Mendel Epstein, Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping, New Jersey 2013

TRENTON, N.J. - Three Orthodox Jewish Rabbis, Mendel Epstein, 69, Jay Goldstein a/k/a ‘Yaakov,’ 60, and Binyamin Stimler, 39, were convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in an effort to force Jewish men to give their wives religious divorces, known as ‘gets.'

The convictions are the result of an undercover operation by the FBI, which began in August 2013. The investigation revealed a series of violent attacks on Jewish men in New Jersey and New York, including the assault of Israel Markowitz on Dec. 1, 2009, in Lakewood, and the assault of Ysrael Bryskman on Oct. 16, 2010, in Lakewood.

According to the evidence presented at trial, the rabbis conspired to kidnap a man and force him to give his wife a get in exchange for $60,000. The plan was to kidnap the man at a warehouse in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and bring him to a location where he would be forced to give his wife the get.

The FBI arrested the eight men, including Goldstein and Stimler, at the warehouse on Oct. 9, 2013. Mendel Epstein was arrested at his Brooklyn home that same night.

The count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping carries a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The count of attempted to commit kidnapping carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark, and the Lakewood Police for the investigation leading to today’s verdicts.

The defendants, all of whom are Jewish, had been accused of using their positions of authority to coerce men into giving their wives religious divorces, known as ‘gets.'

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/three-orthodox-jewish-rabbis-convicted-conspiracy-kidnap-jewish-husbands-order-force-them