"Who's Protecting Us From Mr. Joel Stern?"
Residents speak out at South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees meeting about Mr. Joel Stern's numerous conflicts of interest.
Above is video, via Preserve Blooming Grove, of last night’s South Blooming Grove Village Board of Trustees meeting.
If you’re just joining us, hi.
I’ve done a lot of investigative reporting concerning Mr. Joel Stern, his hate group / fake non-profit, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, and his numerous conflicts of interest.
I’m going to describe them in brief, below, and then talk about the total lack of response from the South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees concerning these conflicts.
Ready?
Mr. Joel Stern, under oath, told the township of Union, New Jersey’s Board of Adjustments that he is the Chief Operating Officer of Enterprise Realty Associates, Windsor Global, and the owner of 601 Lehigh Avenue.
I have, what can generously be described as a fuckton, of documentation and paperwork concerning 601 Lehigh Avenue and Mr. Stern’s verifiable criminal activities there, which resulted in the township of Union, New Jersey, taking legal action to evict him from 601 Lehigh Avenue.
So, if we put everything else about Mr. Stern aside for a moment, it is a verifiable fact that Mr. Stern was engaged in criminal behavior prior to his arrival, and during his time, in South Blooming Grove. Other evidence to support this can be found in the two lawsuits filed against Mr. Stern, first concerning ownership of the Rapid Care where Mr. Stern essentially stole money from another haredi member of the community, and also engaged in financial malfeasance as it relates to Forme Medical Center in Westchester.
Again. These are facts. None of this stuff is a secret. Nobody is out to get Mr. Stern here for any other reason other than he’s committed verifiable criminal acts.
Windsor Global, as well as 601 Lehigh Avenue in Union, are owned by Mr. Jacob Gold. Mr. Jacob Gold is, formerly, a plaintiff in a court case against the Village of South Blooming Grove. He lost the lawsuit. So the plaintiffs then teamed up and formed Keen Equities LLC.
So, in pretty clear concrete terms: Mr. Joel Stern, an appointed village official who is paid a salary by village taxpayers, and holds virtually every single liaison position — Including with Washingtonville Central School District whom he is currently suing — works for Mr. Jacob Gold. Mr. Jacob Gold is the second largest investor in Keen Equities.
Keen Equities owns almost a third of the Village of South Blooming Grove. Keen associated companies also own dozens and dozens of additional acreage.
Got all that?
Joel Stern, Village Employee and basically the de facto mayor of the Village, works for the second largest shareholder of a company that owns almost a third of South Blooming Grove property.
And Mr. Stern holds a position on the Citizen Design Review Committee (CDRC), and serves as a liaison to the Planning Board, whom all approved Mr. Gold’s Clovewood project after Mr. Stern got Mayor George Kalaj elected.
It really doesn’t get any plainer than that in terms of the conflict of interest. Of course, then there’s also the question of where the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove Starts and when the Village of South Blooming Grove Board of Trustee decisions end. We know this as fact because in an issue of The Blooming Grove Report, Mr. Stern and Mr. Shepstone can be seen at the UJC headquarters in a CDRC meeting. Mr. Shepstone has also confirmed that the Village Planning Board and CDRC often meet at the UJC headquarters outside of the public’s view.
“I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About”
Let’s take a look real quick at the Village of South Blooming Grove Code of Ethics.
“No elected official, covered employee or Village employee shall directly or indirectly solicit or receive compensation or agree to receive compensation for services rendered concerning matters before any Village agency, nor shall any such person accept other employment or engage in any business transactions or make any investments directly or indirectly which create a conflict with his or her official duties.” (Emphasis Added)
“No elected official, covered employee or Village employee shall be employed, with or without compensation, as an attorney, agent, broker, director, representative or employee for any person, firm or corporation interested, directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever, in business or professional dealings with the Village or any agency thereof unless full disclosure is made as to such employment to the Village Board, in writing, and such elected official, covered employee or Village employee disqualifies himself or herself from acting in his or her official capacity in matters affecting such person, firm or corporation.” (Emphasis Added)
No elected official, covered employee or Village employee who is a member of a firm which is appearing before a Village agency may communicate about the matter with an elected official, covered employee or Village employee concerned with the matter. (Emphasis Added)
Mr. Joel Stern met with former Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin in December of 2021 to lobby for Governor Hochul to veto legislation that would have created a preservation tax for South Blooming Grove that would provide funding to the Village to buy land for the explicit purpose of preservation.
Any applicant or any representative of any applicant before any agency must disclose, in writing and on the record, any previous business dealings and/or business transactions that said applicant or representative has had with any member of said agency within the previous two years. (Emphasis Added)
So, What Are The Consequences?
In addition to any penalty contained in any other provision of law, any person who violates any of the provisions of this code may be fined, suspended or removed from office or employment in the manner provided by law.
Any person who induces any elected official, covered employee or Village employee to take any action or refrain from taking any action, which is in violation of this chapter, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor as that term is defined in the New York State Penal Law and shall be barred from doing business with the Village for a period of five years from the date of conviction. (South Blooming Grove Village Code.)
During last night’s meeting, Village Attorney Scott Ugell, a former Rockland County judge who resigned in disgrace in exchange for not facing charges from the New York State Commission of Judicial Conduct, denied any knowledge concerning Mr. Stern’s wrongdoings.
His exact words to Ms. Bonnie Rum was, “I’m not prepared to give legal advice nor do I agree with what you said about some suggestion that I know about something Joel did wrong. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was some back and forth with Mrs. Rum, and then Mr. Ugell said, “You have no right asserting anything that I do or don’t know. That’s improper and it’s very offensive.
Mr. Ekstein, who is a defendant in the two lawsuits against Mr. Stern, then said to Ugell to let Mrs. Rum continue to speak.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t find Mr. Ugell’s answer to be satisfactory. And so, I sent an email …
Mr. Ugell …
I'd like to reach out to you for a comment concerning last night's Village Board meeting.
Ms. Bonnie Rum asked you what was being done about Mr. Stern's clear conflict of interest. You did not offer a response. You also denied knowledge of Mr. Stern's verifiable and publicly available proof of criminal behavior before, and during, his time as an employee of the Village.
(I refer you to Blooming Grove Realty v. Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein and Forme Medical Center v. Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein. As an attorney, you should have ready access to both court cases at your disposal.)
So, for the record:
1.Are you or are you not aware that Mr. Joel Stern testified, under oath, to the Township of Union, New Jersey that he was the Chief Operating Officer of Windsor Global and Enterprise Realty Associates? Enterprise Realty owns a building that Mr. Jacob Gold's Windsor Global formerly operated from.
Mr. Jacob Gold is the President of Windsor Global, where Mr. Stern has stated, again under oath, that he is an employee of:
You can see Mr. Stern's testimony for yourself at an hour and nine minutes into this video.
2.Are you or are you not aware of Mr. Stern's employment by Mr. Gold, which violates multiple articles in the Village of South Blooming Grove's Ethics Code. You can find a copy of which here to refresh your memory here.
Mr. Jacob Gold also happens to own just about 12% of Keen Equities LLC, and is the company's second largest shareholder. Mr. Y.C. Rubin, who provided his name and email address on all documentation concerning Clovewood is ALSO an employee of Windsor Global.
3. Did Mr. Gold, or his proxy Mr. Y.C. Rubin, disclose to you and the Village, in writing and on the record, any previous business dealings and/or business transactions between Windsor Global / Keen Equities and Mr. Joel Stern within the last two years?
As I'm sure you're aware, there is a provision of the Code of Ethics that states: In addition to any penalty contained in any other provision of law, any person who violates any of the provisions of this code may be fined, suspended or removed from office or employment in the manner provided by law.
4. Would you agree that Mr. Stern has met this threshold and should be removed from village employment effective immediately?
And if not, why?
Finally, let's talk about yourself. I spoke with the NYS Commission of Judicial Conflict, who informed me that their case against you is closed ... Unless you were to commit a crime of some kind.
So, I again refer you to the Village of South Blooming Grove Code of Ethics
"Any person who induces any elected official, covered employee or Village employee to take any action or refrain from taking any action, which is in violation of this chapter, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor as that term is defined in the New York State Penal Law and shall be barred from doing business with the Village for a period of five years from the date of conviction."
If you knew about any of the above, and you failed to act in the best interests of South Blooming Grove tax payers, that would mean you worked in coordination with Mr. Stern and induced a Village employee to take action that you knew would be illegal and against the Code of Ethics sections mentioned here and in the document.
In that case, I'd simply like to ask you, Was it worth it?
I’ll let you know what, if anything, Mr. Ugell says.
But there’s no need for you to wait on that. You can download a .pdf here of the New York State Bar Association’s Grievance Complaint Form.
Once you fill out the form, you can print or email it to the below address:
State of New York Grievance Committee for the
Ninth Judicial District
Crosswest Office Center
399 Knollwood Road, Suite 200
White Plains, NY 10603
(914) 824-5070
ad2-grv9@nycourts.gov
What do you put on the form? Tell ‘em the truth. Mr. Ugell may have been fully aware of a criminal conspiracy involving a Village Employee, and either failed to act to stop him (if you’re being generous) or enabled him in the furtherance of this criminal enterprise (if you’re not.)
The important thing is the answer to this question: What did Mr. Ugell know, and when did he know it?
Because depending on how that question gets answered, it could mean criminal charges for Mr. Ugell as well.