Jones Lang LaSalle
Real estate mogul tried to transfer sites
Sales linked to bank's effort to recoup $25M check payout
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/9/06
BY JAMES W.
PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
As Solomon Dwek repeatedly promised to pay PNC Bank for what it says was a $25.2 million bounced check, the real estate mogul attempted to transfer at least $40 million in properties, most to an apparent relative, according to public records.
Only 11 of 53 transfers went through, and they are in jeopardy because of an order issued by Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer that froze Dwek's assets until at least Friday. The judge will hold a hearing then to determine the future of Dwek's holdings.
PNC Bank said Dwek owes it $20 million for the April 24 bounced check, and the bank had asked for Dwek's assets to be frozen until it's paid.
The bank wanted to settle the matter without going to court, but Dwek, 33, of Ocean Township, missed two meetings on May 3 with PNC attorney Dennis Kearney, the lawyer told the judge last week.
But beginning May 1, two days before the meeting, the clerks' offices of Ocean and Monmouth counties began to receive the first of what would be dozens of legal notices stating that various Dwek properties would be sold, primarily to a Joseph Dwek. Solomon Dwek has an uncle named Joseph Dwek who owns a summer home in Ocean Township and lives in Brooklyn.
Joseph Dwek declined comment yesterday.
In all, public records show Solomon Dwek, his wife Pearl, or his companies attempted to transfer 53 Monmouth County properties, most of which had been bought since 2004, for a combined $40.5 million. Solomon Dwek had given five of the properties to his wife in March and April for $1 each.
It's not clear whether PNC was aware until Monday of Dwek's efforts to transfer the properties. A spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
But by noon Monday, the Dweks had transferred only 11 properties, all to the corporate name Yeshuah LLC for $1 or $10 each. He had paid $11.3 million for them, buying 10 of them since March 2005. Documents filed days earlier stated that Dwek had contracted to sell all 11 to Joseph Dwek.
Yeshuah is the Hebrew word for Jesus, or "salvation" and stems from the Hebrew verb, "to save," according to local rabbis. The deeds indicate Yeshuah LLC has a manager named Morris Levy and shares an Ocean Township post office box with other Dwek properties.
Levy could not be reached; nor could Dwek's lawyers.
Lehrer's May 3 order would block any pending sale, according to Hazlet land use attorney Jeffrey B. Gale. The transfers to Yeshuah could be blocked by PNC because the deeds were signed after Lehrer's order freezing Dwek's assets.
"The judge's order wins over everybody," Gale said.
PNC referred the case to the FBI for criminal investigation after Dwek deposited the $25.2 million bad check at the drive-through teller window of its Eatontown branch. At that time, Dwek assured bank employees that the check was good, even though it was written on an account that was closed in October, according to a court filing from Ben Berzin Jr., executive vice president of PNC Bank.
Berzin said the employees, who knew Dwek from his business at the bank, told them he had talked to "corporate" who had arranged a wire transfer to cover the check.
The bank essentially funded Dwek's account with $25.2 million of its own money.
By the next morning Dwek used electronic wire transfers to move money out of PNC and pay off four loans totaling $23 million, according to PNC.
Additionally, the bank has asked Judge Lehrer to create a fiscal agent who would oversee any sale of the 95 commercial and residential properties across the state that the bank has linked to Dwek or his wife. The list includes some of the properties Dwek is trying to sell, or already sold.
It may be difficult to place a current market price on some of the properties that Solomon Dwek or his companies tried to transfer to Joseph Dwek.
The Deal Yeshiva purchased a 3-acre Ocean Township property on Monmouth Road in 1995 for $150,000. Solomon Dwek is listed as vice president of the yeshiva, a private religious school with about 300 students, and his father, Rabbi Isaac Dwek, is yeshiva president.
In 2001, the Deal Yeshiva sold the property to 259 Monmouth Holdings LLC for $1. Last July, Ocean Township entered into an agreement with Solomon Dwek and that company to allow a two-story, 6,573-square-foot office building to be built at the site. Then on May 3 the county clerk received notice the property would be sold to Joseph Dwek.
James W. Prado Roberts: (732) 643-4223; or jwr@app.com
Real estate mogul tried to transfer sites
Sales linked to bank's effort to recoup $25M check payout
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/9/06
BY JAMES W.
PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
As Solomon Dwek repeatedly promised to pay PNC Bank for what it says was a $25.2 million bounced check, the real estate mogul attempted to transfer at least $40 million in properties, most to an apparent relative, according to public records.
Only 11 of 53 transfers went through, and they are in jeopardy because of an order issued by Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer that froze Dwek's assets until at least Friday. The judge will hold a hearing then to determine the future of Dwek's holdings.
PNC Bank said Dwek owes it $20 million for the April 24 bounced check, and the bank had asked for Dwek's assets to be frozen until it's paid.
The bank wanted to settle the matter without going to court, but Dwek, 33, of Ocean Township, missed two meetings on May 3 with PNC attorney Dennis Kearney, the lawyer told the judge last week.
But beginning May 1, two days before the meeting, the clerks' offices of Ocean and Monmouth counties began to receive the first of what would be dozens of legal notices stating that various Dwek properties would be sold, primarily to a Joseph Dwek. Solomon Dwek has an uncle named Joseph Dwek who owns a summer home in Ocean Township and lives in Brooklyn.
Joseph Dwek declined comment yesterday.
In all, public records show Solomon Dwek, his wife Pearl, or his companies attempted to transfer 53 Monmouth County properties, most of which had been bought since 2004, for a combined $40.5 million. Solomon Dwek had given five of the properties to his wife in March and April for $1 each.
It's not clear whether PNC was aware until Monday of Dwek's efforts to transfer the properties. A spokesman did not return a call for comment yesterday.
But by noon Monday, the Dweks had transferred only 11 properties, all to the corporate name Yeshuah LLC for $1 or $10 each. He had paid $11.3 million for them, buying 10 of them since March 2005. Documents filed days earlier stated that Dwek had contracted to sell all 11 to Joseph Dwek.
Yeshuah is the Hebrew word for Jesus, or "salvation" and stems from the Hebrew verb, "to save," according to local rabbis. The deeds indicate Yeshuah LLC has a manager named Morris Levy and shares an Ocean Township post office box with other Dwek properties.
Levy could not be reached; nor could Dwek's lawyers.
Lehrer's May 3 order would block any pending sale, according to Hazlet land use attorney Jeffrey B. Gale. The transfers to Yeshuah could be blocked by PNC because the deeds were signed after Lehrer's order freezing Dwek's assets.
"The judge's order wins over everybody," Gale said.
PNC referred the case to the FBI for criminal investigation after Dwek deposited the $25.2 million bad check at the drive-through teller window of its Eatontown branch. At that time, Dwek assured bank employees that the check was good, even though it was written on an account that was closed in October, according to a court filing from Ben Berzin Jr., executive vice president of PNC Bank.
Berzin said the employees, who knew Dwek from his business at the bank, told them he had talked to "corporate" who had arranged a wire transfer to cover the check.
The bank essentially funded Dwek's account with $25.2 million of its own money.
By the next morning Dwek used electronic wire transfers to move money out of PNC and pay off four loans totaling $23 million, according to PNC.
Additionally, the bank has asked Judge Lehrer to create a fiscal agent who would oversee any sale of the 95 commercial and residential properties across the state that the bank has linked to Dwek or his wife. The list includes some of the properties Dwek is trying to sell, or already sold.
It may be difficult to place a current market price on some of the properties that Solomon Dwek or his companies tried to transfer to Joseph Dwek.
The Deal Yeshiva purchased a 3-acre Ocean Township property on Monmouth Road in 1995 for $150,000. Solomon Dwek is listed as vice president of the yeshiva, a private religious school with about 300 students, and his father, Rabbi Isaac Dwek, is yeshiva president.
In 2001, the Deal Yeshiva sold the property to 259 Monmouth Holdings LLC for $1. Last July, Ocean Township entered into an agreement with Solomon Dwek and that company to allow a two-story, 6,573-square-foot office building to be built at the site. Then on May 3 the county clerk received notice the property would be sold to Joseph Dwek.
James W. Prado Roberts: (732) 643-4223; or jwr@app.com
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:01 AM
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