By Andy B. Mayfair
Mark Weissman may well be a tzaddik – just ask his friends, and they will tell you the by-now famous stories about his generosity and kindness. But he is in trouble with the law, a fact that has left many scratching their heads.
The resident of the Five Towns, hailed by many as an exemplar, is scheduled to be sentenced in two days after having pleaded guilty to helping a longtime friend attempt to extort $6 million from a third man who has been described in the press as “a mastermind behind the biggest penny-stock fraud ever orchestrated in New York.”
Friends and relatives “are horrified that Weissman got sucked into a den of thieves. But some say they feared his strong desire to help others would get him into trouble,” Crain’s New York reported. “When I first heard about the case against him, I thought to myself, Well this time he overdid his kindness and got himself in a lot of hot water,” Moshe Deutsch, who has known Weissman for more than 30 years, told a judge.”
It was last June when Weissman pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding. He had, according to Long Island Business News, “participated in a scheme to hinder another person’s court-ordered obligation to pay millions of dollars in restitution to victims of a securities fraud case, according the U.S. Justice Department.”
Following his plea, Weissman was held “responsible for attempting to impede the execution of a restitution judgment that was to be paid to victims of a massive fraud,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement.
“Records show that two people had pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money-laundering conspiracy. When sentenced in 2014, the individuals, who were not named by the Justice Department, were ordered to pay $12.7 million in restitution to the victims, officials said,” LIBN reported.
Weissman was charged in the plot with Andrew Tepfer, who according to Newsday pleaded guilty to securities charges involving a company called Spongetech in 2012, and was liable for $12.7 million in restitution as part of his sentence. Tepfer has pleaded not guilty.
“With today’s guilty plea, Weissman has been held responsible for attempting to impede the execution of a restitution judgment that was to be paid to victims of a massive fraud,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.
