This Wee

6 MONTH CD

CHABAD from page 10

OIL BUST from page 14

damages over his consulting contract
with Yaker. Like Abel, Fishman has not
been able to collect on the judgment.

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LENDER

Yaker's legal troubles are far from over.
Oakland County prosecutors have
charged Yaker with two counts of
embezzlement over $100. Each charge
is a felony carrying a maximum penal-
ty of 10 years in prison.
"Our charges are still valid," said
Marc Barron, assistant Oakland
County prosecutor.
Barron said the Oakland County
charges, for which Yaker was arraigned
last Dec. 27, might be resolved by "a
trial, a plea or a motion." He did not
rule out the possibility that a plea bar-
gain could be worked out that would
allow Yaker to serve time on the
Oakland County charges concurrently
with his federal sentence. Such a prac-
tice is not uncommon when similar
cases exist in separate jurisdictions.
Speaking through spokesman Gina
Vitrano, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross
I. MacKenzie said he was not sure
whether Yaker would make a deal with
Oakland County to serve his sentence
concurrently. Neil Fink, Yaker's lawyer,
did not return a telephone query.
The Detroit News reported last week
that a grievance has been filed against
Yaker with the Michigan Attorney
Disciplinary Board, alleging he had
kept $50,000 of a client's money in a
mortgage foreclosure case. The
Farmington Hills-based client, North .
Commerce Financial Inc., has sought
no criminal charges in that case.
Yaker's oil-drilling scheme, which
began as a legitimate investment, lured
investors on the basis of financial ben-
efits to Israel if he struck oil. Yaker
sold shares in the business for a mini-
mum investment of $9,000 a share,
and from 1992-1994, lured upwards
of 40 investors. Yaker lost his drilling
rights in 1995.
Individual investments ranged as
high as $144,000, according to
Independent Oil Partners Ltd. records
obtained last year by the Jewish News.
Yaker told investors that their
money was necessary to buy needed
equipment for $650,000. He said the
large oil companies, citing their heavy
investment in the Arab world, were
resistant to doing business in Israel.
"He went to Jewish people, preyed
upon their love for Israel, and stole
their money — and that's awful," said
geologit Fishman. Ironically, Fishman
believes the project would have suc-
ceeded had Yaker actually spent the
money he raised for the project.

❑

the rabbi spoke no English and
Detroit did not welcome them with
open arms.
But they stayed, and within a year,
the Shemtovs were able to hold their
first Chabad dinner, supported by 200
members of the Jewish community.
The Chabad overnight camp,
Camp Gan Israel/Esther Allan, pur-
chased in Fenton by the Shemtovs in
their first year here, has moved to
Kalkaska, where it now serves several
hundred campers each summer. Some
come from as far away as Israel.
More than 30 emissary families are
in the Michigan-Toledo-area today
a large number relative to most other
communities. Several of Rabbi
Shemtov's 10 children, all of whom
are emissaries, are among the Detroit-
-area Chabad leaders.
In addition to nine Michigan-area
Chabad Houses and one in Toledo,
there are approximately 350 children
attending Lubavitch day camps and
400 in overnight camps each summer.
There are 150 students enrolled at th
Michigan Jewish Institute in a college
level program and 455 in Michigan
Lubavitch schools, including day
schools, afternoon school and a rab-
binic college.
The Friendship Circle, founded by
Michigan Chabad, provides support
services to those with special needs
and their families. It has 500 teen and
adult volunteers.
Chabad's Children of Chernobyl has
carried 2,000 children on flights to
Israel for treatment since 1990, follow-
ing radiation contamination from a
power plant in the former Soviet Union
In addition, Michigan Chabad
offers outreach programming for
adults, including lectures and study
groups. Locally, Chabad offers a Judaic
library, oversees five mikvot, maintains
1,000 grave sites, assists with funerals
and shivas (period of mourning), and
visits Jewish prisoners.
Each year, Chabad-Lubavitch activ-
ities and institutions serve more than
30,000 individuals in Michigan and
Toledo.

❑

Correction

A reference was made to
Geraldine Ferraro in a.local story
last week about the nomination
of Sen. Joseph Lieberman ("The
Chosen," page 7). Ferraro was
the running mate of Walter
Mondale in 1984, not of
Michael Dukakis in 1988.

