Report: Sheldon Silver Crony William Rapfogel Fired From Cushy Gig At Jewish Charity

Friends of Ours ^ | 08/26/13 | Friends of Ours

[AtlasStalled]

William Rapfogel has been fired as the long-time head of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty at which he ironically earned more than $400,000 a year "for what it called 'financial irregularities and apparent misconduct'" as reported by the Daily News:

"Investigators are looking into whether Rapfogel overpaid the Met Council's insurance provider, Century Coverage of Valley Stream, L.I., and then directed Century to make political donations to politicians who funded his organization."

Rapfogel is tight with New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Rapfogel's wife Judy is Silver's chief of staff.

Silver "has appropriated $868,000 in discretionary funds to the Met Council since 2006, and received $8,500 for his political committees from Century employees, records show."

The Assembly Speaker is a long-time shill for the lawsuit industry, and is "of counsel" to the personal injury law firm Weitz & Luxenberg as reported by Carl Campanile for the New York Post:

"The powerhouse law firm Weitz & Luxenberg paid Silver between $350,000 and $450,000 last year for his part-time 'of counsel' services, according to newly released financial statements. But that's not the only lucrative financial relationship the speaker has with his law partners. The Legislature's most powerful Democrat also invested a hefty portion of his personal wealth in a separate lending business founded by Perry Weitz and Arthur Luxenberg."

Critics "have complained for years that Silver is the king of the trial-lawyers bar with a goal of blocking legislation to curb excessive lawsuits -- and they argue it's a conflict for him to be employed by W&L."

Meanwhile, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a co-chairwoman of Gov. Cuomo's commission probing state government corruption has received nearly $300,000 in campaign donations from Weitz & Luxenberg, and "some critics question how aggressive the panel would be if asked to probe Silver" as reported by Ken Lovett for the Daily News: "'Given these hefty contributions, it's fair to ask if Kathleen will look the other way or will she really hold Shelly's feet to the fire,' said a senior state government official. 'Time will tell.'"

Another politician who sponsored discretionary funds for the Met Council and received campaign contribitions from Century employees was David Weprin:

"From 2004 through 2009, when he was a city councilman, Weprin’s campaign committee received eight checks totaling $4,950 from Century employees. During that time, Weprin sponsored $700,000 in discretionary funds for the Met Council."

Weprin, now an assemblyman, is the brother of Barry Weprin who is a partner at lawsuit firm Milberg LLP.

[Liz]

SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk story | 8/13/12 / FR Posted by ColdOne

Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his faithful wife Huma Abedin have moved into a $3.3million New York City apartment owned by a top donor to Ms Abedin's boss, Hillary Clinton. The well-appointed luxury pad includes four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms in the 12th floor of an exclusive building on Park Avenue. It costs an estimated $14,000 a month.

The price begs the question -- is the couple staying there for free, or just getting a sweet deal? (Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

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SOURCE http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/People/rosen

Weiner's Condo owner/donor.

Jack Rosen is Chairman of American Jewish Congress. Jack Rosen also is a successful business leader. He is the chief executive of several commercial and residential real estate firms. His wide array of business interests includes ventures operating throughout the United States, Europe and Asia in healthcare, cosmetics and telecommunications.

Mr. Rosen is very active in government and political affairs. Mr. Rosen is a long-time friend of former President Clinton. Under President Clinton, Mr. Rosen was a Presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, as well as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and member of the US-Israel Bi-National Commission on Housing and Community Development.

He was also a special guest of President Clinton’s at the historic signing of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty. In addition to his work at the American Jewish Congress, Mr. Rosen is frequently called upon to lend his expertise to other public interest organizations. He is a member of the Executive Committee of AIPAC, lobbyists for Israel.

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NY POST REPORTS like his new tenant, landlord Rosen is no stranger to sex scandals. In 1999, he was hauled into court by a Russian model who said she’d had an affair with the married dad of two and that he was the father of her young daughter. Rosen first denied paternity but then stopped fighting the suit, and the judge gave the child — who is now in high school — Rosen’s surname. Rosen did not return calls.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been investigating Abedin’s activities as a paid consultant while she was still working for Hillary Clinton toward the end of her tenure.

In June, 2012, Abedin changed her employment status at the State Department from being a full time employee with the title of deputy chief of staff to being a “special government employee,” a type of contractor that allowed her to take on private clients in addition to her government job that included Hillary Clinton’s post-State Department transition team, the William J. Clinton Foundation, and Teneo Holdings, a firm run by Clinton confidante Doug Band.

Abedin’s change in employment status was exposed in a June article in Politico, which reported that Abedin and Weiner reported income of $490,000 in calendar year 2012, $360,000 of which represented a combination of both of their consulting incomes.

Grassley has been pressing the State Department and Abedin to answer a slew of questions over the arrangement ever since.

“It appears that Teneo may have been compensating Ms. Abedin for gathering information from government sources for the purpose of informing investment decisions of her clients - or in other words, political intelligence,” Grassley wrote in a June 13 letter.

“This raises important questions about whether her dual role was adequately disclosed to government officials who may have provided her information without realizing that she was being paid by private investors to gather information.”

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Huma was pocketing bigtime from Teneo Holdings, a firm run by Clinton confidante Doug Band. Teneo is also connected to MF Global--- as Jon Corzine presided over a billion dollar heist. Quoting from Teneo’s Web site: the firm is the “next chapter in strategic advisory.”

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NOTE: a former MF Global employee accused former president Bill Clinton of collecting $50,000 per month through his Teneo advisory firm in the months before MFG careened towards its Halloween 2012 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reports Human Events.

Bill Clinton is the chairman of Teneo's advisory board.

Teneo was hired by MF Global’s former CEO Jon S. Corzine to improve his image and to enhance his connections with Clinton’s political family, said the employee, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared retribution, according to Hum/Evnts. The Teneo contract with MF Global lasted at least five months, the source said. “The board cancelled it after Corzine resigned.”

The source, who is no longer associated with MF Global, said Teneo is a dual-track company with one side devoted to merchant and investment banking and the other side set up to provide image and strategy consulting services. The trustee for MFG investors later sued JPMorgan bank for return of about $450M that MFG had transferred to the bank.