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Cashed Several Million Dollars in Checks in NJ
Special Agent Heffernan of the New York SIC testified also about a New York garment importer, Sidney Bitterman, Inc., cashing "over $1 million" in checks at City Check Cashing in Jersey City. The activity involved a Richard Hecker of Long Island, a Bitterman executive. Hecker utilized two other New Yorkers, Claude Notar and Gene Goldstein, to transport the checks across the Hudsonfor cashing at Siegel's outlet. Counsel Hoekje asked the SIC's Heffernan:
Q. Are you familiar with the approximate amount that was cashed by these individuals?
Q. Now, Mr. Heffernan, was the New York SIC able to obtain the testimony of Mr. Hecker?
Q. Was the New York SIC able to speak to Mr. Notar and Mr. Goldstein?
Q. Mr. Heffernan, based upon the New York SIC investigation, and these transactions and your experience in general, do you have any conclusions as to what was going on with these situations?
Q. Did you also try to locate any companies associated with [this case]?
Q. And can you describe what happened?
Q. And Mr. Notar was an individual who was cashing over a million dollars of checks in New Jersey?
When Counsel Gaal questioned Siegel about cashing a million dollars worth of Bitterman checks at his Jersey City facility, he continued to invoke his constitutional privilege to remain silent. He refused to answer even though he had done so in his lawyer's presence at a previous private hearing at the SCI.
Siegel was asked about the prior experiences of his head check cashier, Santoro, in cashing Bitterman checks:
Q. Mr. Siegel, are you aware of the fact that checks drawn on the Bitterman companies were cashed at Robert Santoro's unlicensed check cashing places before you hired Him?
Q. Mr. Siegel, were you contacted by a private investigator from New York concerning those checks?
Q. Did you tell this Commission in private session that a private investigator told you that [he had been] retained to investigate moneys that were allegedly missing from Bitterman and that he-"he" meaning Bitterman-had claimed that the checks had been improperly written and negotiated through a Mr. Hecker, his comptroller?
Q. Did Goldstein and Notar ever tell you that, in fact, Mr. Bitterman was wrong and that he had gotten some of the money back from Hecker?
Q. Mr. Siegel, we have reviewed many Currency Transaction Reports from City Check Cashing and we never found your name as a preparer of those reports. Is that because you did not prepare Currency Transaction Reports?
Bitterman Says It Was Victimized
Leonard Bitterman of New York, corporate officer of Bitterman, Inc., and of Split-End, Ltd., importers of women's clothes, refused to testify but submitted a statement for the hearing record. This statement claimed the company was the "victim of a fraudulent embezzlement scheme perpetrated by an employee," namely Richard Hecker, whose role in the company was previously reviewed by New York SIC Agent Heffernan.
According to the statement, Hecker is alleged, in concert with other individuals not employed by Bitterman, to have issued checks payable to various third parties. The statement said the checks were cashed at City Check Cashing but the company did not get the proceeds. The company said it is investigating what it claimed was a $1.5 million embezzlement. The statement also contended that various allegations against Bitterman and his companies were "false and spurious" and designed to "frustrate" the corporate inquiry. Because of that probe, Bitterman said, he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege. However, some of the questions by SCI Counsel Clark will be noted here to depict the nature of the episode:
Q. Are you aware that in 1986 checks in amounts totaling approximately $1.5 million from your corporations made payable to approximately six companies, including some that were fictitious, were cashed at City Check Cashing in Jersey City by a Gene Goldstein and a Claude Notar?
MR. CLARK: Mr. Chairman, I represent that the staff has determined that cash transaction reports identify Gene S. Goldstein, an importer, as the individual cashing all of the checks in question that were in amounts of over $10,000. Other checks in lesser amounts were cashed by Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Notar at City Check Cashing Services.
Q.
Do you know whether these checks were issued in order to deceive tax authorities or to avoid taxes?
Q. Were any of these check amounts included as expense items on the State or Federal tax returns filed by you or your companies?
Q. Was any of this cash being used to make payments to U.S. customs officials or foreign officials to facilitate the importation of foreign goods into the United States?
Q. Did you report the alleged embezzlement of funds by Messrs. Hecker, Goldstein and No tar to law enforcement authorities?
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