360 Inquisition. They were expelled from Spain. 63 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:50,920 And they moved to North Africa and countries in the Middle East. To survive 64 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,600 discrimination that they encountered, they maintained a very insular culture 65 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:56,600 stay together. 66 00:04:58,180 --> 00:05:02,780 Solomon is the son of the rabbi of the synagogue of Deir. 67 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:09,860 Within that community, the rabbi meant everything. And that gave Solomon a 68 00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:12,420 of credibility, even within a very insular community. 69 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,780 But instead of following in his father's righteous footsteps, Dweck learns how 70 00:05:17,780 --> 00:05:19,900 to pay people off to get what he wants. 71 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,220 It's a lesson he learns in high school. 72 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:29,400 Solomon admitted that he paid off a teacher in his high school to pass 73 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,580 him in math because he was going to fail math. 74 00:05:32,020 --> 00:05:35,700 So he paid him $50 and earned a passing grade. 75 00:05:36,020 --> 00:05:40,560 At 19, Dweck gets his first taste of the deal. 76 00:05:41,290 --> 00:05:48,190 One of his father's friends offers him a deal to flip a 77 00:05:48,190 --> 00:05:53,330 house. Solomon is going to fix up the house, and they'll split the profits. 78 00:05:53,330 --> 00:05:55,470 that's his first entrance into real estate. 79 00:05:55,950 --> 00:06:02,350 At 23, Solomon Dweck meets and marries 19 -year -old Pearl Sutton, whose family 80 00:06:02,350 --> 00:06:04,470 also belongs to the deal synagogue. 81 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:10,600 To you, living outside the community, Solomon Dweck may be a George Costanza 82 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,760 from Seinfeld, but within the community, he's a George Clooney. 83 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:22,100 He has all the elements that gain people's trust, and people want to be 84 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:23,100 his life. 85 00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:28,460 Soon, Dweck puts his people's skills to good use as chief fundraiser at the Deal 86 00:06:28,460 --> 00:06:30,480 Yeshiva, a Jewish day school. 87 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,120 He was taking more than $200 ,000 a year. 88 00:06:34,730 --> 00:06:37,630 doing this. His wife was making $100 ,000. 89 00:06:38,090 --> 00:06:43,550 We talked to teachers and administrators at the deal. Nobody ever saw either one 90 00:06:43,550 --> 00:06:44,309 of them. 91 00:06:44,310 --> 00:06:47,810 But Dweck's idea of fundraising is blatantly illegal. 92 00:06:48,350 --> 00:06:52,170 He uses a common tax dodge that appeals to wealthy donors. 93 00:06:53,650 --> 00:06:58,370 Journalists Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman detail Dweck's scams in their 94 00:06:58,510 --> 00:06:59,850 The Jersey Sting. 95 00:07:01,190 --> 00:07:03,190 Here's how the tax dodge works. 96 00:07:04,010 --> 00:07:08,470 A donor will write a check to the school, let's say in the amount of $100 97 00:07:08,710 --> 00:07:14,390 Of that $100 ,000, the school takes 10 % and DWEG takes 5%. 98 00:07:14,390 --> 00:07:21,090 Out the back door, $85 ,000 comes back to the donor. So the donor then 99 00:07:21,090 --> 00:07:26,350 is allowed to take a full $100 ,000 tax deduction as a charitable donation. 100 00:07:26,790 --> 00:07:31,090 It worked out well for the religious school because they were getting 10 % of 101 00:07:31,090 --> 00:07:36,830 the... Donation worked out well for the donor because he got credit on his 102 00:07:36,830 --> 00:07:39,330 income taxes for $100 ,000 donation. 103 00:07:39,810 --> 00:07:41,850 Just didn't work out too well for the IRS. 104 00:07:42,770 --> 00:07:47,610 For Dweck, it's working out so well that he branches out to other religious 105 00:07:47,610 --> 00:07:50,110 charities to launder even more money. 106 00:07:50,410 --> 00:07:54,970 Among certain sub -levelments of the community, it's a cook -the -books 107 00:07:54,970 --> 00:07:59,250 where the government is not entitled to any of their money. 108 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,940 So they will not pay taxes at just about any cost. They will not record 109 00:08:03,940 --> 00:08:09,360 transactions. They'll do whatever they can to evade and not pay their fair 110 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:10,360 of taxes. 111 00:08:10,780 --> 00:08:15,880 But for all the money moving through the yeshiva, the Dwecks lived modestly by 112 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:19,520 Jersey Shore standards in their $1 .2 million home. 113 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,840 He didn't seem to be the kind of guy who wanted the money. 114 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,020 in order to live the high life. It seemed like the money was just a 115 00:08:29,020 --> 00:08:34,120 piece of it. He was addicted to the adrenaline of the deal, of the chase. 116 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,799 By 2000, Dweck's other business, fixing up and flipping real estate, is going 117 00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:45,880 gangbusters. And like a crazed Monopoly player, he starts buying up properties, 118 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,960 from offices and retail space to a sandwich shop. 119 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,860 Nothing was on paper when they made these deals. It was all in Solomon's 120 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,140 and the deals are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. 121 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,400 The 28 -year -old real estate mogul is quickly becoming a big shot in the close 122 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:08,900 -knit Syrian community, and Dweck sees an opportunity to prey on his own 123 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:16,480 Next on American Greed, watch Solomon Dweck shepherd investors and banks into 124 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,240 what he calls schnookie or bum deals. 125 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:24,200 If you cared to really research what he was doing, it was a house of cards, and 126 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,220 it was pretty obviously a house of cards. But everybody wanted to trust him 127 00:09:28,220 --> 00:09:29,240 every step. 128 00:09:29,540 --> 00:09:30,900 Everyone wanted to trust him. 129 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,400 By 2004, Solomon Dweck is revered in New Jersey's Syrian Jewish community, and 130 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,480 investors want in on his lucrative real estate deals. 131 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:59,960 Within that Syrian Orthodox community, and within many Jewish communities, 132 00:10:00,220 --> 00:10:03,940 there's a biblical prohibition against the charging of interest. 133 00:10:04,540 --> 00:10:10,160 So the way these deals were structured was, I'm selling you an investment. 134 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,020 It's called profit participation. 135 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,300 The investors figure Solomon is buying something and then is going to turn it 136 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:19,300 around very quickly. 137 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:20,640 There's the profit. 138 00:10:21,060 --> 00:10:23,700 But Dweck isn't selling the properties. 139 00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:28,020 He's using new investors and bank loans to fund a multi -million dollar 140 00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:29,200 investment scam. 141 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,840 He was mortgaging properties two and three times over to generate a cash 142 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,960 for himself. In some cases, he was getting loans on properties he actually 143 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,000 didn't even own. 144 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,860 And he was using that money to pay off investors. 145 00:10:43,610 --> 00:10:46,410 Dweck even ropes his rich uncle into the scheme. 146 00:10:46,830 --> 00:10:52,330 His Uncle Joey saw this success and came up to him one day and said, Everybody's 147 00:10:52,330 --> 00:10:56,170 in real estate. How do I get involved in this? And Solomon didn't blink an eye. 148 00:10:56,250 --> 00:10:59,510 He said, Well, I have this property. It's going to cost you X amount of 149 00:10:59,570 --> 00:11:01,310 and we'll pay off in 60 days. 150 00:11:01,990 --> 00:11:03,410 And he was hooked. 151 00:11:04,450 --> 00:11:10,190 Without any due diligence, Dweck's Uncle Joey puts up nearly $60 million of his 152 00:11:10,190 --> 00:11:11,129 own money. 153 00:11:11,130 --> 00:11:13,150 and cash he borrows from banks. 154 00:11:13,610 --> 00:11:18,750 It's not long before Dweck notices that no one, not his uncle, not even his 155 00:11:18,750 --> 00:11:21,810 lenders, are keeping a close eye on what he's doing. 156 00:11:22,250 --> 00:11:28,270 On the face of it, I think people waive the due diligence because the vestiges 157 00:11:28,270 --> 00:11:34,450 of success and credibility were all over him. I think it almost would have 158 00:11:34,450 --> 00:11:39,170 looked in the community as insulting to pry further. 159 00:11:40,750 --> 00:11:47,150 By 2006, Dweck's empire grows to more than $400 million in private investments 160 00:11:47,150 --> 00:11:50,670 and loans from several banks, including HSBC. 161 00:11:51,430 --> 00:11:57,330 In a statement to American Greed, HSBC says it conducts robust due diligence. 162 00:11:57,710 --> 00:12:02,290 But attorney Dennis Carney says it seems the bank has been careless in lending 163 00:12:02,290 --> 00:12:03,510 to Solomon Dweck. 164 00:12:03,850 --> 00:12:09,090 They gave him loans on properties that didn't exist, properties he didn't own. 165 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,040 Properties he did own and had already sold. 166 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:14,660 You name it, he did it. 167 00:12:15,020 --> 00:12:19,660 But income from Dweck's properties no longer covers the interest on all these 168 00:12:19,660 --> 00:12:24,320 loans. And he realizes he'll never be able to repay his creditors. 169 00:12:24,820 --> 00:12:28,580 And this is where the noose starts to tighten around his neck. He's into Uncle 170 00:12:28,580 --> 00:12:33,080 Joey for $50 or $60 million. He's into other members of the community for $30 171 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:34,080 million. 172 00:12:34,270 --> 00:12:39,490 The banks are breathing down his neck, and now he needs and cannot find huge 173 00:12:39,490 --> 00:12:41,010 sources of capital. 174 00:12:41,550 --> 00:12:47,530 Eventually, HSBC discovers that it, too, has been lured into Dweck's schnookie, 175 00:12:47,710 --> 00:12:51,190 or bum deals, and it's out $20 million. 176 00:12:51,810 --> 00:12:58,070 And so they make the demand insistently, you wire in that $20 million, 177 00:12:58,470 --> 00:13:01,770 or we're going to the lawyers and we're going to blow this up. 178 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,060 Dweck assures the bank that the money will be wired first thing after the 179 00:13:07,060 --> 00:13:11,120 Passover holiday to arrive on Monday morning, April 24th. 180 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:16,780 But that morning, no wire goes through, and Dweck has a meeting at the bank that 181 00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:17,780 afternoon. 182 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:24,340 This guy's whole game is based on, I'm on to the next scam. 183 00:13:24,940 --> 00:13:29,360 So where you or I would feel pressure, he doesn't feel any of that. He's on to 184 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:30,119 the next scheme. 185 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:31,240 What's the next scheme? 186 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:32,740 I'm going to go kite a check. 187 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,520 Check kiting is one of the oldest frauds in the book. 188 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:43,440 Check kiting is simply moving money between or among accounts to create the 189 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,780 illusion that there is money in accounts which doesn't exist. 190 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:53,720 Dweck's plan is to access those non -existent funds and wire the cash to 191 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:59,000 And on his way into HSBC, he makes a pit stop at the Eatontown, New Jersey 192 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,070 branch. a PNC bank. 193 00:14:02,310 --> 00:14:07,250 Dennis Carney, a former attorney for PNC, explains what happens next. 194 00:14:07,750 --> 00:14:13,510 He now pulls up to a drive -in window, and he puts in the pneumatic tube a 195 00:14:13,510 --> 00:14:18,910 in the amount of $25 ,212 ,000, a wacky amount. 196 00:14:22,530 --> 00:14:24,810 The teller examines the check. 197 00:14:25,010 --> 00:14:27,150 It's made out to one of Dweck's companies. 198 00:14:27,870 --> 00:14:31,390 Drawn on a separate Dweck business account at PNC. 199 00:14:32,650 --> 00:14:37,510 So what she does is she logs into the system to check the source of the funds. 200 00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:42,670 She turns around and she goes, Solomon, you wrote this on a closed account. 201 00:14:43,790 --> 00:14:49,670 Dweck casually shrugs it off and reassures her that PNC corporate is 202 00:14:49,670 --> 00:14:50,670 the account. 203 00:14:51,110 --> 00:14:55,930 PNC accepts the check, deposits it into... 204 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,560 the open business account, and the check is, of course, drawn on a closed 205 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:01,560 business account. 206 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:07,260 Satisfied, Dweck pulls away and heads to Manhattan for his 4 o 'clock meeting at 207 00:15:07,260 --> 00:15:08,260 HSBC. 208 00:15:09,220 --> 00:15:13,800 It's a great moment for him. It's a challenging moment. It's a moment where, 209 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,400 know, a con man really needs to step up his game, and Dweck certainly did that. 210 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,800 Dweck waltzes into a conference room at HSBC. 211 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,300 where he's met by the bank's chief credit and risk officer and a number of 212 00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:26,300 executives. 213 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:32,280 Everybody is very angry over the fact that this loan is past due, and where's 214 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:32,999 the money? 215 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:38,060 And Solomon says, I have the money. They put him on a speakerphone. He dials the 216 00:15:38,060 --> 00:15:39,160 automated phone number. 217 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:45,780 And lo and behold, at the other end, the reporting indicates there is about $2 218 00:15:45,780 --> 00:15:50,080 ,700 in the account, with another $25 million about to clear. 219 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:57,340 HSBC officials threaten that if the $20 million wire doesn't arrive from PNC 220 00:15:57,340 --> 00:16:00,220 Bank by the next morning, they'll go to their lawyers. 221 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:04,720 But Dweck delivers and transfers the money to HSBC. 222 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,320 His debt has been paid off. 223 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:13,140 Wire transfers under federal or state law are complete the minute the send 224 00:16:13,140 --> 00:16:14,160 button is hit. 225 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,140 It is irretrievable. 226 00:16:16,700 --> 00:16:18,920 But Dweck can't leave well enough alone. 227 00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:21,920 And the next day, he presses his luck. 228 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,200 He goes to another PNC branch and tries to do it again. 229 00:16:27,420 --> 00:16:28,720 Another $25 million. 230 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:35,120 The tellers there take it, are about to credit his account. 231 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,680 And one of the tellers there thinks, maybe I better check this. 232 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,440 She calls up the head teller over in Eatontown. 233 00:16:45,090 --> 00:16:49,250 Eatontown is the same branch that Dweck had ripped off the day before. 234 00:16:49,830 --> 00:16:54,090 And the head teller in Eatontown said, is Solomon in that branch? 235 00:16:54,330 --> 00:16:58,230 Yes. Is he trying to give you $25 million? Yes. 236 00:16:59,010 --> 00:17:00,010 Don't do it. 237 00:17:00,330 --> 00:17:04,109 Like a trumpet of doom, the teller refuses the deposit. 238 00:17:04,810 --> 00:17:11,329 They were frantic at PNC Bank because this was not a small check -kiting 239 00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:14,150 This is $25 million that the bank is out right now. 240 00:17:14,589 --> 00:17:16,050 and they want to know where the money is. 241 00:17:17,329 --> 00:17:23,230 HSBC is not required to return the money to PNC Bank, and in May 2006, 242 00:17:23,690 --> 00:17:27,270 PNC sues Dweck and attempts to freeze his assets. 243 00:17:28,310 --> 00:17:33,350 This is the first crack in the dam. This is the moment when suddenly the House 244 00:17:33,350 --> 00:17:34,670 of Cards is coming down. 245 00:17:35,010 --> 00:17:40,430 Solomon Dweck has now committed a $50 million bank fraud, a federal offense 246 00:17:40,430 --> 00:17:42,970 could land him in prison for 30 years. 247 00:17:44,860 --> 00:17:50,360 Next on American Greed, Solomon Dweck's day of reckoning is close at hand. 248 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,940 The judge who I've known a very long time, he came nose to nose to me. 249 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,220 And he said, you have no idea what you're messing with. 250 00:17:57,500 --> 00:17:59,240 And he was absolutely right. 251 00:18:14,350 --> 00:18:15,650 In May 2006, 252 00:18:16,410 --> 00:18:21,870 33 -year -old Solomon Dweck is the target of a civil suit filed by PNC 253 00:18:22,090 --> 00:18:25,590 alleging that Dweck stole a whopping $22 .8 million. 254 00:18:26,830 --> 00:18:31,490 The bank wants the judge to freeze Dweck's assets to recoup its cash. 255 00:18:32,230 --> 00:18:37,290 I don't think he got up one day and said, I'm going to do a $400 million 256 00:18:37,290 --> 00:18:41,610 scheme. I think what happened was this was a deal junkie who just OD'd on what 257 00:18:41,610 --> 00:18:42,610 he loved doing. 258 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:48,520 Dweck's portfolio includes more than 400 properties, and it appears to be worth 259 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:52,140 somewhere between $300 and $500 million on paper. 260 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,680 The judge freezes his assets. 261 00:18:55,100 --> 00:19:00,940 The Asbury Park Press publishes that. Everyone in Deal and Brooklyn sees it. 262 00:19:01,100 --> 00:19:05,000 You've now got your worst nightmare coming true. 263 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,700 The courtroom is packed with Dweck's investors. 264 00:19:09,610 --> 00:19:15,370 The judge, inundated by the sheer number of creditors, appoints Don LaMuro as a 265 00:19:15,370 --> 00:19:17,890 fiscal agent to sell off Dweck's properties. 266 00:19:18,990 --> 00:19:23,850 I was not expecting to have to send back to my office to get a box full of 267 00:19:23,850 --> 00:19:26,830 business cards so I could hand them out. It really showed how charismatic 268 00:19:26,830 --> 00:19:30,770 Solomon was, how diverse his holdings were, how many people were affected. 269 00:19:31,970 --> 00:19:36,450 More than 80 banks, former business partners, and individuals filed claims 270 00:19:36,450 --> 00:19:39,870 against Dweck, adding up to $338 million. 271 00:19:41,010 --> 00:19:45,770 The priority was, can we help the people that have invested their lifetime 272 00:19:45,770 --> 00:19:50,570 savings? And a number of those that first day came up to me with tears in 273 00:19:50,570 --> 00:19:53,130 eyes, saying, how could this be? 274 00:19:54,220 --> 00:19:59,520 A little more than a week after PNC sues Solomon Dweck, the feds arrest him at 275 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,520 his home and charge him with bank fraud. 276 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,760 Dweck knows he's in a tight spot, and the only way to avoid a 30 -year prison 277 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,880 sentence is to strike a deal with then U .S. attorney Chris Christie. 278 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:16,600 But Christie, who declined to be interviewed, is in no mood to play ball. 279 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,140 Chris Christie is a strategic thinker. 280 00:20:20,460 --> 00:20:25,140 He was always committed to getting bigger and better cases. But it's a 281 00:20:25,140 --> 00:20:26,840 equation on his part. 282 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,680 I have a huge bank fraud, one of the biggest bank frauds ever in the state of 283 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,460 New Jersey. Why would I get into a deal with this guy? 284 00:20:34,660 --> 00:20:39,180 There's no reason to do it. And that is the message that's basically sent back 285 00:20:39,180 --> 00:20:42,580 to Dweck's lawyer over and over and over again. 286 00:20:42,820 --> 00:20:46,160 When Dweck's attorney finally sits down with prosecutors. 287 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,640 He serves up information about a large -scale money laundering operation. 288 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:56,600 Orthodox rabbis who had washed cash with Dweck during his days at the deal 289 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:57,600 yeshiva. 290 00:20:57,940 --> 00:21:01,920 But Dweck also has something else to offer, something more enticing to 291 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:02,920 prosecutors. 292 00:21:03,420 --> 00:21:04,760 Politicians on the take. 293 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,160 Christie's ears perk up. 294 00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:12,520 Typically in New Jersey, you'd think it's a recipe for a bad political move 295 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:13,980 be arresting a bunch of rabbis. 296 00:21:14,590 --> 00:21:17,710 Christie was uninterested in it, but he wanted the corruption cases, so he went 297 00:21:17,710 --> 00:21:20,430 along. He put Dweck on a very tight leash. 298 00:21:20,630 --> 00:21:26,430 In late 2006, Solomon Dweck is at the precipice. To become a cooperating 299 00:21:26,430 --> 00:21:31,190 witness, or CW, he'll have to turn on his own people and lift the veil on 300 00:21:31,190 --> 00:21:35,070 systemic criminal activity that's been plaguing his community for years. 301 00:21:35,770 --> 00:21:38,710 Dweck will have to become a moser, a rat. 302 00:21:39,150 --> 00:21:41,770 A moser is Hebrew for informer. 303 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,220 And it carries with it a tremendous stigma. Jews were trained, you don't 304 00:21:47,220 --> 00:21:51,320 your own people and inform to the secular authorities because of all these 305 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,620 centuries of persecutions. 306 00:21:53,060 --> 00:21:59,140 If somebody gets caught and they help the government go after other people by 307 00:21:59,140 --> 00:22:02,720 agreeing to wear a wire, they're excommunicated. 308 00:22:03,300 --> 00:22:09,080 In January 2007, Dweck makes a fateful decision and signs a cooperation 309 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,420 agreement to go undercover for the government. 310 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,720 In exchange, the feds will recommend a reduced sentence. 311 00:22:16,300 --> 00:22:20,700 But without knowing how far Dweck will take the government, Chris Christie 312 00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:23,580 no promise of how much time he'll spend in prison. 313 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,580 Prosecutors will just have to wait and see. 314 00:22:26,980 --> 00:22:30,660 The FBI and corruption prosecutors in the U .S. Attorney's Office were able to 315 00:22:30,660 --> 00:22:36,340 convince Chris Christie to greenlight this case purely on the basis of there's 316 00:22:36,340 --> 00:22:38,980 plenty of smoke, so there must be fire. 317 00:22:39,660 --> 00:22:44,880 When American Greed returns, Solomon Dweck goes undercover with a camera 318 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:45,880 rolling. 319 00:22:46,220 --> 00:22:47,580 I'm an investor, developer. 320 00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:51,300 I don't want to be left on the bottom of the pile. 321 00:22:51,780 --> 00:22:53,820 When the people forget about me, I get jerked around. 322 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,340 So that's why I do what I got to do with the right people. We take care of our 323 00:22:58,340 --> 00:22:59,340 friends. 324 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:13,840 By March 2007, 325 00:23:14,540 --> 00:23:20,140 Solomon Dweck, the FBI's new informant, is wired up and ready to go to work. 326 00:23:20,900 --> 00:23:26,180 The operation has two targets, ultra -religious money launderers and corrupt 327 00:23:26,180 --> 00:23:27,180 politicians. 328 00:23:27,780 --> 00:23:33,080 The fact that he was a past crook or an accused crook, in some ways, gave him 329 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,000 some street cred, gave him some credibility to perhaps pull off and be 330 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,400 in this money laundering scheme. 331 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,240 Those in his own community perhaps would not think that he would be cooperating 332 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,520 with the FBI and would turn on his own community. 333 00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:51,120 This is the first big test for Dweck, who must prove to prosecutors that he 334 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,640 stay on script and get the job done. 335 00:23:54,220 --> 00:23:58,860 In his rap with the bad guys, he would lay it out out loud. 336 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:03,940 I'm trying to launder this money. I'm trying to take it out of the bankruptcy 337 00:24:03,940 --> 00:24:08,200 without the bankruptcy trustee or the bankruptcy court knowing about it. Can 338 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,000 convert it into clean cash for me? 339 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:15,400 Ralph Mara, first assistant to U .S. Attorney Chris Christine, says one of 340 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,260 Dweck's early money laundering targets is an orthodox real estate developer. 341 00:24:20,540 --> 00:24:25,780 Amusingly, his office was over a laundromat, and he often referred to 342 00:24:25,780 --> 00:24:28,440 was doing, he related it to washing machines. 343 00:24:29,420 --> 00:24:34,200 Those washing machines are a complex international network of religious 344 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,980 charities, rabbis, and couriers. 345 00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:43,980 At the start, when Dweck was trying to launder only $35 ,000 or $40 ,000, the 346 00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:47,380 rabbis didn't want any of that action. It was too small for them. 347 00:24:47,620 --> 00:24:51,820 They were putting themselves out. They needed bigger dollar figures. We're 348 00:24:51,820 --> 00:24:56,500 talking about transactions that were easily $80 ,000 at a pop, $100 ,000, 349 00:24:56,500 --> 00:25:02,550 ,000. One launderer introduces Dweck to another, and soon Dweck's network grows 350 00:25:02,550 --> 00:25:06,790 to more than 15 people, including five Orthodox rabbis. 351 00:25:07,110 --> 00:25:12,250 It was a group of organized criminals, and they had a whole system in place on 352 00:25:12,250 --> 00:25:18,610 how they did this. They had very strict rules for Dweck about not speaking about 353 00:25:18,610 --> 00:25:19,970 what they were doing. 354 00:25:20,810 --> 00:25:26,270 These rabbis hide their disgraceful deeds behind a facade of righteousness, 355 00:25:26,270 --> 00:25:28,350 they use Jewish charities as a front. 356 00:25:28,650 --> 00:25:34,350 Among them is Rabbi Mordecai Fish, one of Dweck's most productive launderers. 357 00:25:35,410 --> 00:25:40,710 Fish is a fascinating character. He's a funny guy. He says funny things to Dweck 358 00:25:40,710 --> 00:25:46,210 on surveillances. He leaves messages but doesn't actually leave messages. He 359 00:25:46,210 --> 00:25:48,630 gets on the phone and starts singing on Dweck's voicemail. 360 00:25:56,109 --> 00:25:58,530 He spoke in code. 361 00:25:58,730 --> 00:26:01,810 He wouldn't identify other people by name. 362 00:26:02,110 --> 00:26:08,550 I mean, all the trappings that would go with somebody who's in an organized 363 00:26:08,550 --> 00:26:15,470 criminal enterprise but is very shrewd, almost to the point of paranoia about 364 00:26:15,470 --> 00:26:17,490 becoming detected. 365 00:26:19,170 --> 00:26:24,030 In Sopranos, they would talk about thousands of dollars as boxes of ziti. 366 00:26:24,590 --> 00:26:29,050 So in Fischer's case, he would, instead of boxes of ziti, because that's not in 367 00:26:29,050 --> 00:26:34,890 the Hasidic tradition, he would talk about money as a gemara. The gemara is 368 00:26:34,890 --> 00:26:35,890 of the Talmud. 369 00:26:36,270 --> 00:26:37,970 I need the names on the gemaras. 370 00:26:38,270 --> 00:26:41,530 Do you have to have all the words on the spot? Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything 371 00:26:41,530 --> 00:26:42,530 there. 372 00:26:43,430 --> 00:26:46,890 So make some miracles happen. Call me back with the names. 373 00:26:48,190 --> 00:26:49,870 I'll see you then while you're in place. 374 00:26:51,370 --> 00:26:57,710 Dweck quickly becomes one of Fish's best customers, washing $585 ,000 and 375 00:26:57,710 --> 00:27:01,230 receiving the cash in boxes of Apple Jack cereal. 376 00:27:02,350 --> 00:27:07,490 And though the money laundering investigation is paying off, by the end 377 00:27:07,730 --> 00:27:11,190 Dweck has made little headway into the political corruption side of the 378 00:27:11,190 --> 00:27:16,650 investigation. And U .S. Attorney Chris Christie is nearly ready to close up 379 00:27:16,650 --> 00:27:17,650 shop. 380 00:27:17,740 --> 00:27:22,000 Chris Christie had been hard on them at this point in saying, we're not getting 381 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,080 anywhere. We only have a bunch of money laundering cases. Where are my corrupt 382 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,120 politicians? This case is going nowhere. 383 00:27:27,620 --> 00:27:33,600 But then in early 2008, Dweck slices into a whole new part of the 384 00:27:34,180 --> 00:27:40,300 In one meeting that the feds described to us in great depth, 385 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,360 they turned to Christie with smiles on their faces and they say. 386 00:27:44,890 --> 00:27:47,090 We have somebody who's selling illegal kidneys. 387 00:27:47,410 --> 00:27:52,810 That person is Levi Itzhak Rosenbaum, a real estate broker from Brooklyn who 388 00:27:52,810 --> 00:27:56,430 sells the parts for 150 grand apiece. 389 00:27:56,630 --> 00:28:02,810 This is another rock that we turn over, and it turns out there's all this slime 390 00:28:02,810 --> 00:28:08,690 underneath it. The circumstances of grabbing some impoverished person and 391 00:28:08,690 --> 00:28:12,710 bringing them over here and grabbing one of their kidneys for... 392 00:28:13,390 --> 00:28:18,530 maybe $10 ,000, and then turning around selling it for $120 ,000, $150 ,000. 393 00:28:19,610 --> 00:28:21,770 Not good circumstances. 394 00:28:22,390 --> 00:28:27,030 Dweck needs no introduction, as his own grandfather had purchased a kidney 395 00:28:27,030 --> 00:28:28,070 through Rosenbaum. 396 00:28:28,550 --> 00:28:32,930 So Dweck reaches out to the broker with the line that he needs a kidney for his 397 00:28:32,930 --> 00:28:34,030 secretary's uncle. 398 00:28:34,790 --> 00:28:38,230 Nine months later, Rosenbaum finds a donor. 399 00:28:38,670 --> 00:28:43,950 And in November 2008, the feds realized the investigation could take a perilous 400 00:28:43,950 --> 00:28:44,950 turn. 401 00:28:45,150 --> 00:28:50,190 We obviously didn't want it to go past a certain point, past the point when 402 00:28:50,190 --> 00:28:51,470 somebody was being cut open. 403 00:28:51,690 --> 00:28:57,790 Dweck had arranged various excuses to put off actually bringing the person 404 00:28:57,790 --> 00:28:59,030 to do the deed. 405 00:29:00,190 --> 00:29:03,050 You know, one thing after the next with this guy. First he's sick, then he gets 406 00:29:03,050 --> 00:29:05,310 a virus, then he's in the hospital, now he has a mini -stroke. 407 00:29:05,630 --> 00:29:06,930 I don't know what to tell you. It's crazy. 408 00:29:09,300 --> 00:29:10,900 These things are never simple, right? 409 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:12,900 I would like to meet this guy once. 410 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,740 Okay, we'll set something up. I guess these people, once something goes wrong 411 00:29:16,740 --> 00:29:19,480 with them, everything happens. One thing after the next. It's crazy. 412 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,480 It's like my grandfather, the same story. Every week, something else. 413 00:29:24,220 --> 00:29:29,600 At the Fed's direction, Dweck puts Rosenbaum on ice and refocuses his 414 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,460 on netting corrupt politicians. 415 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,660 U .S. Attorney Chris Christie's main objective. 416 00:29:35,470 --> 00:29:40,490 It was really part of Chris's M .O. that he was usually impatient with 417 00:29:40,490 --> 00:29:45,730 investigations, that he didn't want to do anything to screw it up, but it was 418 00:29:45,730 --> 00:29:49,310 always, let's move this, let's get it done, when can we get this done? 419 00:29:49,690 --> 00:29:56,250 But in December 2008, Christie steps down, and Ralph Mara becomes acting U 420 00:29:56,270 --> 00:29:57,229 attorney. 421 00:29:57,230 --> 00:30:01,370 It's now more important than ever that Dweck deliver corrupt politicians before 422 00:30:01,370 --> 00:30:03,330 the appointment of the next U .S. attorney. 423 00:30:03,950 --> 00:30:06,630 who could put a stop to the whole operation. 424 00:30:09,130 --> 00:30:12,930 Next, the feds clean up dirty Jersey. 425 00:30:13,870 --> 00:30:18,530 Often when you think about these payoffs and these corruptions, you think mafia. 426 00:30:18,910 --> 00:30:21,050 You think narcotics trafficking. 427 00:30:21,930 --> 00:30:24,730 Solomon Dweck doesn't really fit into that paradigm. 428 00:30:25,010 --> 00:30:27,910 So in some ways, he's the perfect undercover. 429 00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:42,300 By 2009, Solomon Dweck has been working as an undercover informant for the feds 430 00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:43,300 for nearly two years. 431 00:30:44,060 --> 00:30:45,360 Journalist Ted Sherman. 432 00:30:46,180 --> 00:30:52,940 He is being set up with rabbis laundering tens of thousands of dollars. 433 00:30:52,940 --> 00:30:54,220 being set up with politicians. 434 00:30:54,560 --> 00:31:01,520 He's driving from Brooklyn to Queens to Monmouth County to Jersey City. He is 435 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,440 eating in one restaurant after another. When did he have time to sleep? 436 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:11,500 So far, Dweck has uncovered a massive international money laundering scheme 437 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:13,580 a human organ trafficking operation. 438 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,700 But he has yet to pull in any corrupt public officials. 439 00:31:18,260 --> 00:31:23,440 What the U .S. Attorney's Office is trying to do is use the money laundering 440 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:28,940 operation as a means to getting into the political corruption end of what 441 00:31:28,940 --> 00:31:30,040 they're really interested in. 442 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,300 It's through one of these launderers that Dweck is introduced to a crooked 443 00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:36,420 building inspector. 444 00:31:36,860 --> 00:31:41,720 That introduction leads Dweck to political fixers and consultants who are 445 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:42,760 to political officials. 446 00:31:43,020 --> 00:31:48,400 And the fixers, in turn, then refer Dweck to better plugged -in players, and 447 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,860 that takes him into the inner sanctum of ranking politicians. 448 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,620 Dweck assumes the name David Essenbach. 449 00:31:56,110 --> 00:31:59,850 A name given to him by one of the money launderers who was nervous about dealing 450 00:31:59,850 --> 00:32:02,350 with the infamous Solomon Dweck. 451 00:32:02,830 --> 00:32:07,710 David Esenbach came in and his spiel was he wanted to build beautiful luxury 452 00:32:07,710 --> 00:32:09,570 developments in northern New Jersey. 453 00:32:09,910 --> 00:32:16,610 The one he used most was that he was going to build a luxury high -rise condo 454 00:32:16,610 --> 00:32:18,850 a chromium waste dump in Jersey City. 455 00:32:19,290 --> 00:32:22,530 And he needed to fast track. 456 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,920 The approval process. And that's how he lured the politicians in. 457 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,480 You know, people are Democrats, people are Republicans. 458 00:32:30,780 --> 00:32:31,920 I'm green. You understand? 459 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,160 Green party? Like your sweater. Green is, you know, cash. 460 00:32:35,380 --> 00:32:37,400 I don't want to have any conflicts and stuff. 461 00:32:38,500 --> 00:32:41,880 Dweck's payoffs arrived via FedEx envelopes. 462 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:47,040 When you saw a FedEx envelope come out of Solomon's car or out of his jacket, 463 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,060 you knew a payoff was about to be made. 464 00:32:51,340 --> 00:32:57,280 That spring, Dweck is in Jersey City looking for approvals and mayors on the 465 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:01,700 take. There's a series of elections that are about to occur, springtime 466 00:33:01,700 --> 00:33:08,100 elections, in Jersey City in Hoboken. And he finally finds himself at a 467 00:33:08,100 --> 00:33:11,820 set up by one of the fixers sitting across from the deputy mayor of Jersey 468 00:33:11,980 --> 00:33:12,980 Leona Baldini. 469 00:33:13,540 --> 00:33:17,320 Leona Baldini is a well -known Jersey City real estate broker. 470 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,760 and one of Mayor Jerry Healy's closest confidants. 471 00:33:21,660 --> 00:33:27,760 Baldini also has a colorful past as the burlesque dancer Hope Diamond, the gem 472 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:28,760 of the exotics. 473 00:33:29,140 --> 00:33:32,820 The feds hope Baldini will pave the way to Mayor Healy. 474 00:33:33,460 --> 00:33:39,780 Dweck pitched the building on the chromium site and pitched that he wanted 475 00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:44,020 exceed the zoning. And could she help? He was prepared to give political 476 00:33:44,020 --> 00:33:45,020 contributions. 477 00:33:45,660 --> 00:33:50,600 But he needed to know that they were promising to get him what he wanted. 478 00:33:51,060 --> 00:33:57,660 What we're trying to do is put money into different funds so we can, when we 479 00:33:57,660 --> 00:34:00,760 need it, funnel it back into the mayor, which everybody does. 480 00:34:01,020 --> 00:34:03,780 So this is for the Jersey City Democratic Committee. 481 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,760 I'm the treasurer for the Jersey, he'll be for Mayor 09. 482 00:34:09,179 --> 00:34:10,179 Okay. 483 00:34:10,730 --> 00:34:15,330 That week, I think it's a max of $2 ,600 per person. 484 00:34:15,590 --> 00:34:17,130 But we don't have a problem with that. I know. 485 00:34:17,350 --> 00:34:20,030 I go through them with the cash, and then they do whatever they've got to do. 486 00:34:20,070 --> 00:34:21,090 Whatever they have to do, yeah. 487 00:34:21,730 --> 00:34:24,530 It's not just Baldini's boss who will benefit. 488 00:34:24,850 --> 00:34:26,090 She'll get a piece, too. 489 00:34:26,770 --> 00:34:30,850 Exclusive brokerage rights to Dweck's bogus development on the chromium waste 490 00:34:30,850 --> 00:34:31,850 site. 491 00:34:32,489 --> 00:34:36,489 This 10 was for this Democratic thing. I'll do another 10 for healing and then 492 00:34:36,489 --> 00:34:40,670 before election we'll do more. And then you're my person for obviously all the 493 00:34:40,670 --> 00:34:42,630 real estate. I have full faith in you. 494 00:34:43,010 --> 00:34:44,010 Good, thank you. 495 00:34:47,270 --> 00:34:52,010 Hoboken, Jersey City's neighbor to the north, is also in the midst of a mayoral 496 00:34:52,010 --> 00:34:53,010 election. 497 00:34:53,889 --> 00:35:00,550 After Dweck has this great series of good luck moves, meeting the fixers, the 498 00:35:00,550 --> 00:35:01,690 fixers get a real appetite. 499 00:35:02,300 --> 00:35:08,260 for Dweck. And they start aggressively courting Dweck to bring him in for other 500 00:35:08,260 --> 00:35:12,880 politicians. And the big game there is Peter Camerano. 501 00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:19,380 31 -year -old Peter Camerano is contesting a very expensive mayoral 502 00:35:19,380 --> 00:35:24,920 May. He had everything going for him. He was a young, bright election lawyer, 503 00:35:25,060 --> 00:35:31,240 married with a baby, the bright, young next generation of 504 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:33,180 leaders in that town. 505 00:35:33,740 --> 00:35:38,320 But there's one thing standing between Camerano and his dream job, cash. 506 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:39,720 He doesn't have any. 507 00:35:40,140 --> 00:35:44,940 So the fixers reach out to Dweck and say, we want to hook you up with Peter 508 00:35:44,940 --> 00:35:49,100 Camerano. You're a guy with a lot of money to spend. He's a candidate who 509 00:35:49,100 --> 00:35:49,979 a lot of money. 510 00:35:49,980 --> 00:35:51,060 Let's make a marriage. 511 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:57,280 Dweck meets with Camerano and his middlemen here at the Malibu Diner in 512 00:35:57,900 --> 00:36:04,630 Camerano was a much more willing accomplice in this. And so he went far 513 00:36:04,630 --> 00:36:08,490 beyond what they even were hoping back at the FBI. 514 00:36:08,910 --> 00:36:14,150 And Camerano himself elaborated, the people who are with me get to the front 515 00:36:14,150 --> 00:36:17,930 the line. He was actually filling in the blanks for the feds. And with Camerano, 516 00:36:17,990 --> 00:36:22,770 one of his lines was the people who are against him get ground into dust, which 517 00:36:22,770 --> 00:36:28,180 was... Basically, you know, the killer line for the prosecutors, they felt that 518 00:36:28,180 --> 00:36:30,020 that just was a home run for them. 519 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:37,120 Camerano barely edges out his runoff opponent by 161 votes, becoming 520 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:38,120 youngest mayor. 521 00:36:38,580 --> 00:36:43,840 And by the time he is sworn in on July 1st, the Fed sensed that it's time to 522 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:44,940 stop the investigation. 523 00:36:45,540 --> 00:36:47,620 The agents are tired. They're exhausted. 524 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:49,420 A ton of money has been spent. 525 00:36:49,820 --> 00:36:53,180 on the corruption cases and on the money laundering. Some of the money 526 00:36:53,180 --> 00:36:58,040 laundering cases are now years old and the evidence could go stale. Dweck needs 527 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,020 to begin the end. 528 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:05,140 The Fed set the date of July 23rd for their takedown. 529 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:11,020 And it's now up to Solomon Dweck to set up targets ranging from money launderers 530 00:37:11,020 --> 00:37:17,660 to mayors. The Fed's like arresting money launderers with cash on them. In 531 00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:18,740 case of the political corruption, 532 00:37:19,910 --> 00:37:23,610 investigations. What they do is they set up meetings a day or two in advance of 533 00:37:23,610 --> 00:37:24,288 the arrest. 534 00:37:24,290 --> 00:37:26,210 Dweck will pass a bribe. 535 00:37:26,450 --> 00:37:32,330 These guys will hopefully to the feds still have their bribes on hand so they 536 00:37:32,330 --> 00:37:34,830 can arrest them with the cash as evidence. 537 00:37:36,470 --> 00:37:42,010 Next on American Greed, the feds execute one of the biggest raids in New Jersey 538 00:37:42,010 --> 00:37:46,710 history. And I liken it to just weeding the garden. You've got to keep weeding, 539 00:37:46,710 --> 00:37:47,710 weeding, weeding. 540 00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:51,440 It might even be tedious, but if you don't do it, the weeds take over. 541 00:38:05,580 --> 00:38:07,420 July 23rd, 2009, 542 00:38:08,140 --> 00:38:09,160 6 a .m. 543 00:38:10,100 --> 00:38:15,040 More than 300 FBI and other federal and local law enforcement officers are in 544 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,400 position across the tri -state area. 545 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:21,880 To send out an arrest, you're not sending out one or two people. You're 546 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,700 sending out at least six, maybe more. And if it's accompanied by a search 547 00:38:25,700 --> 00:38:30,340 warrant, the search warrant team could easily be ten, for example, or more. 548 00:38:30,700 --> 00:38:36,140 When the teams finally get the go -ahead, they spring into action, 549 00:38:36,140 --> 00:38:40,180 people. When these arrests happened, they were coming in by the carload. 550 00:38:40,860 --> 00:38:44,600 When they left the FBI office, they were leaving by the busload. 551 00:38:45,610 --> 00:38:49,490 They were taking them out by the dozens and putting them onto buses because 552 00:38:49,490 --> 00:38:53,850 there were so many suspects in this case, they had to be bused to court. 553 00:38:54,530 --> 00:39:00,550 As media inquiries pour in, acting U .S. Attorney Ralph Mera prepares for the 554 00:39:00,550 --> 00:39:04,830 largest press conference ever held inside the U .S. Attorney's office. 555 00:39:05,090 --> 00:39:09,490 Today, we're here to announce the takedown of a large -scale, dual -track 556 00:39:09,490 --> 00:39:12,690 investigation on the public corruption side. 557 00:39:13,230 --> 00:39:18,610 The FBI and the IRS have arrested and noticed for arrest 29 individuals, 558 00:39:19,010 --> 00:39:21,770 including assemblymen and mayors. 559 00:39:22,070 --> 00:39:28,530 On the other side, the FBI and IRS have arrested and summoned 15 members 560 00:39:28,530 --> 00:39:35,150 of connected international money laundering rings, including five rabbis 561 00:39:35,150 --> 00:39:36,150 their associates. 562 00:39:36,590 --> 00:39:42,110 On July 31st, Hoboken's new mayor, Peter Camerano, resigns from office. 563 00:39:43,150 --> 00:39:49,670 He later admits accepting $25 ,000 in illegal campaign contributions, and he's 564 00:39:49,670 --> 00:39:51,930 sentenced to 24 months in prison. 565 00:39:52,210 --> 00:39:58,830 The feds never thought that Peter Camerano was the person who he ended up 566 00:39:58,870 --> 00:40:03,050 A lot of them actually knew him, and they were absolutely flabbergasted that 567 00:40:03,050 --> 00:40:04,210 was for sale. 568 00:40:05,410 --> 00:40:09,570 74 -year -old Leona Baldini is the first defendant to be tried. 569 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,620 She's convicted of taking $20 ,000 in illicit contributions. 570 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,000 She's sentenced to three years in prison and a $30 ,000 fine. 571 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:25,940 The judge pointed out that she had any number of opportunities to say no, to 572 00:40:25,940 --> 00:40:30,840 think twice about it, to do her due diligence, and at no point did she ever 573 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:31,840 it. 574 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:37,420 Kidney broker Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum pleads guilty to human organ trafficking 575 00:40:37,420 --> 00:40:38,420 charges. 576 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,520 He is sentenced to two and a half years in prison. 577 00:40:44,380 --> 00:40:49,740 In all, the money launderers wash more than $3 million for Solomon Dweck. 578 00:40:50,820 --> 00:40:56,400 And Rabbi Mordecai Fish pleads guilty to laundering nearly $1 million and is 579 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,620 sentenced to 46 months in prison. 580 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:03,860 The level of corruption among religious leaders is something that was remarkable 581 00:41:03,860 --> 00:41:08,280 to see. A systematic scheme. 582 00:41:08,910 --> 00:41:14,390 to launder thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to have codes and 583 00:41:14,390 --> 00:41:20,350 processes set up and cash counters and cash couriers and secret channels. It 584 00:41:20,350 --> 00:41:21,950 strikes me that it's a corruption of leadership. 585 00:41:22,310 --> 00:41:28,110 And we're used to corruption of leadership among our political leaders, 586 00:41:28,110 --> 00:41:33,170 worse on a lot of levels when you see it in the religious leadership. 587 00:41:34,350 --> 00:41:40,270 Finally, in October 2009, Solomon Dweck stands before a federal judge in Newark 588 00:41:40,270 --> 00:41:43,610 and pleads guilty to bank fraud and money laundering. 589 00:41:44,330 --> 00:41:49,570 He also pleads guilty to state charges stemming from his Ponzi scheme. 590 00:41:49,910 --> 00:41:55,250 A federal bankruptcy trustee is still trying to liquidate Dweck's vast 591 00:41:55,250 --> 00:41:56,290 of properties. 592 00:41:57,650 --> 00:42:02,610 Solomon Dweck has agreed of the ego. The investors have agreed. 593 00:42:03,180 --> 00:42:05,080 of a quick hit, money. 594 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:08,880 What do the politicians have? They've got a greed of power. 595 00:42:09,180 --> 00:42:13,220 This is going to put me in a position of doing deals, being somebody big in my 596 00:42:13,220 --> 00:42:14,220 community. 597 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:19,240 No matter how you slice the baby, there's enough greed in this case for 598 00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:25,660 shows. Dweck still hasn't been sentenced, and when he is, he could 599 00:42:25,660 --> 00:42:26,920 11 years in prison. 600 00:42:27,820 --> 00:42:33,100 But for Dweck, banishment from his own community may be the greatest punishment 601 00:42:33,100 --> 00:42:34,100 of all. 602 00:42:35,340 --> 00:42:38,720 It's going to be something that he's going to have to live with his entire 603 00:42:39,460 --> 00:42:44,340 He will get out of jail one day, far earlier than he would have otherwise, 604 00:42:44,340 --> 00:42:48,540 he's never going to be able to overcome the scarlet letter he's been branded 605 00:42:48,540 --> 00:42:49,540 with.