Prostitution, Diamonds, Rechnitz & Leviev?

 

Jona Rechnitz, Chagit Sofiev Leviev and Lev Leviev

See also Getty Images – LEVIEV’s Thierry Chaunu, Barbara Davis, Leah Raps and LEVIEV’s Effy Raps

October 26, 2006| Credit: E. Charbonneau

Diamonds are Whose Best Friend?

LostMessiah, April 12, 2016

LM has been saying all along that we believe that Lev Leviev and his diamond and real estate investment businesses, Africa Israel, are the key to R&R’s strength and influence. Jona Rechnitz worked for Africa Israel and chronologically, his employment coincides with investments both in the Apthorp property and the 23 Wall Street property amongst many others. These properties are simultaneously listed on the websites of Africal Israel and Rechnitz’s JSR Capital L.L.C.

Effy Raps [connected with Leviev in 2006 and photographed at the Carousel of Hope Ball along with his wife Leah Raps] and Yaron Turgeman [manager of Taly Diamons, owned by Leviev’s daughter], were both donors to de Blasio’s campaign. The donations were bundled into those raised by Jona Rechnitz. According to the New York Post article listed below,  Raps and Turgeman were involved in lawsuits with Leviev, [See Lawsuit – effy_653220_2013_6-1 ] from whom they allegedly swindled millions of dollars. The case was settled in 2014 and the case files are sealed leaving it is unclear how it was resolved.

Rechnitz owns a Murray Hill building, 238 Madison Avenue, which received complaints about prostitution and an illegal massage parlor. LM has also reported previously on anonymous accounts we received of sex trafficking within the Hassidic community. While our contention regarding sex trafficking may be unrelated to the article as presented below, we contend that there is a connection.

Interestingly, 238 Madison was purchased from another diamond dealer. According to the New York Post Rechnitz purchased the property from “an entity linked to Olympic Diamond Corporation, headed by international diamond magnate Nissan Perla.”

Olympic Diamond is listed on Manta with the following information:

Olympic Diamond Corp

Phone: (212) 382-3888

Email: sales@olympicdiamond.net

Web: www.olympicdiamond.com/

Olympic Diamond Corp

580 5th Ave
Suite 1200
New York, NY 10036

 Nissan Perla
Owner

 

Nissan Perla’s LinkedIn profile states that he is the “President and CEO of Diamond Registry Nissan Perla.” It further states:

”Nissan Perla travels around the world and has a star-studded client roster which prefers to stay anonymous. Due to the international demand for Nissan his service he has a very busy schedule that requires him to divide his time for example between New York, United Arab Emirates, London, Australia, Switzerland, Paris and Hong Kong.

Next to his position as President of Diamond Registry, he is a Secretary of NYC Diamond Dealers Club. Mr. Perla offers his knowledge of diamond exploration, mining, and marketing of polished diamonds, combined with diamond manufacturing, diamond jewelry making and retail expertise into Diamond Registry and their worldwide clientele.”

580 5th Avenue which houses Olympic Diamond amongst many other diamond dealers is partly owned by Extell Development Company. The President of Extell is Gary Barnett. Interestingly, Raizy Haas, Extell’s Senior Vice President responsible for Project Management and Development also sits on the Zoning and Land Use Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York. She is an orthodox Jew from Borough Park without a college degree.

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Africa Israel U.S. CEO Sues to Liquidate Taly Diamonds

Bloomburg, December 1, 2014

“Chagit Leviev Sofiev and LGC USA Holdings Inc. contend that Turgeman and other Taly managers failed to honor an agreement to liquidate the business and have ignored their partners’ attempts to get information about the wind down.

 “LGC is a 50 percent owner and member of Taly Diamonds LLC and Ms. Sofiev is one of two company managers tasked with overseeing all company operations,” according to the complaint. The executive has been “wholly excluded from all of the company’s business decisions by the defendants.”

Besides mishandling diamonds, Taly’s managers also have improperly backdated or shredded company documents and “manipulated the company’s inventory and computer-data system to hide their wrongdoing,” Leviev Sofiev said in the suit.

In his dismissed suit, Turgemon said Leviev Sofiev improperly interfered with the business and asked a judge to allow Taly Diamonds’ current managers to control wind-down efforts.

As Africa Israel USA’S top executive, Leviev Sofiev manages assets including a retail condominium section of the Times Square Building in New York and the 67-story Casa Moderna on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami.

The case is LGC USA Holdings Inc. v. Taly Diamonds, CA No. 10411, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).”

To read the entire article click, here.

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The New York Post, April 12, 2016

Shady de Blasio donors accused of ripping off Israeli billionaire

Mayor de Blasio’s campaign accepted donations from two Manhattan jewelers  who were accused of scamming millions of dollars in cash and gems from an Israeli billionaire known as the King of Diamonds, The Post has learned.

Paul “Effy” Raps and Yaron Turgeman each forked over the maximum $4,950 in donations bundled by businessman Jona Rechnitz, who is at the center of a federal probe into NYPD corruption and shady de Blasio campaign finances.

Their donations were among $41,650 that Rechnitz raised for the 2013 campaign. Raps and Turgeman also donated another $4,500 and $400, respectively, separate from the bundled money.

The bundled contributions were recorded less than a month after a Manhattan Supreme Court suit alleged that Raps had swindled millions of dollars from a jewelry company owned by Lev Leviev, a renowned diamond merchant [Africa Israel] who’s on the Forbes World’s Richest People list at 278 for 2016.

In that suit, Raps — the distributor of singer Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable Diamonds jewelry line — was described as someone who’s “dressed in nice clothing, but he’s the devil.”

Turgeman, meanwhile, was sued in December 2013 for allegedly ripping off Leviev through schemes that included purchasing diamonds at inflated prices from Turgeman’s father and other associates, then selling the gems for little or no profit.

Leviev’s suit against Turgeman was settled off the record in 2014, while the suit mentioning Raps is listed as “disposed” — though the entire case file has been sealed.

City records also reveal that Rechnitz owns a Murray Hill apartment building where the Buildings Department last year got a complaint about prostitution inside an illegal massage parlor

 

Online reviews of AV Bodywork at 238 Madison Ave. describe Russian hookers who provided everything from “happy ending” rubdowns to full-on sex. A building inspector wrote that the complaint didn’t include an apartment or floor number — and noted that the situation “appear[ed] to be a police matter.”

Rechnitz was also slapped with a Housing Court suit for locking out Joan Haggerty, 83, from her $121-a-month studio apartment following a brief nursing-home stay in 2014.

Rechnitz was threatened with jail time before finally giving her a working refrigerator, stove and oven, according to court records.

Rechnitz didn’t respond to questions from The Post, and the NYPD said no prostitution-
related charges had been filed in connection with the address.”

Click here to read the article in its entirety.