• Document Cloud
  • FOIL–Your Right to Know
  • See Through NY
  • Tax Exempt
  • Environmental Justice
  • Campaign Finance Reports

Preserve Ramapo

www.preserve-ramapo.com

  • Home
  • Join our email
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • The Archive
You are here: Home / East Ramapo Central School District / Ramapo residents who stole millions from school tech program face prison recommendations

Ramapo residents who stole millions from school tech program face prison recommendations

December 29, 2020 by Michael Castelluccio

“Federal prosecutors are urging a judge to sentence six Ramapo residents to prison for their involvement in stealing millions of dollars from a federal program designed to provide computer technology to underprivileged students.

Peretz Klein and his wife, Susan Klein, both of Spring Valley; and Monsey residents Simon Goldbrenner, Moshe Schwartz, Ben Klein, Sholem Steinberg and Aron Melber all entered guilty pleas to conspiracy charges in February.

Sentencing had been delayed from June due to the coronavirus pandemic and is expected in mid-January, according to a memorandum submitted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. A hearing is likely after defense attorneys file their sentencing memorandums with the court.

SENTENCING MEMO: Federal prosecutors recommend prison time for six Ramapo residents in E-Rate thefts

COMPUTER SCAM: Seven from Ramapo plead guilty, face prison and thousands in fines

RAMAPO ARRESTS WITH VIDEO: FBI, Rockland DA make 7 arrests in $14M computer fraud scam

According to the memorandum filed with U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas, prosecutors recommended the following:

  • Peretz Klein, the conspiracy’s de facto leader — 5 years with a fine ranging from $25,000 to $250,000 and one to three years of supervised release.
  • Susan Klein — one to three years probation with a fine of $7,500 to $75,000.
  • Goldbrener — 37 months with a fine of $10,000 to $100,000 and one to three years supervised release.
  • Schwartz — 3 years with a fine of $10,000 to $100,000 and one to three years supervised release.
  • Ben Klein — 2. 25 to 2.75 years with a fine of $10,000 to $100,000 and one to three years supervised release.
  • Steinberg — 2 to 3 years with a fine of $10,000 to $100,000 and one to three years supervised release.
  • Melber — 1.5 to 2 years with a fine of $7,500 to $75,000 and one to three years supervised release.

Karas determines the sentences.

Prosecutors, in recommending prison for six of the seven, said, “In a purely technical sense, they defrauded a government program called ‘E-Rate.’ But what they really did was steal from underprivileged schoolchildren.”

The E-Rate program helps provide telecommunications services and equipment to schools serving needy students. The program never has sufficient funds to aid every eligible school.

The prosecutors said the seven people convicted “figured out how to game the program, submitting fraudulent invoices in order to get paid for equipment they did not provide, among many other deceptions.

“They robbed students of technology needed to prepare for a digital world in order to enrich themselves and their families,” the prosecutors wrote. “And, when they lied to steal that money, they broke the law.”

The memorandum stated Peretz Klein ran a web of shell companies and supervised more than a dozen employees carrying out the fraud, which he repeated for years.

He profited far more than any other defendant and paid others, such as Moshe Schwartz and Simon Goldbrener, hundreds of thousands of dollars to further his scheme, according to prosecutors.

“He did all this so that he and his family could enjoy a comfortable lifestyle by depriving underprivileged schoolchildren of the technology they needed to prepare for the information age,” the memorandum states.

FBI action nearly five years ago

The investigation burst into public view in March 2016 when hundreds of FBI agents, Rockland District Attorney’s Office detectives, and local police descended on ultra-Orthodox private schools and companies, seizing payment records, equipment and other documents.

The FBI-led raids were part of an investigation into whether local yeshivas properly spent money obtained through the E-Rate program, overseen by the Universal Service Administration Co. for the Federal Communications Commission. The program came into existence in 1998 and now allocates more than $4 billion annually for computer and internet access across the nation.

Peretz, Susan and Ben Klein and Steinberg acted as vendors, requesting more than $35 million in E-Rate funds and receiving more than $14 million from about 2010 to 2016, prosecutors said.”

Read the complete LoHud coverage here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: East Ramapo Central School District, FBI

Preserve Ramapo tree no border

Preserve Ramapo online since 2003

Recent Posts

  • VOTE! Special Election–East Ramapo School Board
  • East Ramapo wants to cut NAACP legal fees to $1, if not teachers could be fired
  • Appeals court backs NAACP in East Ramapo voting rights challenge
  • Airmont, Central UTA settle lawsuit, dropping discrimination claims as school can expand
  • Ramapo residents who stole millions from school tech program face prison recommendations

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015

Calendar listing for Posts

January 2021
M T W T F S S
« Dec    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

Other Links

Airmont,

Pomona,

Montebello,

Suffern,

Sloatsburg,

Hillburn,

Spring Valley,

Chestnut Ridge,

New Hempstead,

Wesley Hills,

Town of Ramapo,

Town of Clarkstown,

Rosa4Rockland,

Rockland Water Coalition

East Ramapo Central School District

Power of Ten -- East Ramapo for the Children,

Strong East Ramapo,

East Ramapo Videos,

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in