SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – Rabbi Yehuda Hadjadj, director of Chabad at the University of California, San Diego, pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiring with former Chabad of Poway Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and at least three other individuals to defraud Qualcomm’s corporate matching program.
Beginning no later than August 2010 and continuing through late 2017, Hadjadj fraudulently obtained funds from Qualcomm’s corporate matching program for Chabad at UCSD, by inducing at least three donors to make sham donations to Friendship Circle, a non-sectarian organization run at the time by Rabbi Goldstein. Chabad at UCSD was not eligible to receive corporate matching funds from Qualcomm, as the corporate matching program excluded sectarian or denominational religious groups from its eligible donation recipients. To conceal the true recipient of the matched funds, Hadjadj told the donors to write checks to Friendship Circle. At the time, or shortly after the donor wrote the check, Hadjadj returned all or most of the donation in cash. The donors would nonetheless request that Qualcomm match the sham donation. After Qualcomm matched the sham donations to Friendship Circle, Rabbi Goldstein funneled approximately two thirds of the matched funds back to Hadjadj, keeping one third for himself.
According to Hadjadj’s plea agreement, on September 26, 2017, a donor wrote a check for $4,900 to Friendship Circle. Shortly thereafter Hadjadj visited the donor’s home and gave him $4,400 in cash. The donor nonetheless requested that Qualcomm match the $4,900 sham donation. In total, Hadjadj met with this donor eleven times to give him cash in exchange for sham matched donations to Friendship Circle. Hadjadj recruited at least two additional donors to engage in this scheme. Hadjadj fraudulently obtained approximately $40,000 for Chabad at UCSD over the course of the scheme.
In July 2020, Rabbi Goldstein pleaded guilty to fraud charges, admitting that he participated in a complex, years-long, multi-million-dollar tax-evasion scheme and other financial deceptions involving theft of public money. Rabbi Goldstein’s plea agreement outlined the fraud scheme with Hadjadj.
Hadjadj is the 10th individual to plead guilty to crimes discovered in this investigation. Two additional individuals agreed to deferred prosecution agreements as a result of the investigation.
“Rabbi Hadjadj violated his position of trust within our community and took advantage of a corporate program meant to encourage employee charitable donations,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Fraud has no place in fundraising, and those who use lies and dishonesty to obtain money, whether for themselves or for an organization, will be held to account for their crimes.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team and FBI and IRS agents for their excellent work on this case.
“The defendant abused his status and connections to help facilitate a years-long fraud scheme,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner. “The FBI is proud to work with our federal partners at the Internal Revenue Service to root out these schemes which not only defraud the companies who participate in corporate matching programs, but also diminish the public’s trust in the validity of charitable contributions.”
“Rabbi Hadjadj conspired with Rabbi Goldstein to cheat Qualcomm, and even recruited others who trusted him to commit fraud,” said IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner. “IRS Special Agents will do everything in our power to uncover financial deceptions, and we are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that justice is served against all who choose to place their own greed ahead of the welfare of our businesses and the community.”
Rabbi Hadjadj is next scheduled to appear at a sentencing hearing on April 18, 2022, at 9 a.m. before Judge Cynthia Ann Bashant.
*
Preceding provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California