Yid emails: "Luke, There must be something happening with David Rubin and all of these articles – it seems like every government agency from the SEC to the IRS to the Department of Justice is after him, not to mention all the states he did deals in. I can’t imagine that he is still out there doing real estate deals all over the country with his partner Mayer Gelman with this hanging over him. Also – check out what his ex-partner Zevi Wolmark is doing right now – refinancing big commercial loans. Why is he still doing finance deals with all of this hanging over him? Is the government after him, as well? Rubin has been a major charitable donor over the years at Yavneh and donated money for a series of books published by Art Scroll. What does Rabbi Korobkin, head of the OU in LA and Rabbi and Dean of Yavneh have to say about all this? Perhaps you as Our Moral Leader should give him a call and find out."
From the Feb. 17 edition of the New York Times:
David Rubin built a big business over two decades crisscrossing the country to show local governments how to raise more money.
But a close look reveals that his consulting firm, CDR Financial Products of Beverly Hills, Calif., left pain in its wake from Florida to New Mexico. The Internal Revenue Service has cracked down on dozens of communities, which have been saddled with unfinished public projects, financial losses and more debt than they can manage.
Though consultants like CDR and Mr. Rubin turn up again and again in places where bond deals have turned sour, they are virtually unregulated. The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is now appealing to Congress to expand its authority to cover consultants and other advisers in the municipal bond business as well as bankers and brokers.
…Little is known about Mr. Rubin, who has avoided public comments and even opportunities to be photographed. He began his career in real estate and started the consulting firm at age 25, initially working to structure bonds for low-cost housing. When he was appointed to the Los Angeles Housing Authority in 2002, he was credited with creating a new type of bond structure.
What was not announced was that dozens of bond deals with CDR participation were being audited — and sometimes disallowed — by the Internal Revenue Service.
