OferBiton is accused of siphoning money meant for a charity [Rabbi Pinto - Shuva

"We talked to people, and they said they gave donations to the rabbi and we didn't get a donation," said Michal Cohen, an Israeli lawyer who served as a top administrator at Shuva Israel. "A lot of money was missing."

Http://newspaper-Jewish-News-Daily.com/newyorktime, IL (prHWY.com) March 27, 2012 - The rabbi's followers and lawyers said they told federal investigators that a former aide to the rabbi, an Israeli named OferBiton, 39, had pocketed millions of dollars in donations that were intended for the rabbi's charity.

"We talked to people, and they said they gave donations to the rabbi and we didn't get a donation," said Michal Cohen, an Israeli lawyer who served as a top administrator at Shuva Israel. "A lot of money was missing."

Mr. Biton previously had been involved in the slot machine business in California and currently owns a store in New York City that sells pornography, according to court and municipal business records.

The rabbi's followers have also charged that Mr. Biton and RonnTorossian, a public relations agent based in Manhattan, engaged in a scheme in which they leaked purportedly damaging information about the rabbi to reporters. Then, the followers said, Mr. Biton pushed to have Mr. Torossian put on retainer to help put an end to the bad publicity.

Federal investigators in New York City, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that they were examining the roles of Mr. Biton and Mr. Torossian in the disappearance of the money from the rabbi's congregation, but they would not provide details..

The rabbi's relations with Mr. Biton and Mr. Torossian ruptured in March 2010. The rabbi had been staying temporarily in an apartment in the Essex House in Manhattan, a rental that Mr. Biton had helped to arrange, but the rabbi decided to stop renting it.

One night, Mr. Biton and Mr. Torossian confronted the rabbi over the decision, according to Ms. Cohen, who said she was there at the time.

Ms. Cohen said she heard Mr. Torossian demand $500,000 from the rabbi, as well as five months' rent for the Essex House apartment. Mr. Torossian threatened the rabbi with a spate of negative publicity if he did not agree, she said.

"It was a very bad situation," she said

The rabbi's followers contributed at least $380,000 to meet the demand, Ms. Cohen, Mr. Azour and other followers said.

Most of the money came from Mr. Azour, according to interviews and an examination of copies of the checks. The checks were made out to RDT, a consulting firm run by Mr. Torossian.

Mr. Torossian, asked on Tuesday whether the endorsements on the backs of the checks were in his handwriting, said, "I won't comment on that."

"There are many different reasons that people pay money," he said.

Meanwhile, information intended to discredit Rabbi Pinto continues to appear. Over the last year, administrators and editors at Wikipedia have repeatedly blocked hostile posts about the rabbi. The Wikipedia administrators investigated some and other similarly negative commenters by examining their Internet addresses and other evidence.

They reached a conclusion about the sources of the hostile posts: "Even if they're not all the same person," a Wikipedia editor known as Dweller wrote on April 5, 2011, "they are all employees of Torossian."

Mr. Torossian, who first attended services in Rabbi Pinto's congregation in 2008, was contacted several times in recent weeks about the assertions of the rabbi's followers, but would not comment.

Mr. Biton's lawyer in New York, Jeffrey A. Udell, denied the accusations.

The rabbi's close followers said they told federal investigators that the rabbi had been the victim of a bizarre embezzlement and extortion plot that was carried out by two former members of his inner circle, who stole his congregation's money and tried to frame him.

The United States attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have stepped in and have been carrying out an extensive inquiry into the two men over the last year, federal officials said.

"Both the rabbi and the organization as a whole are being viewed by the investigation as victims," said Arthur L. Aidala, Rabbi Pinto's lawyer in New York. "Based on the questioning of the witnesses that we are privy to, the targets of the investigation are individuals who worked for or on behalf of the rabbi's organization."

Mr. Torossian, 37, has a reputation as an aggressive publicist prone to sending off vitriolic e-mails. In 2008, his firm, 5W Public Relations, was accused of posting fake comments on a blog in an effort to defend a client, Agriprocessors, which at the time was ensnared in a scandal over conditions at its kosher meatpacking plant.

Some of the fake comments, crude and arrogant, were written under the name of a critic of the plant. Mr. Torossian's firm later acknowledged that the posts had come from "a senior staff member."

Mr. Torossian has ties to gossip columnists because of his work representing hip-hop celebrities like Sean Combs. He has also represented Israeli officials and Jewish organizations.

As evidence that Mr. Torossian was trying to damage the rabbi's reputation, the rabbi's followers pointed to news coverage over the last two years and a gossip item in September in The Daily News. The item said the rabbi had dodged a camera crew from "Nightline" that wanted to question him about his financial affairs. ("Nightline," an ABC News program, has not broadcast anything about the rabbi)

Rabbi Pinto made headlines in Israel during the summer over a public feud with his father-in-law, Argentina's chief rabbi, Shlomo Ben Hamo, who accused him of trying to conceal his ownership of two apartments in Jerusalem. Rabbi Ben Hamo quickly retracted his accusation [Case was thrown out of court in dismissal on first hearing with one sentence decree)

Rabbi Pinto a scion of two dynasties of Moroccan Jewish scholars who were revered as mystics, Rabbi Pinto is often mentioned as a candidate for chief rabbi of Israel, where he first established his congregation, Shuva Israel
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