A prominent New Jersey rabbi was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for taking part in a scheme to launder $1-million through religious charities, writes the Associated Press.

Eliahu Ben Haim was one of five Jewish clergymen charged in 2009 following a large federal sting operation that resulted in dozens of arrests and also ensnared New Jersey state officials. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to launder money through his nonprofit network.

Mr. Ben Haim, 60, led a large Syrian Jewish congregation in the Jersey Shore town of Deal. Rabbi Saul Kassin, the 89-year-old spiritual leader of the U.S. Syrian Jewish community, also pleaded guilty to taking part in the scheme and was sentenced in March to two years’ probation.