An Upstate New York Developer pleaded Guilty Thursday for his role in a Voter-Fraud Scheme designed to Elect Public Officials who would support his Real-Estate Project.
Kenneth Nakdimen is scheduled to be Sentenced in September in the U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y. for one count of Conspiracy to Corrupt the electoral Process.
Prosecutors said Nakdimen and his Associates falsely Registered Voters to overcome Local Opposition to their 396-unit Townhouse Project in the tiny Catskills Village of Bloomingburg. The Developers anticipated making hundreds of millions of dollars from the development, according to Prosecutors.
Under the Agreement, Nakdimen could spend from six to 12 months in Prison. The Charge carried a Sentence of up to five years. In addition to Nakdimen, Federal Prosecutors last year charged his Business Partner Shalom Lamm and Associate Volvy Smilowitz with one Count each of Conspiracy to Corrupt the Electoral Process. A former Town Supervisor of Mamakating, N.Y., previously pleaded Guilty to Conspiracy to submit False Voter Registrations.
Lamm and Smilowitz have pleaded Not Guilty. An Attorney for Smilowitz said his Client “maintains his innocence and looks forward to his day in court.”
According to the Prosecutors, Nakdimen and Lamm allegedly choose Bloomingburg, a 420-Resident Village in Sullivan County, N.Y., for the site of their Development because of the small population, making the Local Government susceptible to being taken over.
After the Defendants faced Local Opposition to the Townhouse Development, Nakdimen and Lamm devised a plan to Falsely Register Voters in Bloomingburg who actually lived elsewhere to help Elect Public Officials supportive of their Project, according to federal Prosecutors.
“Those the defendants sought to register to vote in Bloomingburg included people who never intended to live in Bloomingburg, people who had never kept a home in Bloomingburg, and indeed, some people who had never even set foot in Bloomingburg in their lives,” said the December 2016 Indictment.
The Defendants allegedly devised an elaborate Cover Up to the Conspiracy by creating False Backdated Leases and leaving toothbrushes and Toothpaste in Unoccupied Apartments to make it appear as though the Units were occupied, according to Prosecutors. Prosecutors said Nakdimen and his Associates falsely Registered Voters to overcome Local Opposition to The Villages of Chestnut Ridge, their 396-unit Townhouse Project in the tiny Catskills Village of Bloomingburg.
Nakdimen and Lamm also have had Disputes with the Town of Mamakating about their Real-Estate Project. Bloomingburg, where the Project is located, is part of the Town. On Thursday, William Hermann, the Mamakating Town Supervisor, called Nakdimen’s Guilty Plea “the first step in vindication for the entire community.”
The Developers have argued that Anti-Semitism fueled opposition to their townhouse Development, which was marketed to Hasidic Jews. The Town has denied those accusations.
Both the Town and the Village settled a Religious Discrimination Lawsuit with Lamm and others for $2.9 million in 2016. The Town and the Village didn’t admit wrongdoing.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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