FBI raid in Monsey - Amother enabled

Maya

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 4:16 am

amother wrote:

I don't even know the details, nor do I even want to know the statement I made was a general statement regarding different threads.

Here's a tip for future reference. How about you just stick to the topic of discussion rather than posting your totally irrelevant thoughts where they don't belong?

cnc

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 4:28 am

cmalky wrote:

I agree with you. My question is, is anyone certain that schools billed for a million dollars??? I know quite a few schools that use E-Rate legally; in Monsey and Brooklyn.

I don't mean to come out against you personally, I'm just trying to bring across my point that very often people judge without knowing all details...

I didn't make up that number from the top of my head. I'm referencing an old scandal.
Yes. A school that doesn't provide students with any books or any Internet connection (even with filters) billed for a million dollars. At that time there was an investigation and they were order to return 900k. Nothing was ever given back.

You can Google and read lots of old information about this fraud scandal. There are articles from 2013.

I started posting links and then decided that I wasn't comfortable with it(listing specific schools ). I saw a few yeshivas mentioned that have not been raided. I hope they're not next.

*I wrote old scandal, but it's part of this. They were never prosecuted and the investigation is stemming from there. It's not unrelated.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:22 am

Maya wrote:

Here's a tip for future reference. How about you just stick to the topic of discussion rather than posting your totally irrelevant thoughts where they don't belong?

Her thoughts are not irrelevant as you have a strong reactionary post when hasidim are mentioned; therefore, your bias is up for discussion.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:26 am

vintagebknyc wrote:

Why are you amother? You're not allowed to use amother for personal attacks, it's unkind and cowardly. I tell you this because it appears you're new here and don't seem to know the rules of the site.

It is not a personal attack. It is a logical reasoning technique to show her her own faulty logic.

If Hasidim are always crooks, she and her husband are also crooks since she comes from that heritage.

Iymnok

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:31 am

amother wrote:

This is an anonymous attack against another poster. You can have the same argument respectfully.
I'm sorry that you don't have the confidence to post your disagreement on the original thread, that you had to lower yourself to start a new thread enabled for yours, and others, anonymous attacks.

Maya

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:38 am

amother wrote:

Show me where I said that all people from that "heritage" are crooks. You're just seeing red and that's impeded your ability to think and read rationally. I feel sorry for you.

I simply responded to your claim that innocent schools were involved here. All the schools who were raided are guilty. There's a reason why some were and some were not. As another poster said, this is coming after years of investigations and allegations.

Maya

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:41 am

amother wrote:

Her thoughts are not irrelevant as you have a strong reactionary post when hasidim are mentioned; therefore, your bias is up for discussion.

Discuss all you want. I'm reporting this thread to have it shut down so we can continue the conversation on the other amother/DISabled thread where it belongs.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:00 am

Iymnok wrote:

Look at the sequence of events. I started this thread for privacy concerns. The attack came later by Maya first. She has an inability to believe that any hasidish institution may not be currupt. I simply pointed out that she is hassidish herself, and it is not nice to be guilty just by association.

Maya

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:06 am

amother wrote:

Again, I ask you to show me where I said that all Chassidish people are crooks. Calm down for five seconds, just long enough to show me the post.

Also, I am not Chassidish and therefore have zero association, guilty or not.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:09 am

Maya wrote:

You used the word guilty again. Why can't you see that maybe a school might not be guilty. Also, if you were more knowledgeable, you would know of times the FBI launches investigations with big fanfare and they pan out to nothing. But they have damaged reputations and cost fortunes.

I know of an investigation into school bid-rigging. The subject of the investigation spent a quarter of a million on lawyers and doc prep and had his reputation shredded all so that the FBI could make a case against the target. They admitted they could not find any evidence of guilt, but they never made a public statement.

IMO, I think the innocent schools are the subject rather than the target of the investigation. The reason I feel the school is innocent is because I never saw a moment of questionable behavior with any programs.

Maya

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:12 am

Still no indication of where I wrote that all Chassidim are crooks, and you are using the word guilty more than I am

Now you're just talking like Trump, dodging all the questions, repeating untruths, and ranting about irrelevant things, so this is the end of my discussion with you.

watergirl

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:47 am

amother wrote:

They don't have enough evidence to indict. They collected all the computers hoping for evidence and making headlines. They went fishing today.

They crippled the administration of the school. What happens tomorrow if something happens to one of the students? How do you contact parents? All books and records are gone.

Any school that relies 100% on computers for record keeping and has no records of parent info on hard backup is doing something wrong. I assume that each school maintains an emergency roster. I know that when schools that I worked at were undergoing recertification, we had to prove that even for anfire drill, the teacher took the roster with emergency contact information outside on the drill. It was kept in a file holder attached to the back of the door. Im positive that the schools all maintain such records.

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 6:53 am

Amother,

My cousin went to Prison for defrauding the government with this program (not on the institution side). Yes, a lot of schools and institutions are misusing funds and stealing.

The Monsey area is also known to be really corrupt. The politicians, the leaders, the heads of schools...if you this is scandalous, just wait until all the FBI raids on Town Hall start leading to arrests. It's coming.

Orchid

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 7:01 am

I agree with amother that big public FBI raids can be traumatic for kids. In general, I intensely dislike those big dramatic raids at 3:00 am. Nothing to do with frum schools - the FBI does this all the time. And I think it's a terrible abuse of power. (PS- read John Grisham's new Rogue Lawyer. The devastating affect of this tactic runs many chapters).

cnc

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 7:01 am

amother wrote:

Politicians are expected to be arrested as well.
One politician committed suicide as he knew he was under investigation.

marina

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 7:57 am

amother wrote:

Not every school raided is guilty. How can an innocent school protect itself from guilt by association? How do you protect yourself from being tainted by this as a frum Jew?

The guilty schools probably sanitized their records because enough time passed. The innocent and guilty schools both lost their efficient operating abilities today.

I agree that there may be some innocent schools mixed in. And if I was an administrator at one of those schools, I'd save my righteous anger for the guilty schools who ruined everything and make a chillul hashem and hurt everyone.

I certainly wouldn't be upset with the government

marina

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 8:15 am

Really the people most closely associated with these communities should be the most upset. The more Yeshivos misuse government funds, the less likely these programs are going to continue. At some point some legislator is going to say: this is not working. And they will find a non discriminatory way to stop government funds going to religious schools.

vintagebknyc

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 9:11 am

amother wrote:

You're not understanding something here. Putting all the facts and concerns and worried about this case aside, you came here and anonymously insulted and, yes, attacked another poster.

That's against the site's Terms Of Service. Full Stop.

So I ask you why you are anonymous, and you deflect the question with more insinuation, above.

Your posts are really not about this issue, they're about being anonymously unkind. And they're against the rules. Perhaps in your next post you could address just this.

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 10:39 am

FBI raids are done in the manner most likely to gain the most evidence. That would mean at an hour when most staff people are there, which, in a school, is during a school day. It's unfortunate for the kids, but FBI raids do appear to be called for in many locations, as there is a good deal of evidence that the e-Rate grants were not used as intended. This is fraud against the US government, and, as a false claim against the US government, carries huge penalties. It's a very serious crime, and any jewish organization that participated in it committed a huge chillul Hashem. In broad sweeps like this, it's the unfortunate truth that innocent entities will get raided, but that's not the FBI's fault. They are investigating real fraud and a number of jewish institutions who have misappropriated the funds have caused the FBI's light to focus broadly on our community.

I blame that on the fraudsters, not the FBI who is trying to sort it all out.

Regarding rosters and contact info for parents, for safety purposes the schools need to maintain multiple hard copies of current contact information in case of emergency. What if the power goes out? That is a basic safety precaution.