Zvi Feiner, accused of defrauding Holocaust survivor, other investors settles Ponzi scheme charges

A Chicago rabbi and a business associate settled charges they operated a Ponzi scheme that triggered a $146 million default, the biggest ever for a federally insured loan program for nursing homes. Still at issue is how much the rabbi, Zvi Feiner, will pay.

Feiner, Erez Baver and their Skokie firm, FNR Healthcare, were accused by the Securities & Exchange Commission of defrauding an elderly Holocaust survivor and other members of Chicago’s Orthodox Jewish community. They siphoned off at least $11.5 million raised from 62 or more investors to buy nursing homes and assisted-living facilities throughout the Midwest, according to a complaint filed Sept. 19 in federal court here.

Feiner, 49, is an ordained Orthodox rabbi and sole owner of FNR. Without telling investors in limited liability companies, according to the complaint, he sold facilities owned by other LLCs and used at least $9 million in proceeds to pay other investors and lenders. Baver, 39, is FNR’s executive vice president. He and his company, Cedarbrook Management, received more than $2.5 million for personal use, the filing said.

While Baver and Cedarbrook have agreed to pay back about $2.25 million and a civil penalty to be determined, Feiner and his attorney are negotiating a figure. "It's going to be a big number," said Ariel Weissberg, a Chicago attorney representing Feiner and FNR. Whatever it is, Weissberg added, "he won't be able to satisfy it because he doesn't have the financial resources."

Baver’s attorney, Stephen Rosenfeld of McDonald Hopkins’ Chicago office, said he would check with his client before commenting.

Starting in 2010, Feiner solicited funding for 20 LLCs including four cited in the SEC complaint. One of those four, Rosewood Care Centers, operator of a dozen nursing homes and an assisted-living facility in Illinois and St. Louis, was seized last year by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development after defaulting on HUD's $146 million loan.

In August, a federal administrative law judge approved a settlement requiring Feiner to pay $965,678 for failing to file three years of audited financial reports. The government last month told the federal judge overseeing the receivership that it had selected a buyer, which it didn’t name, for Rosewood, the New York Times reported.

The SEC named Cedarbrook and Netzach Investments, a Feiner family investment company, as “relief” defendants. Feiner took at least $3 million for personal use, while Netzach diverted $6 million, according to the complaint. The settlement is subject to court approval.

Feiner settled two civil suits, even though one ended in a judgment in his favor, Weissberg said. "It was the right thing to do," he explained. "In the Jewish Orthodox community, that's what we aim for. . . .There's a higher authority that needs to be answered."