WILLIAMSBURG — The FBI raided at least two Satmar yeshiva sites Wednesday evening as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, a bureau spokeswoman said.
About 10 agents wearing blue windbreakers with FBI on the back were seen carrying boxes of documents out of 76 Rutledge St. from 4 p.m. until after 11 p.m. on March 16, witnesses said.
The United Talmudic Academy at 762 Wythe Ave. was also raided, according to the bureau.
No arrests have been made and an FBI spokeswoman said the investigation continues. She denied reports that the probe was connected to similar raids on yeshivas in Rockland County.
About 22 Satmar yeshiva sites in Ramapo in Rockland County were also raided Wednesday by federal investigators, which the Journal News reported was tied to an investigation into yeshivas defrauding a federal education fund called E-Rate. Some sites in Kiryas Joel in Orange County were also raided.
"We are diligently responding to all requests for information," spokesman Michael Tobman of the Williamsburg Satmar Community of Kiryas Joel. He declined to elaborate.
#HappeingNow FBI Raid at Satmar R' Aron School in Williamsburg. - Photos pic.twitter.com/0cbSll8ozw
— NYBuff Post-1 (@NYBuffPost1) March 16, 2016
A few people in the Williamsburg neighborhood said they saw the federal agents swoop in, but had no idea why they were there.
“At about nine in the morning I noticed the commotion, said Meir Feldman, who manages a grocery store next door to the yeshiva’s offices. “They were circling the block."
Outside the yeshiva, a large, red brick building around the corner on Wythe Street, few people were aware of the raid.
Moses Gross, whose 7-year-old daughter attends the yeshiva, said he was concerned about the affect on the children who were inside the school at the time of the raid.
“My daughter couldn’t get to sleep. She was up until 1 a.m.,” he said. “I don’t know why this had to be done while the children were there.”
The raid was first reported by News 12 Brooklyn.
