Ramapo Town Supervisor Found Guilty Of Fraud Scheme With Jewish Leader

By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 22, 2017

The supervisor of the heavily Jewish town of Ramapo in suburban New York was found guilty of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to conceal the damage done to the towns finances by the construction of a local baseball stadium.

The town supervisor, Christopher St. Lawrence, faces a potentially heavy prison sentence. He remained in office through his arrest, indictment and trial. He was automatically removed by virtue of his conviction.

Ramapo includes the Orthodox-dominated villages of New Square, Monsey, Airmont and Kaser. It also includes the troubled East Ramapo School district, where Orthodox and non-Jewish residents have struggled for control. St. Lawrence enjoyed the support of the Orthodox communities of Ramapo, and was thought to act in their interests, according to the Journal News, a local paper.

Ramapo was found guilty of lying to investors in the town’s municipal bonds in order to overstate the financial security of the town.

St. Lawrence’s co-defendant, Aaron Troodler, the former executive director of a local development group, pleaded guilty last month.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO