Suarez is charged with taking $10,000 in bribes from Dwek, who posed as a crooked developer
Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, center, is flanked by his attorneys Michael Critchley, left and John Vazquez, right, as they leave court in Newark following jury selection in September.RIDGEFIELD — Solomon Dwek, the undercover informant at the center of last year's massive FBI sting, opened testimony today in the trial of a Bergen County mayor by retelling his long history of real-estate ripoffs, money laundering and bribes.
He told of cheating the man who gave him a start in business, paying off mayors and councilmen in Monmouth County and using a nonprofit school tied to his father's synagogue to launder untold sums for prominent members of the Sephardic Jewish community in the Borough of Deal.
“They wanted to do tax evasion,” said Dwek, testifying in the corruption trial of Ridgefield Mayor Anthony R. Suarez.
The admissions have become a well-worn tale for Dwek, a one-time rabbinical student who became New Jersey's most prodigious informant after being charged with bank fraud in 2006. Today begins his third stint on the witness stand in connection to the money-laundering and bribery probe that led to charges against 46 people, including five rabbis, three mayors and two state legislators.
Suarez, a 43-year-old Democrat, is charged with taking $10,000 in bribes from Dwek, who posed as a crooked developer.
Suarez and Vincent Tabbachino, a Guttenberg tax preparer who will be tried alongside the mayor, are charged with bribery, attempted extortion and extortion conspiracy. Tabbachino, 69, also is accused of helping Dwek launder $100,000, which the informant said came from selling knock-off designer handbags.
If convicted, Suarez and Tabbachino face up to 20 years in prison.
Dwek began cooperating with the FBI in 2006 after being charged with a $50 million bank fraud. He worked his way across the state, wearing a tiny hidden video camera on his belly as he tried to talk rabbis into laundering money and convince public officials to take bribes.
Previous coverage:
• Attorneys offer differing accounts of Ridgefield mayor's alleged acceptance of bribe
• Opening arguments to begin in corruption trial for Ridgefield mayor
• After 14 months of waiting, Ridgefield mayor to face corruption charges in court
• Ridgefield Mayor Suarez asks judge to limit evidence that can be presented in his corruption trial
• Jury selection in corruption trial of Ridgefield mayor to begin
• Judge rules Ridgefield Mayor accused in corruption sting will be tried with alleged accomplice
• Money laundering charges severed between Ridgefield mayor, ex-Guttenberg councilman
• Full coverage of the New Jersey corruption probe
| Mayor Anthony Suarez leaves court as his lawyer makes a statement |