RABBI GUILTY OF MONEY LAUNDERING

NEW YORK A rabbi and his brother pleaded guilty to moneylaundering
charges for funneling more than $3 million in Colombian drug proceeds
through a Brooklyn synagogue and yeshiva.

The men were charged with being part of a group of Orthodox Jews who
laundered the $3.5 million from Colombian and Dominican drug dealers in
1995 and 1996.

By channeling the cash through Congregation Eitz Chaim and Bobover Yeshiva
and another organization, Chaim Shel Shulem, all located in the heavily
Orthodox Jewish Borough Park section of Brooklyn, they were able to move
the money to Swiss bank accounts and then back to the dealers.

Rabbi Mahir Reiss, 47, and his brother Abraham Reiss, 48, pleaded guilty in
Brooklyn federal court. Mahir Reiss faces up to four years in prison, while
Abraham Reiss faces three years.

In one count in the criminal complaint, the defendants were charged with
wiring a $2.4 million transaction through their Swiss account to pay for a
Beech Super King airplane. The plane was eventually delivered to Colombian
drug runners.

On Friday, Rabbi Bernard Grunfeld pleaded guilty to one charge of
masterminding the structure that converted the cash into checks. Another
alleged member of the scheme, former Yeshiva student Israel Knobloch, is to
go to trial on similar charges in the spring.

Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company