Wealthy crony of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio caught receiving food stamps illegally

Wealthy crony of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio caught receiving food stamps illegally

A religious leader and big-time fundraiser for Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been charged with welfare fraud for receiving around $30,000 in food stamps.

Yitzchok “Isaac” Sofer, an Hasidic religious leader, hosted a fundraiser for de Blasio’s 2013 mayoral campaign at the same time he was receiving food stamps illegally.

During an investigation, FBI agents found that Sofer has been on food stamps since the beginning of 2010, collecting more than $30,000 in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since 2012, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

On his food stamp application in 2012, Sofer claimed to earn $250 a week, or about $13,000 a year, and that he had no life insurance policy. Investigators discovered, however, that Sofer did have a life insurance policy worth $1 million, and on the application for it he admitted to making way more than $250 dollars a week.

At the time Sofer applied for the policy in 2012, he listed his annual income at $100,000, and claimed assets valued at more than $600,000, according to the criminal complaint.

Sofer still has ties to de Blasio’s office and is listed as a government relations lobbyist for the Central United Talmudic Academy, a religious school. The academy lobbied City Hall as recently as 2015, New York Daily News reports.

Sofer was released on $250,000 bail after being arraigned Thursday, according to the New York Post.

This report, by Thomas Phippen, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

LU Staff

LU Staff

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