Retired rabbi of London’s Central Synagogue returns £2.35m to two charities

A retired rabbi has agreed to return £2.35m to two charities after he failed to distribute the money over a number of years.

Barry Marcus MBE was found to be holding the funds in personal accounts, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

His accounts were frozen after an NCA investigation proved the money had not been used to fund the charitable causes for which it was intended.

The 74-year-old was the rabbi at the Central London Synagogue until 2018.

He received an MBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list for his work on Holocaust education.

The funds were received from Dalaid, an organisation that aims to relieve poverty and advance Jewish education, and the Schwarzschild Foundation, which aims to provide education and the relief of poverty for women and girls in the orthodox Jewish faith.

Both charities said they were unaware that the funds had not been distributed, the NCA said.

No criminal charges have been brought against Mr Marcus.

The NCA began investigating in October 2022 after the retired rabbi received more than £1m between January and September of that year, the bulk of which had originated from the charities.

He transferred a substantial proportion of the money to his other UK accounts and accounts overseas and the NCA’s initial inquiries could not establish a legitimate explanation for the payments.

Between November 2022 and March 2023 the NCA applied for four account-freezing orders over funds totalling £1,183,072 held by Mr Marcus.

He maintained that he had distributed a substantial amount of money in accordance with the charity’s intentions. But the NCA said Mr Marcus was unable to provide satisfactory documentation to substantiate this.

On 31 January this year, the retired rabbi formally agreed to return more than £2m to the charities, almost double the funds identified and frozen in the UK.

On 12 March Westminster Magistrates’ Court varied the four account-freezing orders to allow the frozen funds to be returned to the two charities.

In June 2023 the Charity Commission opened inquiries into the operation and governance of both charities.

These inquiries continue and the Charity Commission is ensuring that funds returned to the charities are properly applied.

Tim Quarrelle, NCA branch commander for asset denial, called it a “fantastic result”.

“It follows a challenging and complex NCA investigation that ran over 18 months, showing the commitment of our officers to pursue every line of inquiry,” he said.

“We are particularly grateful to our colleagues at the Charity Commission who are investigating issues relating to these charities in parallel.”