Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Cunin
Chabad / Lubavitch
Let’s meet Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Cunin
Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Cunin, is a Chabad Rabbi associated with the Chabad
Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Cunin is the director of Chabad-Lubavitch of
California, and other Chabad activities on the West Coast of the United States.
In 1965, he was appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneerson, as a Shliach. Rabbi Cunin was very instrumental in
building a network of Chabad Houses throughout California and Nevada.
A federal judge in Sacramento ruled on December 2, 2014 that the California
branch of the world’s largest Jewish religious organizations misappropriated
grant funds and now must pay $844,985 in damages and penalties. U.S.
District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. found that Chabad of California
violated the federal False Claims Act with bogus statements and certifications
in connection with money it obtained through the Urban Areas Security
Initiative: A Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides funding
for security upgrades to eligible non-profits. In a 21-page order, Judge England
found that Chabad knowingly failed to comply with grant requirements and
falsely assured the government that it had written procedures to regulate the
use of the funds. The act also mandates civil penalties when a court finds that
the government has been defrauded. Basically, Chabad “either submitted, or
caused to be submitted, a total of five separate drawdown requests that were
based on false certifications,” Judge England declared.
Chabad of California has more than 100 sites throughout the state, including in
Sacramento, Folsom, Roseville and Davis. Judge England came down hard on
Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, president of Los Angeles-based Chabad of
California and West Coast director of Chabad-Lubavitch. The judge found that
Rabbi Cunin is “the individual undisputedly in charge of managing and
executing the entire grant process,” and that his sworn testimony in a
deposition is “damning.” “Rabbi Cunin made it clear that the absence of
policies was not an oversight” and “conceded that he never planned to
safeguard the grant advances and ensure that funds so received were used
only to pay authorized grant costs,” England said. Rabbi Cunin “treated the
grant advances as if they were gifts to Chabad that, once paid were ‘no longer
the business of the government,’” England said, quoting the rabbi’s
deposition testimony. “(Cunin’s) cavalier attitude shows, at minimum, a
reckless disregard.” Chabad diverted the grant funds to other uses, such as
general operations. “Religious and charitable organizations do not have
immunity for fraud,” Hirst said Tuesday. “The ruling today shows that any
entity defrauding the United States will be held accountable.”
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