WIREDGOV

Retired Rabbi, Barry Marcus MBE, has agreed to return £2,350,000 to two charities after he was found to be holding the funds in personal accounts, having failed to distribute them over a number of years.

His accounts were frozen following a National Crime Agency investigation which proved the money had not been used to fund the charitable causes it was intended for.

Marcus, 74, was the Rabbi at the Central London Synagogue until he retired in 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 have said that they were unaware that the funds had not been distributed.

The NCA’s investigation commenced in October 2022. Marcus had received over £1m between January and September of the same year, the bulk of which had originated from the charities, before transferring a substantial proportion to his other UK accounts and accounts overseas. Initial enquiries could not establish a legitimate explanation for the substantial payments. 

Between November 2022 and March 2023, the NCA applied for four Account Freezing Orders over funds totalling £1,183,072 that were held in Marcus’ accounts.

Despite maintaining that he had distributed a substantial amount of money in accordance with the charity’s intentions, Marcus was unable to provide satisfactory independent documentation to substantiate this.

On 31 January this year, Marcus formally agreed to return over £2m to the charities, representing almost double the funds identified in the UK and frozen. On 12 March 2024, 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 Statutory Inquiries into both charities relating to regulatory concerns, and in particular the operation and governance of the charities by their trustees. These inquiries are ongoing and the Charity Commission has put in place measures to ensure the funds returned to the charities are properly applied. 

Tim Quarrelle, NCA Branch Commander, Asset Denial, said:

“This is a fantastic result that will see millions of pounds returned to the two charities they had been deprived from.

“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 to reach the best possible outcome.

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