A federal judge in New Jersey sentenced Moshe Silber to 30 months in prison for his involvement in a broad mortgage fraud scandal.
Silber, 35, had turned himself in three weeks ago for violating the terms of his bond. He faced up to five years after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud in 2024.
The U.S. district court judge, Robert Kirsch, repeatedly said that Silber had committed a “significant crime” and a “significant sentence was necessary.” Silber, a co-conspirator of Boruch Drillman, had teamed up to buy an Ohio apartment building, the Department of Justice said. The group picked up the building, called the Williamsburg of Cincinnati, for $70 million, using a stolen identity, then flipped it to Drillman for $96 million, receiving a $74 million loan based on the second, inflated price.
Kirsch noted he deemed the fraud significant because of the “layers and labyrinth of chicanery.”
The sentence is shorter than another one Kirsch handed out in the scandal: Aron Puretz, who pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud, got 60 months, though his son, Chaim “Eli” Puretz, only got 24.
Silber showed up to the packed court handcuffed, wearing a green jumpsuit with a white undershirt. Dozens of members of his community were present. Women read prayer books and cried during the course of the two-hour hearing.
In a surprise twist, Mark Nussbaum — a lawyer who shuttered his firm in January and is the subject of several civil lawsuits over missing escrow funds — showed up to court wearing gold-rim glasses, a modern blazer and tight black pants. He sat with Silber’s family and friends.
As the judge was reading Silber’s sentencing, Nussbaum’s phone went off, and security asked him to leave. (He returned to the courtroom at the end of the hearing.)
Kirsch observed that Silber had lived the American dream, with cars and jewelry worth $2.2 million and a private jet, but still decided to commit fraud. He also noted how Silber had an annual salary of over $3 million from his father and from someone named Mr. Hoffman, yet claimed to be “in the red” financially.
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