NEW YORK (VINnews/Sandy Eller) – A Chasidic synagogue in Borough Park has been identified as the recipient of what is believed to be the single largest philanthropic donation to a religious group after being gifted 3 million shares of Eastman Kodak on the day that the company stock peaked.
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The Wall Street Journal (https://on.wsj.com/3as53TX) reported that billionaire investor George Karfunkel and his wife Renee donated nearly half of their 6.3 million shares of Eastman Kodak to Congregation Chemdas Yisroel on July 29th. Karfunkel, a member of Kodak’s board of directors since 2013, is listed as president of the synagogue on its charity registration filing and he increased his Kodak shares approximately threefold this past December, buying over 4 million shares at approximately $2.50 a share.
Kodak stock ranged from $17.50 to $60 per share on the day that the Karfunkels gifted their shares to the synagogue according to Mother Jones (https://bit.ly/3izbeIG). With the Internal Revenue Service using its average price on the day of sale to value stock gifts, the Karfunkel donation is worth $116.3 million, giving the couple the ability to claim a donation of between $52.5 million and $180 million. Kodak’s price has tumbled steeply since then and was trading at $10.41 as of 3 PM Tuesday afternoon.
As previously reported on VIN News (https://bit.ly/31H1Xav), Kodak’s languishing stock climbed rapidly after a July 28th announcement that it would be receiving a $765 million government loan to shift over to pharmaceutical manufacturing. News that the former film giant would be working with the Trump administration to produce generic drugs domestically resulted in allegations of insider trading by Washington Democrats, halting the proposed loan as the Securities and Exchange Commission conducted an investigation.
What kind of Shul is this? How many mispallelim do they have? What shiechus did they have to this particular Shteeble?
Hope he wont be going to Otisville. Is an executive of a corporation allowed to do this? as he knows the stock will go up and then most probably drop
He bought the stock in December long before the virus broke out and vaccines were even a הוה אמינא. No reason to be חושד בכשרים.
Wacky story… Would not be surprised if the IRS attempts to limit the deduction to the value a few days later at 10-15 a share (30-45 Million). As to insider trading concerns I have no idea what is going on, but the CEO, Jim Continenza got 1.75 million in stock options the day before Trump announced the loan which then led to shares surging. Maybe everything is innocent here, but the timeline of events does not look good.
My own personal experience with Mr. K. has shown him to be a standup guy. He and his brother have worked hard all their life. Built a company up to be of such great value that it was happily bought from them some few years ago for a great sum of money. He and his wonderful wife live a devout, modest lifestyle in Brooklyn. I cannot count the times I was over the house, when Mr. K was being ask by some visitor from the local community for sort of financial assistance. After the guest was gone (with the financial assistance granted) Mr. K never seemed begrudged, or slighted, and downed played his generosity with a wave of his hand.
If I ever publish my own dictionary, near the term “Stand Up Sorta Guy” I’d put a picture of Mr. K next to it.
Michael Y.
The question is if the shul sold it right away or they decided to be chachomim and hold it to “make more money”
The shul specializes in a few areas: selling: matzos and esrogim, girls seminary empire, sheitels, Pessach food/items and high-end weddings. This donation cash infusion provides capital to expand current operations to quadruple revenues.
shtusim. It’s his own foundation, named after their father. bh they are worth 3B . According to forbes
He stepped into a pile of …cholent….The IRS, SEC, will be all over him. What a greedy yutz!
Not realy. Yutz is the guy who bought it to hold. Instead of selling directly and entering boatloads of capital gains tax, he simply used it as a deduction. This is a smart move since even if his foundation did not end up selling it, at least he gained the deduction at the peak. This is 100% legal and I would not even call this a loophole.
We need Sherlock holmes to ivestigate this thing .