Colel Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Israel
Colel Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Israel was a registered Canadian charity based at 4770 Kent Avenue, Suite 302, Montreal, Quebec. On 19 December 2016 the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) gave it notice that it intended to revoke its registration.[1] It is a separate body from the Israeli charity Colel Chabad.
CRA audit
The CRA said its audit had found that the organisation issued official donation receipts where only a partial gift was made, gave funds to bodies that were not qualified donees, failed to keep adequate books and records, filed an inaccurate information return, had no active board of directors and misrepresented its fundraising. It had already been audited for 2003 and 2004.[1] According to Mondoweiss, the charity lost its charitable status.[2] The following account is from Miles Howe's report for Mondoweiss in November 2024.[2]
- A CRA audit for the fiscal period of 2008-2009 uncovered[1] that Colel Chabad had been selling official donation receipts to donors, for 10% to 20% of their receipted value. When it comes to filing one’s personal taxes, these receipts, it is important to note, have a value of upwards of 50% or more of the donated principle, meaning that Canadian charities actually create wealth. One of Colel Chabad’s clients, Dr. Lorne Wayne Sokol, gained notoriety[3] for laundering money he had obtained by allegedly defrauding the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, through Colel Chabad. Sokol had incorporated a company in Belize, the Moshe Shmuel Deitsch Company, named for Colel Chabad’s self-claimed Israeli intermediary, Moshe Deutsch.[4]
- Through the Belizean company, Sokol (and potentially others) was subsequently repaid by Colel Chabad for between 80% to 90% of the principal they had donated to the charity. Colel Chabad appears to have netted 10% to 20% off the principle, while Sokol and other unnamed participants netted the value of a tax credit while recouping 80% to 90% of their Belize-laundered principle, meaning a net profit for donors ballparked at 130-140%.
- Colel Chabad’s president, Abraham Neuwirth, would plead ignorance to the scheme. Colel Chabad’s secretary Zalman Zirkind, along with his brothers, however, were involved in a wider, international, narco-trafficking/money laundering scheme.[5] In 2021, Zalman would be sentenced to 84 months’ imprisonment by a United States District Court for conspiracy to commit money laundering.[6] Zirkind’s association with Colel Chabad, it should be noted, far outlived the charity’s exposure as a potential money laundering operation; he was listed as Colel Chabad’s secretary between 2000 until at least 2015, at which point the charity simply ceased updating its Board of Directors filings with the CRA.[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Canada Revenue Agency, Notice of Intention to Revoke: Colel Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Israel (redacted, hosted by Canadian Charity Law), 19 December 2016, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Miles Howe, A look at five pro-Israel organizations that lost charitable status in Canada, and the mega-donors who funded them Mondoweiss, 11 November 2024, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Joseph Brean, Toronto doctor who pleaded guilty to improper billing facing disciplinary charges National Post, 15 November 2011, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Federal Court of Appeal, Colel Chabad Lubavitch Foundation of Israel v. Canada (National Revenue) Federal Court of Appeal Decisions, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Michele Mandel, Drug money courier claimed cash was for Jews fearing Holocaust Toronto Sun, 17 May 2019, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Inner City Press, For Money Laundering Zalmund Zirkind Gets 84 Months And No 2 Week Trip To Montreal Inner City Press, 15 January 2021, accessed 25 October 2026.