Holocaust survivors deal with purported $42M fraud
NEW YORK – Walk along the boardwalk on a late autumn day, and Brighton Beach can seem like an old-age home by the sea, where stooped ladies wear rouge like armor and almost everyone lives in the shadow of a difficult past.
Along this Brooklyn outpost's ocean edge — the heart of much community life here — locals are talking about the betrayal they feel after the arrest of 17 people, mostly Brighton Beach residents, on charges that they faked stories of Holocaust survival to profit from money meant for survivors of Nazi persecution.
"I cannot imagine that someone would lie like that; it's a terrible crime," says Klara Rakhlin, 72, her bright makeup stark against her black, coiffed hair as she speaks in Russian. "I lost my family in a concentration camp, and it's disgusting that people would get compensation although they haven't suffered."...
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Along this Brooklyn outpost's ocean edge — the heart of much community life here — locals are talking about the betrayal they feel after the arrest of 17 people, mostly Brighton Beach residents, on charges that they faked stories of Holocaust survival to profit from money meant for survivors of Nazi persecution.
"I cannot imagine that someone would lie like that; it's a terrible crime," says Klara Rakhlin, 72, her bright makeup stark against her black, coiffed hair as she speaks in Russian. "I lost my family in a concentration camp, and it's disgusting that people would get compensation although they haven't suffered."...