JOURNAL NEWS: Donor testifies he cut check for Rob Astorino's Rolex

A Manhattan businessman at the center of a New York City corruption probe testified last week that he helped Rob Astorino buy a Rolex watch.

Jona Rechnitz, a cooperating witness in the trial of former city correction union President Norman Seabrook, said he cut a check in 2013 for $5,790 to cover most of the cost of a watch for Astorino, the Westchester County executive.

Astorino has said he paid for the used watch in full, and he recently released a copy of a receipt showing he paid $1,960 to Daniela Jewelers on West 47th Street in the Diamond District. The check from Rechnitz's JSR Capital, included in the prosecution's exhibits, was dated the day after Astorino's receipt.

Rechnitz testified on Oct. 30 that Astorino knew he’d paid for the rest of the watch....

....Rechnitz and his pal Jeremy Reichberg became volunteer county police chaplains. During testimony, Rechnitz said they used the chaplaincies to get parking placards despite neither being rabbis or priests. Rechnitz testified Nov. 1 that he never performed any duties as a chaplain.

The commissioner of the county Department of Public Safety said Rechnitz was only a chaplain for a short time and didn’t attend meetings or events. Reichberg was removed as a chaplain when arrests were made in the Seabrook probe last year......

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/elections/2017/11/08/westchester-executive-astorino-rolex/835609001/