SHUL'D BE A$HAMED
Blas bribe pal angers LA congregants
Ostentatious displays of wealth and Hollywood connections are failing to help a crooked supporter of Mayor de Blasio rebuild his tattered reputation in his hometown of Los Angeles, sources told The Post.
Last week, disgraced realestate developer Jona Rechnitz (right) infuriated members of an LA synagogue by donating more than $30,000 so he and his dad could take part in Yom Kippur services on Saturday.
Rechnitz was allowed to lift up the Torah and his father read aloud from the holy Jewish scroll, sources said. The $30,000-plus included an honor Rechnitz bought for the rabbi, according to sources.
One congregant was so outraged by Rechnitz’s pricey piety that he slammed down his prayer book, stormed out of the Yeshivat Yavneh temple and worshipped elsewhere, sources told The Post.
“There’s no shame, nothing. No regrets, no calming down. To just come in and spend $30,000 on honors is a sense of arrogance and entitlement,” a synagogue source told The Post.
“I think that he’s ruined so many peoples’ lives and he’s sitting here just trying to pretend that nothing is wrong.”
A congregant also described how Rechnitz previously showed off by bringing real-estate-agent brothers Josh and Matt Altman — stars of the Bravo cable network’s “Million Dollar Listing” series — to the synagogue after he returned to LA this past summer.
The Altmans, who sell multi-million-dollar homes in West Los Angeles, didn’t return a request for comment.
Rechnitz, who founded New York City firm JSR Realty, gained notoriety last year by agreeing to serve as a key witness in several public-corruption probes.
Rechnitz scored that gig by admitting he bribed two NYPD cops and acted as the middleman for a hedge-fund manager seeking to bribe a union official.
He also admitted to paying off a de Blasio fund-raiser, identified by sources as Ross Offinger, in exchange for official favors, but the feds opted against charging the mayor or anyone around him following a lengthy probe.
Rechnitz’s reputation took a further hit when details emerged about his dealings with alleged Ponzi schemer Jason Nissen, a former city teacher who was busted in May in a $70 million scam involving tickets to “Hamilton” and the Super Bowl.
According to civil court documents, Rechnitz pocketed as much as $8 million for touting the allegedly fraudulent ticket business to his wealthy pals — some of whom told The Post Rechnitz never told them he was getting rich off their money.
Rechnitz is scheduled to return to New York City for the Oct. 23 trial of Norman Seabrook, the former head of the city Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, who’s accused of taking bribes to steer union funds to a troubled hedge fund.
Rechnitz is poised to tell a Manhattan federal jury about his role in the alleged scheme, which involved delivering $65,000 in cash to Seabrook in exchange for a promise to invest in the Platinum Partners hedge fund run by Murray Huberfeld.
Rechnitz declined to comment through his lawyer.