BLOOMINGBURG – The Town of Mamakating and Village of Bloomingburg filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday charging that developer Shalom Lamm is seeking to take control of local government, has engaged in racketeering activities consisting of repeated instances of deception, corruption, bribery, and mail, wire and voter fraud.
The suit also alleges Lamm engaged in several lawsuits in which he made false claims of anti-Semitism to mislead would-be sympathizers and intimidate local government officials and agencies.
According to the allegations, Lamm used a front man to make representations that Lamm wants to annex Mamakating land into the village to build a 125-unit luxury weekender golf community, but Lamm’s real intention was to build a year-round high-density development of 400 units.
The court papers allege the town and village “are presently under siege in a hostile takeover spearheaded by a racketeering enterprise headed by Shalom Lamm and Kenneth Nakdimen.”
The municipalities allege the defendants violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act.
“Through corruption and deceit, defendants have manipulated elected officials and the democratic process to do their bidding and further the racketeering enterprise,” said attorney David Holland.
