OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Signs on the doors of Solomon Dwek’s upscale home here herald the birth of his fifth child. Graffiti at an abandoned funeral home he owns less than a mile away needles Dwek and the unraveling of his real estate empire. At 33, Dwek, son of a prominent rabbi, has amassed a real estate portfolio of at least 356 commercial and residential properties valued at $300 million, inflating a local real estate market already juiced by its proximity to New York City and the Jersey Shore. “He was like the goose that laid the golden egg,” said Ocean Township Councilman Christopher Siciliano, a Realtor who watched as businessmen and property sellers clamored to do deals with Dwek. Those who know Dwek, even by reputation, were stunned last month when the FBI charged him with trying to defraud Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank of $50 million. More shocking, community and business leaders say, was that PNC Bank allowed it to happen. According to the bank and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, Dwek went to a drive-through window at the Eatontown, N.J., branch April 24 and convinced the manager to accept a $25.2 million check written on a closed account, promising the money was being wired to cover it. The next morning, federal investigators and PNC say, Dwek wired $22.8 million to pay off four loans, although no money had been received to cover the check. With that one check, PNC lost more money than it did from loans in the first quarter of this year, when the bank posted an $18 million loss. Later that day, Dwek deposited another $25 million check written on the same closed account at another PNC branch, which soon voided the check, federal prosecutors said. Dwek declined comment for this story, but referred a reporter to his civil attorney, Robert Weir Jr., who did not return calls seeking comment. A rabbi’s son “I know Solomon is not capable of … stealing or doing something like that. … He’s a very religious man,” said his friend John Donato, a prominent area developer. “I’m sure the financing just got screwed up.” PNC officials said they spent nine days trying to get the money from Dwek before the bank sued May 3 in New Jersey Superior Court. In the interim, Dwek deposited $3.1 million, but $600,000 of that amount bounced, said Dennis Kearney, an attorney for the bank. The FBI arrested Dwek on May 11. Dwek, who is free on $10 million bond, faces 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted. The case has sparked an unprecedented legal battle in which PNC and Dwek’s uncle are leading dozens of creditors who claim they are owed a combined $298.1 million. “This case is uncharted territory,” said attorney Donald Lomurro, the fiscal agent appointed by the court to monitor Dwek’s business operations and preserve their value. The number of large, unsecured creditors, the intrigue and the still-unanswered questions make the case unlike any other, he said. Lomurro is overseeing hundreds of properties. Some communities worry real estate values will fall and municipal budgets will suffer if taxes on Dwek’s properties go unpaid. “He created his own bubble in the market. Certainly, he was his own market,” Siciliano said. “His downfall’s going to contribute to the slide of this market.” Dwek owns 60 properties, worth about $59 million, in his hometown of Ocean Township, Siciliano said. Those generate $500,000 annually in taxes, almost 2 percent of the town’s $26 million budget, he said. That’s enough to fund salaries and benefits for a dozen first-year police officers — a fifth of the force. “A lot of people made a lot of money investing with Solomon Dwek,” Lomurro said. “He had a track record that was very successful for a long period of time.” An obsession Described as quiet and pleasant, Dwek is a member of the Jersey Shore’s tight-knit Syrian Jewish community, which is rooted in Brooklyn and strives to keep a low-profile. His father, Rabbi Isaac Dwek, is the widely respected leader of the prominent Deal Synagogue. Solomon Dwek attended rabbinical school, but began investing in the local real estate market about 10 years ago. “I think it went from a business to a hobby to an obsession. He was buying with such fervor,” Siciliano said. He often bought properties for well above market rates and paid cash. Businessmen lined up to partner with him, and Dwek formed scores of partnerships and limited liability companies, many with his wife, Pearl. The court lists 25 properties owned by Dwek in nearby Long Branch, but city records show more than 50 that bear his name, said Mayor Adam Schneider. Some might have been sold or transferred to other owners, he said. “It always amazed me he could buy so many properties and not sell any,” Schneider said. “Some of the properties we wished he had moved a little more quickly on redeveloping.” The community saw him as a savvy businessman and generous benefactor, donating regularly to individuals, communities, organizations and political campaigns. Little leagues, parent-teacher associations, community organizations, event sponsors and political candidates all benefited from his generosity, local leaders said. “The Solomon Dwek I know is an individual who’s been very giving, very caring,” said Frank Muzzi, a retired executive for a local defense contractor and former administrator for the city of Long Branch. He paid six to eight months of overdue mortgage payments for one financially strapped family and did not expect repayment, Muzzi said. Eight years ago, Donato had nowhere to turn after his company went bankrupt and he lost his house. His family refused to help. So he turned to Dwek, a stranger. Dwek bought a piece of property from him for $75,000 and signed as personal guarantor on Donato’s mortgage, he said. The Deal Yeshiva, in nearby West Long Branch, is said to be one of Dwek’s favorite beneficiaries. Dwek is the school’s vice president, but townsfolk and members of the Syrian Jewish community were upset when they learned the Yeshiva was paying him more than $200,000 a year, and his wife more than $100,000 annually for secretarial duties. “(They) are drawing 300 grand from the Yeshiva• Nobody knew that,” said a member of the Syrian Jewish community who asked not to be identified because he was breaking the group’s long-standing policy of not talking about community members. “People are giving donations. Do you think anybody knew this mega-mogul was taking six grand a week from the Yeshiva?” Dwek’s father declined to comment. Unfinished business While many of Dwek’s charitable contributions were made quietly, his business interests attracted lots of attention. Last fall, an investment group he led offered more than $100 million to buy the historic and exclusive Deal Golf and Country Club in Ocean Township, which has a population of 29,000, Siciliano said. The 100-acre course is zoned for 100 single-family houses. The offer was rejected by the membership and then downplayed by the club’s leaders, he said. One Dwek partnership project in Ocean Township, a 6,000-square-foot medical building for which the foundation had just been laid, was halted abruptly after his arrest. “Everybody folded up the trailers and left. It’s a vacant property,” Siciliano said. “They even took the port-a-johns. You know when they do that, the workers aren’t coming back.” Dwek allowed too many properties to sit vacant, adding to blight along main thoroughfares, Siciliano and municipal leaders in neighboring communities said. Even some buildings that did not need renovating sat inexplicably vacant, they said. It also added to the growing speculation of why Dwek wanted so many properties. Recently, Dwek listed some properties for resale within months of buying them for the same price, Siciliano said. Since he would be out closing costs and other fees, Dwek would lose money on the deals in the growing market, Siciliano said. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s certainly a red flag.” New Jersey Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer forbade Dwek to sell, transfer or manage his properties. Dwek has been criticized for buying some properties for more than their market value, but Lomurro said he has gotten about 25 offers for some properties that exceeded both what Dwek paid for them and what Dwek says they are worth. Lomurro said he has been told Dwek has four mortgages on his home. Lomurro is still trying to unravel Dwek’s assets and liabilities, and their true value. Dwek claims his properties are worth $300 million, slightly more than the $298.1 million in debt creditors claim he owes them. “I don’t accept all these claims as being bona fide,” Lomurro said. “It could be people pecking at the carcass at the side of the road. On the other hand, I can’t accept on its face the value that Solomon gave, or then I would be naive.” Jack Hakim, who said Dwek owes him and his company $5.9 million, blames PNC for igniting a volatile situation and wants the court to order the bank to reimburse his costs in trying to recoup his money from Dwek. Hakim, also a Syrian Jew, said Dwek defrauded him by taking money to invest in properties that never were purchased and has yet to repay a $1.24 million personal loan he made in December. “PNC Bank did a big blunder — an admitted blunder — in giving $25 million out and starting all this aggravation,” he said. A family affair The biggest claim was filed by Dwek’s uncle, Joseph Dwek, a children’s apparel importer and manufacturer from Brooklyn, who said his nephew defrauded him of $60.2 million he gave to invest in properties since 2003. Joseph Dwek learned in April the properties had not been put in his name, his attorney said. The uncle threatened to sue until his nephew transferred 129 properties to a company his uncle formed last month, Yeshuah LLC. Isaac Franco, a Brooklyn children’s clothing importer and manufacturer, claims Dwek owes him $30.1 million, and accused Solomon, Joseph and Pearl Dwek of transferring properties so Solomon Dwek could avoid paying creditors. Franco, also a Syrian Jew, said in court papers that he gave Dwek money to buy properties on his behalf, but never got them, and that Dwek gave him phony contracts and titles. Of the money Dwek is accused of taking from PNC, $20 million was used to pay a short-term loan to HSBC Bank. Dwek and Franco jointly took out the loan to buy properties Franco says never were purchased, according to court documents. Joseph Dwek’s wife, Terri, said neither she nor her husband would discuss the case or their nephew, with whom she said they are still on good terms. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it is still investigating and declined further comment. Some community leaders say they believe Joseph Dwek, Franco and other unsecured creditors trusted Solomon Dwek because he was a fellow Syrian Jew and made them money in the past. Joseph Dwek gave his nephew most of the $60.2 million only in the past eight months — $43 million in two wire transfers in 2005 and $7 million in March, said his attorney, Steven Klein. “There’s a lot of trust with the (Syrian Jewish) community, but this is also an uncle-nephew trust,” Klein said. Joseph Dwek paid taxes on some properties, and his nephew gave him some money from sales of property, which led him to believe he owned the properties and was in the partnerships, Klein said. He began asking his nephew for proof of the purchases in April after HSBC Bank officials told him they were concerned about their business deals with Solomon Dwek and advised him to check into his deals as well, according to Klein. “He started asking questions and didn’t like the answers he was getting,” Klein said. A deal to transfer 129 residential and commercial properties from Solomon to Joseph was worked out to avoid a lawsuit, he said. Those properties are among the hundreds now under court oversight. “(Solomon) just seemed to get in over his head with the volume,” Klein said.

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