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Rabbi Leib Glanz, a fired correction chaplain famous for organizing lavish jailhouse "bar mitzvahs" will pay a $2,500 fine for accepting a gift from an inmate. The gift, valued at $500, was given to Glanz by Tuvia Stern, who was a longtime fugitive before he was apprehended in 2006 for bilking Jewish investors out of some $1.7 million.

Glanz had helped organize a 2008 bar mitzvah and a posh party for Stern's son inside the Manhattan Detention Complex, known as the Tombs. The Satmar rabbi, who has a reputation for being a political power broker, told the city's Conflict of Interest Board that he initially refused the gift, but party guests insisted that he take it.

The fine is the latest legal trouble for Glanz, who was arrested, along with his brother, Menashe, in September for allegedly stealing $220,000 in New York City housing benefits designated for low-income residents. The landlord of the Williamsburg, Brooklyn duplex where the rabbi resided was receiving up to $1,675 a month in federal Section 8 subsidies that were supposed to be for Glanz' brother, Menashe, who lived elsewhere.

If convicted on the housing fraud charges, Leibe Glanz and Menashe Glanz could face up to 15 years in prison.

http://www.forward.com/articles/147404/