I
think its important that the legal proceedings are shared with you in
their entirety. I am attaching everything that was already filed by Aish
in court and our reply and counterclaims.
I
also wanted to to give you some evidence in support of what I mentioned yesterday.
One
of the 'donations' that Rabbi Greenman collected for his sister was
from his brother - The check came from a foundation and promptly a check
from Aish was sent to Chabad (Aish Check # 27045)
| 11/6/12 the RZH Foundation Doron Stern for Sister Deena (Intrator Fund) | $5,000.00 |
| Chabad of the Five Towns (Intrator Fund) | $(5,000.00) |
I also mentioned that Rabbi Greenman used Aish funds as his own - I mentioned him paying for his son's Bar Mitzvah - via check drawn from the Bear Stearns account (check # 101) $3701.50 memo - "Yitz Bar Mitzvah".
Lastly, for the benefit of the board member who wanted to get clarification about Mrs. Greenman being on Aish payroll - while she is technically working for a project called 'Ahavas Yisrael', the entire budget for this project is $25K annually, which is paid to a person in Passaic helping her and covers other minimal expenses . Mrs. Greenman does not hold a paid position and her $50k pay check can be traced directly to a reduction in Rabbi Greenman's reportable salary.
As you will learn from the attached documents, I had $500K (in escrow since the directive of Rabbi Cohen even before ANY evidence was presented) in liquid assets and approximately $1.8M invested with a hedge fund (which was opened in May 2013).
I already proved the source of these funds as coming from mortgages (2.4M borrowed in April 2013) that I took out on two apartment buildings I purchased 15 years ago - which were paid off since 2010. I will be happy to send you more information about these real estate transactions.
Please don't let this malicious prosecution go on.
Sincerely,
Jacob Fetman
Dear Aish NY Board Rabbi Hillel Weinberg and Rabbi Eric Coopersmith
Dear Aish NY Board, The Rosh HaYehiva and Rabbi Coopersmith,
As you may know, as of Mid October 2013, I am no longer working for Aish NY, having been dismissed by Rabbi Greenman.
In short, Rabbi Greenman is accusing me of theft and
misappropriation of Aish NY funds. I want to make you aware of the
following.
Aish HaTorah New York's policy is that senior and Rabbinical staff gets paid a part of their compensation
'off the books'. As can be learned from the attached IRS filing form 990 for 2012 (page 7) filed in late July 2013. Rabbi Greenman, the Exec. Director of Aish NY, reportable compensation for 2012 was $101,409 where in fact it was about $400,000. Nik Davidson's reportable salary was $90,000 when in fact it was about $200,000, Rabbi Winter's salary - reported as $38,232 is over $100,000, Rabbi Markowitz's reportable salary was $62,549 when in fact it was about $150,000. My reported salary was $81,504 and in reality it was $135,000.
The 'off the books' compensation consisted of home mortgage payments for Rabbi Greenman as well as tuition payments and personal charges on Aish credit cards for Rabbi Greenman, Nik Davidson, Rabbi Horan, Rabbi Wolfe, myself and others who use credit cards issued to them by Aish for personal charges.
'off the books'. As can be learned from the attached IRS filing form 990 for 2012 (page 7) filed in late July 2013. Rabbi Greenman, the Exec. Director of Aish NY, reportable compensation for 2012 was $101,409 where in fact it was about $400,000. Nik Davidson's reportable salary was $90,000 when in fact it was about $200,000, Rabbi Winter's salary - reported as $38,232 is over $100,000, Rabbi Markowitz's reportable salary was $62,549 when in fact it was about $150,000. My reported salary was $81,504 and in reality it was $135,000.
The 'off the books' compensation consisted of home mortgage payments for Rabbi Greenman as well as tuition payments and personal charges on Aish credit cards for Rabbi Greenman, Nik Davidson, Rabbi Horan, Rabbi Wolfe, myself and others who use credit cards issued to them by Aish for personal charges.
What amounts to me charging a part of my salary - (approximately $25K annually over the last few years) on Aish credit cards, as do others in the organization, and getting extra compensation from Project Inspire, the Aish Center and others for work I did for them, is now being contested by Rabbi Greenman as illegitimate. While I did not report my extra compensation from our affiliates which was paid to me via Aish NY, the situation is now being blown way out of proportion and I feel that it is important to share all the details with you.
In 2010, when Project Inspire became its own entity and wanted to establish its own identity and bank account, I was instructed to open a bank account that had a DBA (Doing Business As) of Project Inspire. Because the IRS frowns upon charities operating under DBA's I sought to limit the exposure and set it up in a way that only checks written to "project Inspire" would be directed to that account and the bulk of the monies designated for Project Inspire were still coming directly to Aish HaTorah New York's account. Monies that accumulated in the Project Inspire account were transferred to another charity (Merkaz) and granted back to Aish NY. Since the inception of that account in 2010, a total of $686,856 was transferred from Aish NY's Project Inspired account to the charity and over $650,000 was transferred back to Aish NY's proper bank account to date. That money was paid in checks to Aish NY or paid to others on behalf of Project Inspire, I have copies of these payments and I provided them to the forensic accountant Aish hired. Other monies that were paid to me by Project Inspire were left with the charity account as my compensation.
When I was asked to provide our list of assets and holdings as a part of this dispute, I disclosed the existence of the hedge fund in which we invested the money as well as our real estate holdings. Rabbi Greenman insisted thru his attorney that all our liquid assets be put in escrow, intimating to me that if I don't comply, my mechutan (my daugther's future in laws) will get certain calls accusing me of stealing money from Aish which may G-d forbid could have resulted in my daughter's wedding being cancelled. Being literally days before making a chasuna, I was pressured and blackmailed to transfer all our liquid assets and the hedge fund balance totaling just over 2.3 million dollars to an escrow account established by Rabbi Greenman's attorney. I was also directed and pressured to transfer all our real estate holdings into the escrow as well, even some real estate belonging to my parents, which was in my name 'in name only' was also demanded to be transferred over. I felt that I could not respond and fight these accusations while the the wedding and Sheva Brochos were still going on.
I know I should have separated myself from such policies and report them to the Board. However, what's happening right now is the reason I didn't feel I can approach the board - when I present you clear evidence of misdeeds and blatant crimes on behalf of Rabbi Greenman (as you clearly see from my past few emails to you) you are not taking the appropriate actions and Rabbi Greenman is still allowed to lead this organization as if nothing has happened.I feel unjustly singled out when that was the policy of our office. Even though I was the accountant, I did not institute, create or recommend this system, it is just the way things were ran - all at the insistence and behest of Rabbi Greenman. These were the directives and guidelines issued to me by my superiors, the Exec. Director and the COO of Aish NY.
I want to share with you the extreme pressures Rabbi Greenman put us thru. Please read on an email exchange between my wife Tammy and Rabbi Greenman (RDC is Rabbi Dovid Cohen..) Even though Rabbi Greenman is working diligently to expunge much of the evidence with the help of Tech Masters - the evidence will come out and will show the abuse of power and abuse of process perpetrated by Rabbi Greenman on behalf of Aish NY board. As you read on please keep in mind that this is going on DAYS before the wedding and DURING the Sheva Brochos. When we requested legal opinion we were told by attorney Shabbes that 'we will deal with the legalities later'. Its time now to deal with the legalities.
Thank you.
Jacob Fetman
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Tammy Fetman <morahtammy@yahoo.com>
To: Yyitz@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: yaakov, tammy, victor and stuart re: power of attorney
From: Tammy Fetman <morahtammy@yahoo.com>
To: Yyitz@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: yaakov, tammy, victor and stuart re: power of attorney
Wow. I am amazed. I am not sure what you are referring to. We went twice on Friday to get the document notarized in its entirety.The first time it was from the original copy Rav Dovid gave Yanki. Since it was from a fax, the pages may not have been aligned properly and therefore, it wasn't clear where to sign. The second time was from the email you sent in Friday. I am unsure what was not done or signed, since we went back to that notary with the entire document and I fully believe we resigned all the requested pages. We did not have an opportunity to make any copies of anything and simply dropped off the paperwork on Friday. We were in a rush, but I am pretty sure that everything was signed and returned to the Rav.
In no way was anyone trying to be disrespectful! I do not see any attachments to this email. Please re-send that page and we will try to get that page re-signed on Monday morning, bli neder.
Regards,
Tammy Fetman
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 11/22/13, Yyitz@aol.com <Yyitz@aol.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: yaakov, tammy, victor and stuart re: power of attorney
To: morahtammy@gmail.com, morahtammy@yahoo.com, jacobfetman@gmail.com, jacobfetman@yahoo.com, vlipnitsky@invotex.com, smschabes@ober.com, yyitz@aol.com
Date: Friday, November 22, 2013, 12:53 PM
i will not comment on this email from you, but only to
tell you the
following:
a) i have NOT been calling the Rav, he has been calling
me
b) as in this past minute, the Rav called me to tell me
to re email the
document to you and tell you that: "I am going to hit
the ceiling if Jacob
Fetman does not sign page 4 and get it notarized and back to
me NOW. they
are playing games and wasting my time and i am going to HIT
THE CEILING if he
doesn't get page 4 notarized and back to me
immediately. i direct you to
tell them this and they are in contempt of beis
din". this is a quote from
him.
enclosed you will find
the document and must go
to that notary that you used and get page 4
notarized.
In a message dated 11/22/2013 12:05:37 P.M. Eastern
Standard Time,
morahtammy@yahoo.com writes:
Yitz,
Yanki and I just ran to take care of this. I feel very,
very upset that at this time, when you know that we are
surrounded by family,
that this was done now. This most certainly could have
waited until Monday.
Also, I am really hurt that you have been speaking to Rav
Dovid and
influencing him against us. All we asked of him was if
this could wait until
next week. His anger and inflexibility cause us a lot of
pain. We are trying
to be compliant with everything that was asked of us.
Yanki will be completely
back on board on Monday after everyone leaves. We are
very, very upset that
this had to happen NOW.
Yanki and I are physically sick and strained and
this is extremely hard on us. The Rav is livid and
perceives us as being
chutzpahdik and disrespectful. I simply don't have the
time of the wherewithal
to deal with this now. I have a ton of work and cooking to
finish before
Shabbos. I must go now. I will not be reading or opening
any more emails until
Sunday.
Good Shabbos.
Regards,
Tammy
Fetman
--------------------------------------------
On Fri,
11/22/13, Yyitz@aol.com <Yyitz@aol.com> wrote:
Subject: Re:
yaakov, tammy, victor and stuart re: power of attorney
To:
jacobfetman@gmail.com
Cc: morahtammy@gmail.com, morahtammy@yahoo.com,
jacobfetman@yahoo.com, vlipnitsky@invotex.com,
smschabes@ober.com,
yyitz@aol.com
Date: Friday, November 22, 2013, 11:24
AM
jacob: enclosed is the
original document
that RDC instructed me to
email you.
you need to
a) print it out. this document,
as it needs
to be the same printed
pages.
b) both of you
need to initial next to P on page 2
and then sign pages
4,5 and
6...under YOUR own names, not under the ravs or
stuart schabes'
names. You both need to sign on page 6 for
Merkaz. All
signatures
must be notarized.
c) bring back the whole
document, all 9 printed
pages that you
printed out in step a)
to RDC asap. he said that
he wants it
NOW
In a message dated 11/22/2013
11:05:16 A.M. Eastern
Standard Time,
jacobfetman@gmail.com
writes:
We took the original document
given to me by the Rav
to be notarized. We
both notarized
it this morning. If there was something
wrong we will correct
it.
What was done wrong please clarify -
On Fri, Nov 22, 2013
at 10:34 AM,
<Yyitz@aol.com> wrote:
i just rec'd a strong phone
call from rav
dovid
cohen telling me to email a copy of the
power
of
attorney to the
fetmans because the
document that they brought him
was done completely
incorrectly. he said that he does not accept their
apology, they are
playing games and that they are not
compliant with his
requests.
enclosed is
the power of attorney letter
that the fetmans had
agreed to sign. yaakov and tammy, the
rav demands
that
you print it
and get it signed and notarized
correctly
this time and
bring it back to him
"NOW," in his
words.
Tammy Fetman
To Me
Today at 11:32 AM
Regards,
Tammy Fetman
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