3 Denied Bail in Money-Laundering Case : Crime: Judge is not swayed by testimony on a rabbi, a chiropractor and Lomita woman with a list of aliases.

Bail was denied Tuesday for a rabbi, a chiropractor and a Lomita woman arrested in what the FBI says were elaborate money-laundering schemes totaling $2 million and involving Hasidic diamond merchants and a “holy network” of bank accounts held by religious charities.

Judge Carolyn Turchin, a magistrate in Los Angeles federal court, decided that Abraham Low, 42, rabbi at the ultra-Orthodox Mogen Abraham synagogue in the Fairfax district; Alan Weston, 50, a Hollywood chiropractor and financial consultant, and a woman now identified as Charlesetta Brown, about 45, posed too great a flight risk to be released on bail.

Low’s hope for such release probably was hindered when Sol Kest, a character witness who had offered to put up $20,000 toward the rabbi’s release, was questioned at the bail hearing by Assistant U.S. Atty. Leslie Swain about a conversation Kest had last March with FBI Special Agent Patricia Chamberlain.

“Don’t you recall telling Agent Chamberlain that you offered Rabbi Low $60,000 to get out of town and not return for 10 years?” Swain asked.

“I don’t recall,” Kest said, after he was advised by the judge that he did not have to answer Swain’s questions.

Swain then asked him if he remembered telling Chamberlain that Low was “no good.”

“I will not answer,” Kest replied.

Swain continued, asking Kest if he had said that Low “lives over his means on money that belongs to the synagogue.”

“I do not recall,” Kest said.

Low has been charged with money-laundering and Weston with aiding and abetting money-laundering, offenses that carry maximum prison terms of 20 years.

Brown--who prosectors say has used at least five different names, four dates of birth and three Social Security numbers and has been arrested previously on suspicion of theft, forgery of credit cards, grand larceny and assault--is charged with bank fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of five years.

Prosecutors say more charges may be filed against the three in the laundering schemes.

In an affidavit filed before the arrests on Monday, the FBI said that after an initial scheme involving a stolen $496,000 cashier’s check, the rabbi laundered $10,000 in supposed drug money from an undercover agent and the woman set up a $1.5-million deal with the agent, also offering to sell him assault rifles and other weapons.

Turchin’s downtown courtroom was overflowing Monday with members of Low’s congregation. The men--bearded and wearing black hats or yarmulkes--sat on one side of the courtroom, the women on another, in accordance with Orthodox traditions of modesty.

Low--a chubby, youthful-looking man wearing a blue shirt, a yarmulke and blue, beltless pants--stood patiently beside his lawyer, Mitchell Egers, as Egers argued futilely that his client should be released.

“This is a trustworthy man, a good man,” Egers said. “He will not flee the jurisdiction of the court. . . . I know no one more religious than him.”

Egers said the overflow courtroom crowd was made up of “responsible, respectable people” who had ignored other commitments and inclement weather to show their support for Low. Several attorneys and rabbis in the crowd made brief statements supporting Low.

On the other hand, Turchin noted that of three people scheduled to speak on Low’s behalf on Monday, only Kest actually showed up. Kest, a prominent real estate developer, declined to discuss his business dealings with the rabbi.

In making her case against bail for Low, Swain argued that he is likely to flee and cited the FBI affidavit.

Agents recorded conversations during which Low told an undercover agent he could launder up to $5 million a week through diamond dealers and charities and told how he could help get somebody out of the country undetected, according to the affidavit.

“Low explained that one should fly to Seattle and drive across the Canadian border at Vancouver,” the affidavit said. “He stated that no passport is needed and that (he) had people doing it all the time.”

Weston was denied bail during a short hearing at which it was disclosed that he is currently a non-practicing chiropractor, not a medical doctor, as stated previously by the FBI. Weston said he has served as Low’s financial adviser for some time.

Turchin denied bail for Brown after listening to her arrest record, the list of identities she has used and the FBI’s testimony that she made threats against the girlfriend of a key informant in the case.