Chabad of Mid Miami Beach
Chabad-Lubavitch congregation and property-holding corporation in Miami Beach
| Chabad of Mid Miami Beach, Inc.
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Religious corporation (IRS church status; files no Form 990) |
| Founded | Florida corporation N11000006436 (2011); IRS ruling September 2014 |
| Registration ID | EIN 45-3717381 |
| Location | 5401 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140 (head office, synagogue) |
| Services | Synagogue (Cong. Keter Abraham Chabad); holds property used by Lubavitch institutions |
| Key people | Benzion Korf (director) |
Chabad of Mid Miami Beach, Inc. (CMMB; "Chabad House of Mid Miami Beach") is a Chabad-Lubavitch congregation at 5401 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, led by Rabbi Benzion Korf, brother of Mordechai Korf.[1][2] County records show that it also owns the 1140 Alton Road building and four office buildings in Miami Gardens that it bought between 2020 and 2024 for about $31 million.[3][4] The Korf Family Foundation reported grants of $704,300 to it between 2013 and 2017.[5][6]
Registration
The Chabad-Lubavitch directory lists "Chabad House of Mid Miami Beach" at 5401 Collins Avenue, with shluchim (emissaries) Rabbis Bentzion Korf, Mendy Katz and Chaim Stern, and a congregation, "Cong. Keter Abraham Chabad".[1] The Florida register (no. N11000006436) gives its head office as 5401 Collins Avenue.[7] The IRS lists it care of Rabbi Benzion Korf at 17330 NW 7th Avenue, the Lubavitch Educational Center campus, with church filing status from September 2014. It therefore files no Form 990.[8]
Property
Records of the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser (2026 roll) show these non-residential holdings:[3][9][10][11][4]
| Site | Use (county roll) | Acquired | Price recorded | 2026 market value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1140 Alton Road, Miami Beach | Religious (30,701 sq ft) | 17 Jul 2014, from Friends of Lubavitch of Florida | $100 | $8,075,587 |
| 1525 NW 167th Street, Miami Gardens | Office building (48,813 sq ft) | 17 Sep 2020, from Lubavitch Educational Center ("affiliated parties"); LEC had paid $5.05m in 2017 | $4,500,000 | $8,000,000 |
| 275 NW 199th Street, Miami Gardens | Office building (46,921 sq ft) | Aug 2021 | $7,000,000 | $6,800,000 |
| 20 NW 181st Street, Miami Gardens | Office building (34,593 sq ft) | Apr 2023 | $4,400,000 | $3,600,000 |
| 1515 NW 167th Street, Miami Gardens | Office building (50,889 sq ft) | Sep 2024 | $15,100,000 | $10,500,000 |
CMMB also owns four residential properties in Miami Beach (postcode districts 33140 and 33141), two of them with parsonage exemptions, with a combined 2026 market value of $5,905,732. Under this wiki's address rule their addresses are not given.[12]
Observation: because CMMB files no Form 990, it is not public how it paid for the roughly $31 million of purchases since 2020. Mortgage records at the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts have not been checked. The Forward (critical) reported in 2020 on the dedication of a school building that the movement "had purchased for $5 million in 2017".[2] The only 2017 purchase of about that price in these records is the LEC's purchase of 1525 NW 167th Street, which it sold to CMMB in 2020.[9]
Funding from the Korf and Laber foundations
Status: allegation. In 2020 the US Department of Justice filed civil forfeiture complaints alleging that Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov defrauded PrivatBank in Ukraine, and that their associates Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber "created a web of entities, usually under some variation of the name 'Optima,' to further launder the misappropriated funds".[13] Korf and Laber are claimants in those cases, not defendants. They deny any wrongdoing, and no criminal charge against either man has been found. The Forward reported in 2020 that "there is no evidence that any of the recipients were aware of the two men's connection to the laundering".[2] This page has found no authority that accuses Chabad of Mid Miami Beach of wrongdoing, and no source that traces any of the alleged proceeds to it. The grants below are lawful grants as the Korf Family Foundation and the Laber Foundation reported them to the Internal Revenue Service. They are not evidence of tracing. The full account is on Chabad and Ukraine.
Every grant to Chabad of Mid Miami Beach listed on the 990-PF returns of the two foundations is set out below, year by year. Tax years end on 30 November. The figures for the tax year ending November 2006 are those on the amended returns, which the foundation pages cite; the original returns gave slightly different amounts.[14][15] No grants from the Laber Foundation to CMMB have been found.
| Tax year ending | Korf Family Foundation | Year total | Payee name(s) and place as filed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2013 | $493,000 | $493,000 | Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc (Miami Beach, FL) | [5] |
| Nov 2014 | $22,500 | $22,500 | Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc (Miami Beach, FL) | [16] |
| Nov 2015 | $32,000 | $32,000 | Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc (Miami Beach, FL) | [17] |
| Nov 2016 | $105,800 | $105,800 | Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc (Miami Beach, FL) | [18] |
| Nov 2017 | $51,000 | $51,000 | Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc (Miami Beach, FL) | [6] |
| Total | $704,300 | $704,300 |
See also
- Friends of Lubavitch of Florida
- Lubavitch Educational Center
- Beis Medrash Levi Yitschak
- Korf Family Foundation
- Laber Foundation
- Chabad and Ukraine
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, "Chabad House of Mid Miami Beach", centre directory, lubavitch.com, checked 20 October 2026. Chabad-side.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Molly Boigon, "Two Florida Chabad donors implicated in Optima schemes", The Forward, 21 February 2020 (with later corrections). Critical.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, property search, folio 02-3234-025-0170 (1140 Alton Rd, Miami Beach), property record, 2026 roll and sales history, retrieved 20 October 2026. Primary source (county record).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, property search, folio 34-2111-017-0010 (1515 NW 167 St, Miami Gardens), property record, 2026 roll and sales history, retrieved 20 October 2026. Primary source (county record).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2013 (2012 form), e-filed 2014-03-12, IRS e-file object ID 201420719349100807, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, full filing, PDF via ProPublica. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2017 (2016 form), e-filed 2018-10-15, IRS e-file object ID 201802889349100235, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, full filing. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ "Chabad of Mid Miami Beach, Inc.", Florida Division of Corporations document number N11000006436, as shown on OpenCorporates, checked 20 October 2026. Secondary copy of the state register; the state register (Sunbiz) is the primary source.
- ↑ Internal Revenue Service, Exempt Organizations Business Master File extract for Florida (eo_fl.csv), irs.gov, downloaded 20 October 2026, row for EIN 45-3717381 (care of Rabbi Benzion Korf; foundation code 10 (church)). Primary source (IRS).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, property search, folio 34-2111-018-0010 (1525 NW 167 St, Miami Gardens), property record, 2026 roll and sales history, retrieved 20 October 2026. Primary source (county record).
- ↑ Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, property search, folio 34-1136-000-0071 (275 NW 199 St, Miami Gardens), property record, 2026 roll and sales history, retrieved 20 October 2026. Primary source (county record).
- ↑ Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, property search, folio 34-2112-023-0091 (20 NW 181 St, Miami Gardens), property record, 2026 roll and sales history, retrieved 20 October 2026. Primary source (county record).
- ↑ Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, owner search for "Chabad of Mid Miami Beach Inc", 2026 roll, retrieved 20 October 2026: four residential parcels (folios withheld under the address rule). Primary source (county record).
- ↑ "Justice Department Seeks Forfeiture of Two Commercial Properties Purchased with Funds Misappropriated from PrivatBank in Ukraine", US Department of Justice, 6 August 2020. Primary source (allegations).
- ↑ The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), original Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2006 (2005 form), received by the IRS in October 2007 and later superseded by the amended return, PDF via ProPublica. Read from the page images. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ The Laber Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3925774), original Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2006 (2005 form), received by the IRS in October 2007 and later superseded by the amended return, PDF via ProPublica. Read from the page images. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2014 (2013 form), e-filed 2015-07-14, IRS e-file object ID 201511959349100216, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, full filing, PDF via ProPublica. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2015 (2014 form), e-filed 2016-03-03, IRS e-file object ID 201600639349100505, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, full filing, PDF via ProPublica. Primary source (filed by the foundation).
- ↑ The Korf Family Foundation Inc (EIN 20-3942766), Form 990-PF for the tax year ending 30 November 2016 (2015 form), e-filed 2017-05-15, IRS e-file object ID 201731359349104433, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, full filing, PDF via ProPublica. Primary source (filed by the foundation).