Illegal kidney broker faces sentencing in NJ

Illegal kidney broker faces sentencing in NJ

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New York man who admitted brokering the illegal sale of human organs has heard testimony from some people who said they felt he took advantage of then and others who swore he had saved their lives.

The conflicting accounts were presented Wednesday by witnesses before Levy Izhak Rosenbaum’s sentencing. He pleaded guilty in October to brokering three illegal kidney transplants for New Jersey-based customers for payments of $120,000 or more.

A doctor testified that Rosenbaum brought 12 to 15 pairs of donors and recipients to Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia for transplants from 1999 to 2002.

Rosenbaum testified that he had come to learn that what he did was wrong, but he thought the cause was good.

Prosecutors say it’s the first proven case of black-market organ trafficking in the U.S.