Menashe Davidovitz also admitted joining a separate operation that sold more than 200 cards bearing Homeland Security insignia and falsely suggesting a family connection to a federal officer.
NEWARK, N.J. A real estate developer admitted paying bribes to obtain Newark property approvals and joining a separate scheme to sell unauthorized law-enforcement identification cards bearing U.S. Department of Homeland Security insignia.
Menashe Davidovitz, 31, of Airmont, New York, pleaded guilty Sept. 1 before U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner to four conspiracy counts: honest-services fraud, bribery involving a federally funded local government, selling false seals and selling official insignia.
The criminal information says that from June through November 2024, a co-conspirator paid Newark employees about $13,000 on Davidovitz’s behalf. In return, employees allegedly helped resolve property violations and obtain expedited permits and certificates of occupancy for properties he owned or managed. Davidovitz admitted the conduct as part of his plea.
Certificates of occupancy certify that a property complies with local building rules and may be occupied or sold. The court filing says Newark could not issue one for a property with outstanding city violations. It also describes electronic payments to an intermediary and messages about an inspection in which the intermediary said that everything had been abated.
The second conspiracy ran from about October 2021 through January 2023. Former U.S. Air Marshal Jonathan Ledesma bought more than 200 identification cards for about $19.21 each, according to the information. Davidovitz, Ledesma, an unnamed Newark police officer and others resold them for a profit. The cards displayed apparent Homeland Security insignia, identified their holders as family members of Ledesma and included a QR code connected to his phone. The filing says purchasers could use the cards to falsely claim a relationship with federal law enforcement. In one message reproduced by prosecutors, Davidovitz offered a card for $1,500. The Justice Department said he received about $30,000 from the card sales.
Ledesma pleaded guilty in 2024 to making false statements and selling official insignia without authorization, and he was sentenced to three years of probation. Davidovitz is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 21, 2027. The honest-services conspiracy carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, the bribery and false-seal conspiracy counts each carry up to five years, and the official-insignia count carries up to six months. Statutory maximums are not predictions of the sentence Castner will impose.
The court filing does not identify the Newark employees or the police officer by name, and it does not say whether any of them have been charged. That leaves the city’s personnel response and the status of the properties involved unresolved in the public record.