Money Laundering: Kidneys
Federal agents swept into New Jersey towns across several counties Thursday morning, charging 44 people, including three mayors and religious leaders, in a federal investigation into public corruption and money laundering.
“The rings were international in scope, connected to Deal, N.J., Brooklyn, N.Y., Israel and Switzerland,” said Mr. Marra, the U.S. attorney, at the news conference. “They trafficked in the cleaning of dirty money all across the world.”
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn was charged separately with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant, at a cost of $160,000 to the transplant recipient. According to the FBI’s complaint, Mr. Rosenbaum said he had been brokering the sale of kidneys for 10 years. Mr. Rosenbaum couldn’t be reached for comment. A relative of Mr. Rosenbaum who answered the phone at an address belonging to him declined to comment.
“Any corruption is unacceptable – anywhere, anytime, by anybody,” the governor said, referring to Thursday’s arrests. “The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated.”