Mayor Bill de Blasio personally intervened on behalf of one of his leading fundraisers to have a partial vacate order lifted on a building the City deemed as unlicensed, illegal and improperly worked on, knowledgable.
The incident stems from December 2014, when it is alleged that de Blasio personally intervened on behalf of Satmar Rabbi Moish Indig to have a vacate order lifted on two adjacent Satmar school buildings at 88 and 96 Sanford Street in Bed-Stuy.
One of the buildings was entered without a permit, and the other was found to have illegal classes in the basement.
A city Department of Buildings (DOB) inspector cited it for having dangerous electrical work among other violations.
The newer building was literally built in weeks, and received construction permits retroactively.
After Indig and the Satmars received the vacate order, DOB Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Ira Gluckman allegedly was called under pressure from the de Blasio Administration to intervene.
It was during the meeting between Gluckman and Indig at the properties in question that de Blasio allegedly personally called in on Indig’s cell phone to inquire on status of the buildings and ordered Gluckman to have the vacate order rescinded.
The inspector that signed the lift order specified that it was done as per Gluckman, implying that the inspector was uncomfortable to green light it.
It is not the first time this Satmar faction and Indig built a building in record time without proper permits.
They previously built a synagogue in two weeks, and described it a “miracle.” Sadly, a worker died during the work.
A Brooklyn rabbi and political fund-raiser under scrutiny by the feds was once described by Mayor de Blasio as a trusted friend whose relationship “means so much to me personally.”
De Blasio’s gushing comments about Moishe Indig came at a Sept. 8, 2013, rally in Williamsburg where the mayor was seeking votes from the Hasidic community.
“I have known him for many years, we’ve developed a friendship and a trust and his support, his friendship, means so much to me personally,” de Blasio said. “Let’s thank him for all he does for the community.”
But three years earlier, when he was public advocate, de Blasio listed Indig as one of the city’s worst landlords.
Hasidic leaders at the rally praised the mayor for his willingness to ease regulations on metzitzah b’peh, the practice of sucking blood from a just-circumcised penis.
Federal investigators have been probing whether Indig received favors from the city for his support as part of the probe into de Blasio’s fund-raising tactics.
A political operative familiar with Indig’s dealings with the city said he has routinely acted as an intermediary with the government.
“If you have a problem with government, you go to Moishe. He is not a bad guy. It’s just the cost of doing business,” he said.
קשריו של ראש עיריית ניו יורק, ביל דה בלזיו, עם עסקנים ואישי עסקים חרדיים והחשדות לפיהם סייע להם בתמורה לעזרה כספית ופוליטית מצידם עבורו בזמן מערכת הבחירות, ממשיכה להסעיר את רשויות החוק וכלי התקשורת בעיר.
באחד הדיווחים בסוף השבוע האחרון נטען כי ראש העיר ביל דה בלזיו התערב באופן אישי שלא להרוס מבנים בלתי חוקיים של חסידות סאטמר לאחר שפנה אליו הרב משה אינדיג, אחד העסקנים המובילים בחסידות, שסייעו לו בזמן מערכת הבחירות.
האירוע התרחש בחודש דצמבר 2014, כאשר נטען כי דה בלזיו התערב באופן אישי על מנת למנוע את פינויים של שני בתי ספר של החסידות זאת לאחר בקשתו של הרב משה אינדיג.
באחד הבניינים הכניסה אליו היתה ללא היתר, ואילו בבניין השני נבנו כיתות לא חוקיות במרתף.
Mayor Bill de Blasio met Friday with federal prosecutors investigating whether he gave special treatment to an influential Satmar Hasidic landlord in exchange for supporting his campaign, according to The New York Times.
The landlord, Moishe Indig, is a top lay leader among the Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based followers of Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, the Satmar rebbe of Kiryas Joel, New York. Indig is the public face of the Teitlebaum’s Brooklyn-based followers, the so-called Aronis, and has cultivated deep relationships with a range of local politicians.
The Times reported that the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors were meeting with de Blasio as part of an investigation into de Blasio’s campaign fundraising. Indig hosted a fundraiser for de Blasio in October 2013, and his Satmar group endorsed the mayor.
“We’re telling the kids to tell the parents that this is the candidate we endorse,” Indig told the Forward in September 2013. “Tell your mother, tell you father, to go out and vote for Bill de Blasio.”
A political consultant close to the Aroni leadership, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said he had attended the October 2013 fundraiser. “It was no different than any fundraising dinner I have been at for U.S. Senator or Governor or member of Congress or City Councilman,” the consultant said.
The consultant said that Indig’s efforts for the mayor were the same as any other interest group’s efforts. “Issues of importance to the community are shared with the administration,” the consultant said. “No differently than if it was [SEIU] 1199 or the Hotel Trades council or the Upper West Side. That they’re Hasidic makes it no different.”
The Times reported that the investigation’s focus on Indig came about in recent weeks. FBI agents questioned Indig in December and took his cellphone, according to press reports.
Also in December, agents arrested a close Indig ally, Isaac Sofer. Prosecutors charged Sofer with food stamp fraud and released him on bail. At the time, observers suggested that the charges could be connected to Sofer’s political work.
According to court filings, Sofer’s attorneys and federal prosecutors were engaged in plea negotiations as of the end of January.
De Blasio arrived for his interview with prosecutors at 9:18 Friday morning, according to the Daily News. He is scheduled to fly to Atlanta later in the day for a Democratic National Convention meeting, where the party is slated to choose a new chairman.