CrownHeights.info Investigation Exposes Elaborate Fundraising Scam Spanning Years

by CrownHeights.info

A massive fundraising scam spanning hundreds of thousands of dollars and multiple years has been uncovered thanks to a CrownHeights.info exclusive investigation, with much of the targets being members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community.

Over the past year, CrownHeights.info has been investigating reports of a fraudster that has been using online fundraising platforms to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Jewish community disguised as Tzedaka campaigns, some based on real tragedies, others based on vague calls for help. Although the investigation started out small, it discovered more than was ever suspected.

Shternie Glassman is a sweetheart. Focused on helping her grandparents, she started a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise funds to keep the elderly couple in their home which was up for foreclosure. With their car just repossessed, she begged for just $15,000 to help them. With medical bills and creditors calling nonstop, they were in dire straights.

The fundraiser brought in $7,106.

Kiki Gold is from a good Jewish family, descents from Holocaust survivors and the Shaloh HaKadosh. When the Coronavirus hit, her family’s fortunes plummeted. As the family raced against the clock to attempt to get ahead of their creditors and marry off their 33-year-old daughter, they desperately needed money. Moshiach Now!

The Fundraiser brought in $12,699.17 from 513 people.

Ein Mishpocho, a.k.a Bethe Best a.k.a. Rivkie Goldberg launched a desperate fundraising campaign to help a poor Chabad family who was evicted and lost their job to be able to reorganize, settle, and get back on their feet with a new job. After multiple campaigns, she was still just a few hundred dollars short.

The fundraiser brought in $117,068 from 1,023 people.

The truth is though, that none of these campaigns were honest, and the money was not used as it was purported to be.

During the course of the investigation, CrownHeights.info discovered that the real person allegedly behind these fake fundraisers was a woman named Esther Rochel Elkaim.

Born to Count and Countess Maklouf Elkaim of Miami, Florida, Esther Rochel was brought up in a high society lifestyle. The family was happy to help others, donating large sums of money to charities and funding many Jewish projects, including Chabad ones.

Sadly, fortunes turned, and the Elkaim family found themselves the ones in need of money.

Faced with tough choices, the family decided to continue living their high lifestyle, borrowing from others and leveraging their name to have others foot their bills. As time wore on, they were outed in their hometown and decided to leave Florida, moving elsewhere while continuing to live off of others.

With fewer options available, the family turned to deception to fund their lives, tricking and scamming people into giving them money.

Moving from place to place, the savvy family used social spaces as one way to find their targets, frequenting Chabad Houses and shuls where they worked their “marks”. They smooth talked many with stories of woe and grand schemes, convincing people to cover their expenses, lay down their credit cards, and hand over their money.

Since as far back as 2014, Esther Rochel turned to the anonymity of the internet, starting fundraisers for Chabad families, sob stories of medical disasters and financial ruin, and grand plans of free loans to lure people into donating to her fundraisers. To be convincing, she many times provided fake credentials, correspondence from Rabbonim, and well-known names as supporters of the campaigns. Upon investigation, these were found to be fake, and in some cases, the Rabbis’ named simply had no idea that their names and titles were being used.

Some named over the past years included Rabbi Leibel Groner OBM, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Rabbi Benjy Korf, and Rabbi Niederman, as well as other prominent Chabad Shluchim. When approached by CrownHeights.info as far back as 2017, they denied endorsing the campaigns.

Esther Rochel could have gotten away scot-free with her illicit gains, if not for starting a GoFundMe campaign for the family of a young Lubavitcher who had passed away. Not having seen a penny of more than $10,000 raised, the family sounded the alarm, putting names together and discovering the beginnings of the alarmingly elaborate fundraising scam.

Working together with the family, CrownHeights.info traced Elkaim’s digital footprint across multiple fundraising platforms and over more than six years. From multiple GoFundMe campaigns to Chesed Fund fundraisers, Esther Rochel’s smooth method and heart-rending stories pulled thousands of people into donating, even hoodwinking some rabbi’s into helping her campaigns.

One of those Rabbis was Rabbi Levy. Unaware of the dishonest dealings, and believing they were simply a family in need, Rabbi Levy attempted to help. “When they reached out for financial assistance I tried to help,” Rabbi Levy told CrownHeights.info. “However, I never gave permission to use my name on any fundraising campaign nor was I able to validate their claims.” Once the scam was uncovered, Rabbi Levy immediately cut all ties.

In total, CrownHeights.info has uncovered more than $165,000 in Tzedaka funds gained through these false campaigns, many under different names and aliases.

When confronted about her actions, Elkaim denied being the originator of the fundraisers, saying that she was merely “helping others in need.” When pointed out that she had been caught using a family’s tragedy for her fundraiser, she responded that she had never claimed that the family would get the money, rather that the donations were to merely be made “in her honor.”

Sadly, CrownHeights.info was not the first to discover the family’s dealings, with many notable askanim and wealthy people having been taken advantage of previously by the family. Some were even aware of the fake fundraisers.

Rabbi Moshe Pinson, a well known askan and fundraiser in Crown Heights, had his name listed as an endorser on some of the fake fundraising campaigns. When CrownHeights.info reached out to him, he acknowledged that he knew his name was used without his permission, but would not provide any further comment.

The reason for CrownHeights.info publishing this article is not simply to “out” the perpetrator of this scam but to give context and knowledge to our readers and empower them to protect themselves against such scam attempts in the future. Always verify the legitimacy of a fundraising campaign before donating.