Jewish Businessman Pleads Guilty To Bribing Public Officials
Jona Rechnitz’s admission came up in court papers quietly unsealed earlier this month during a federal investigation of de Blasio for possible illegal fundraising. De Blasio was cleared of charges.
In the court papers, Rechnitz, 33, pleaded guilty to providing “financial and personal benefits and political contributions to public officials including law enforcement officials in exchange for official action.”
Although Rechnitz did not mention any specific name in his statement, he is known to be a major donor to de Blasio, the Daily News reported. Rechnitz collected $41,650 in october 2013 after the mayor won the Democratic primary. In January 2014, he donated $50,000 to de Blasio’s nonprofit, Campaign for One New York.
Rechnitz is the son of Robert Rechnitz, the former chair of a pro-Likud U.S. nonprofit, and the cousin of Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz, a major ultra-Orthodox donor.
Contact Daniel Hoffman at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielHoffman
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30