Key Facts
Career & Education
About
Levi Deutsch is an Israeli citizen born in Brooklyn who served as a significant overseas source of cash and partner in an international money laundering network dismantled during the FBI's 'Operation Bid Rig' in 2009. As a high-level figure in a sophisticated underground money transfer system and a key cash source for New Jersey laundering rings, including for the network involving Weber and Polack, he collaborated closely with Rabbi Mordchai Fish of Brooklyn to launder illicit funds through Jewish charitable organizations known as 'gemachs,' specifically using Boyoner Gemilas Chesed (BGC) to conceal the money's nature and source. Deutsch directed funds to be made payable to the gemach for laundering. His role involved coordinating the exchange of bank checks for large sums of physical cash, often sourced from diamond and jewelry businesses or international connections in Switzerland, and he shared fees from these operations. He was the Israeli source of cash that Spira helped distribute in the United States. During the federal sting operation, Deutsch was recorded instructing a cooperating witness—Solomon Dwek—on using coded language like 'cows' for increments of $100,000 to evade detection. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.