The Greater They Are, the Greater the Chilul HaShem

Rabbi Goldstein with the President at a National Day of Prayer event (NYP)

The longtime leader of a Southern California synagogue who was wounded in a deadly attack at the house of worship he founded pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a multimillion-dollar fraud that disguised charitable contributions for personal gain.

Goldstein, who founded Chabad of Poway near San Diego in 1986, collected $6.2 million in fake donations to the synagogue and affiliates and returned 90% to contributors with phony receipts, allowing them to deduct the full amount from their taxes, prosecutors said. Goldstein kept the remaining 10%, or $620,000, for himself.

Goldstein acknowledged concealing a fake donation of more than $1.1 million in late 2017 by purchasing about $1 million in gold coins and giving them to the phony donor. 

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for fraud but prosecutors will recommend probation as part of a plea agreement. They noted his cooperation with investigators after federal agents raided his home and office in October 2018 and his widely praised response to the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue in April 2019.