Who didn't want him dead?
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Who DIDN'T want him dead?
The body of Menachem "Max" Stark was discovered smoldering in the trash Friday after he was thrown into this van and kidnapped off a Williamsburg street
Slain slumlord found in trash has enemies list a mile long
The millionaire Hasidic slumlord found burned and suffocated in a Nassau County dumpster — his body still smoldering from the waist down — had so many enemies that investigators say they almost don’t know where to start looking.
“Any number of people wanted to kill this guy,” one law-enforcement source said of Menachem “Max” Stark, 39, describing the father of eight as embroiled in several “shady” real-estate transactions and being up to his tuchus in debt.
“He owed a lot of people money,” said another source.
Stark was last seen alive on surveillance tape getting pulled into a van by two men in a dramatic, mid-blizzard abduction Thursday night outside his Rutledge Street offices. On Friday afternoon, his body was found in a trash bin at a Great Neck, LI, gas station.
Just hours before he was snatched, Stark had borrowed a half-million dollars from a business associate, money he never had the chance to withdraw and use, the source said.
But his debts weren’t Stark’s only troubles, say investigators, speaking on condition of anonymity. Although many neighbors described him as well-liked and charitable, Stark left behind a trail of angry tenants from more than a dozen residential properties, mostly in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, along with an untold number of unpaid contractors and angry business associates, investigators said.
Stark was also known as a neighborhood ATM machine — dispensing loans to those in need of quick cash, said a neighborhood source familiar with his business dealings.
“He was involved in shady business deals, was known to carry around a lot of money and had a sealed arrest for forcible touching” in his past, one law-enforcement source told The Post.
The alleged victim was a young teen girl, said the source, declining to give further details.
“He’s a Hasidic Jew from Williamsburg, and we think he’s a scammer,” another investigator said of Stark, who had defaulted on more than $30 million in real-estate loans in recent years and owed tens of thousands in penalties for building violations.
“He f–ked over a few people,” the source added.
Many on Stark’s enemies list took to social media Saturday — and not to mourn his passing.
“His slanted shtreimel on his head gives his crookedness away,” one commenter wrote on FailedMessiah.com, referring to the victim’s fur hat in a photo.
“Sentence his kidnappers to live in one of his buildings,” wrote another poster to the site.
Law-enforcement sources told The Post that Stark spent his final days repeatedly calling business associates, begging for a six-figure loan. Investigators still don’t know how much he owed and to how many people, one source said. But probers do know that he left his office with a $4,000 check in his pocket — payment for a plumber who was one of his many creditors.
And on the day he was abducted, Stark had called one businessman — a Borough Park-based real-estate developer — a dozen times, said the source, and had just succeeded in convincing the man to deposit $500,000 in an account for him, the source said.
That lender is not a suspect, nor is Stark’s business partner, Israel “Sam” Perlmutter, investigators said. Still, all of Stark’s financial dealings are being probed.
At the time of his death, Stark owed tens of thousands of dollars in penalties for 148 Department of Buildings violations on his 17 properties, public records show.
“He owed me some money on a job I was doing for him, and he told me to go f–k myself,” one Williamsburg contractor told The Post of his dealings with Stark, who was notorious for bouncing checks.
Numerous former Stark tenants described living with vermin, plus shabby interiors and sporadic heat and water problems.
“I’ve had many conversations with him, and of course in many of those conversations I wanted to kill him,” joked Greg Hanlon, who lived in a Stark-owned building in Clinton Hill.
A Stark building at 239 Banker St. in Greenpoint was so decrepit, the city issued a vacate order in 2009 — and numerous tenants were left to chase Stark down in futile efforts to retrieve the four-month deposits Stark had demanded of them, one tenant organizer said.
The building went into foreclosure shortly after.
“He pretty much ripped off the whole building,” said the organizer, Ryan Kuonen. “They kept trying to serve him, and he kept hiding from them. When he’d hear ‘Are you Max Stark,’ he would take off running.”
Investigators are finding a pattern of shady dealings in which Stark would acquire properties and then “lose” the properties by failing to pay his mortgage and improvement loans, sources said.
The properties would then be snapped up at bargain basement prices by family members and associates, one law-enforcement source said.
Nassau County coroners on Saturday found that Stark died from smothering.
His body had been severely burned below the waist. It was unclear if he had been set on fire while still alive.
“The smell, it made me sick,” Triumph Getty gas station owner Fernando Cerff said.
Rabbi David Niederman of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg told reporters Sunday that Stark “was a warm person when you approached him and needed something from him.
“He was the go to-person that many people went to when they needed something special,” Niederman said.
“He paid for a special doctor, special education, food, or rent to stop eviction.”
Brother-in-law Abraham Buxbaum also described Stark, a married father of eight, as “the most loving and giving father, brother-in-law, friend, business partner, person.
“He is loved by everyone,” Buxbaum said. “No one ever had an issue with him. It was always enjoyable to be around him.”
“I, personally, was in his office with his secretaries,” Buxbaum added. “We went through some of his files, his accounts, his deals. Nothing, absolutely, was alarming to me. Everything, to me, looked normal.”
Additional reporting by Laura Italiano, Hella Winson, Georgett Roberts, Lia Eustachewich, Kathryn Cusma, Natasha Velez, Amber Sutherland and Kirstan Conley
Coldhearted cash
Brooklyn slumlord Menachem “Max” Stark made plenty of enemies over the years.
He owed big bucks: Stark and his business partner, Israel Perlmutter, defaulted on a $29 million loan in 2008, and were still entangled in federal-court proceeding brought by creditors looking to recoup.
He was a slumlord: Stark’s 17 properties have racked up 233 complaints and 148 violations, 49 of which are still open, according to the city Buildings Department. Known for squalid conditions including vermin, leaky ceilings and lack of heat and gas, Stark’s buildings also earned 182 Environmental Control Board violations, 60 of which are still open.
Hazardous: Conditions were so bad in one Stark-owned building, 239 Banker St. (inset), that the Buildings Department shut it down, alleging “occupancy is hazardous to life.” The building had racked up 100 complaints and 59 violations.
The Greenpoint Hotel
Greenpoint Hotel: In 2003, Stark and Perlmutter bought the drug and prostitution-infested Manhattan Avenue flophouse (right), where nearly 20 people died since the late 1990s. The pair did little to clean up the place, which was seized by federal authorities in 2005.
Shark sighting: Sources say Stark, a father of eight, was a loan shark, handing out money to those in the neighborhood desperate for cash. “He’s a scammer,” a source said.
Shady business dealing: Stark would snap up real-estate holdings but quickly allow them to fall into foreclosure, allowing his family and business associates to snap them up on the cheap
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Editorial: Who Didn’t Want Menachem “Max” Stark Dead?
"…I’ve spent hours these past two days listening to Satmar hasidim complain about the Post, the Daily News, Pix 11, other media outlets and FailedMessiah.com. Not once have I heard a Satmar hasid say that what Stark allegedly did to tenants, contractors and lenders is wrong. Not once have I heard any introspection, any attempt to come to grips with the idea that it is wrong to steal, cheat and abuse.…"
Editorial: Who Didn’t Want Menachem “Max” Stark Dead?
Shmarya Rosenberg • Failedmessiah.com
Many Satmar hasidim are angry and upset because the media, including FailedMessiah.com, has reported that murdered hasidic real estate developer Menachem “Max” Stark was not the nicest person to rent from or do business with.
Stark, who was kidnapped late Thursday night in front of his Williamsburg office and found dead in a trash dumpster in Great Neck Friday, reportedly stiffed contractors, defrauded tenants and lenders, ran an ongoing real estate scam and had 17 properties – most of which were poorly run slums.
Hasidim hate the fact that the media reported all this and they especially hate the fact that the Post’s cover today is a picture of Stark wearing a shtreimel with the headline “Who didn’t want him dead?”
But what hasidim and their supporters fail to acknowledge is that headline is based on an actual statement made by a law enforcement source who told the Post that there are so many people who hated Stark, it’s hard to know where to start investigating.
There is really no argument that outside of the hasidic-haredi community, those who knew Stark often hated him. Even inside the hasidic and haredi communities, there were people who knew him and disliked him.
Here’s how murder investigations work.
Because most murders are not random killings, police look very closely at family members, friends and business associates.
Was the murdered man unfaithful to his spouse? Could she have had that or another motive to want him dead? What about in-laws? Brothers? Other family members? Did he sleep with a friend’s wife?
Did he cheat in business? Who did he hurt? Who lost money because of him?
Did he receive threats? If so, how? Who from? Why? About what?
Police work to eliminate suspects – in other words, they start with every one of these people being suspect in some form and work to eliminate each one until all they have left is, hopefully, the murderer.
Yes, sometimes DNA or other forensic evidence, security camera footage or some random bit of information leads to a suspect police never would have thought of otherwise – but that is exceedingly rare.
That a murdered man had enemies is therefore news. That he had literally hundreds? That’s bigger news because the suspect pool is so large. In the same way, if his close friend or family member was a well known public figure and reasonably could be viewed as a suspect, that would be big news.
So what about calling Stark a slumlord?
As the Post clearly reported, the facts support that label. There is ample proof that Stark defrauded tenants and ran vermin-infested poorly maintained buildings.
In fact, what Stark did is apparently defraud lenders, rip off tenants and contractors, and use the proceeds of that misbehavior in part to give lavishly to Satmar hasidic charities.
But Satmar and its allies see none of this. Like with so many other hasidic criminals and miscreants, all that matters to Satmar are those charitable donations and the miscreant’s affiliation – who he hurt, whose lives he ruined, just does not count.
I’ve spent hours these past two days listening to Satmar hasidim complain about the Post, the Daily News, Pix 11, other media outlets and FailedMessiah.com. Not once have I heard a Satmar hasid say that what Stark allegedly did to tenants, contractors and lenders is wrong. Not once have I heard any introspection, any attempt to come to grips with the idea that it is wrong to steal, cheat and abuse.
Even the news that Stark had a sealed arrest for forcible touching of a minor girl did not cause these Satmar apologists to stop attacking the media or, more importantly, to do any type of public introspection at all.
No one had a right to kill Menachem Stark. His murder is absolutely wrong, and those who killed him must be tracked down, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for a very long time.
But that does not change the fact that Stark was clearly a despicable man.
And all the charity he gave and his eight children do not change that fact, either.
I don’t want Stark’s children, especially the little ones, to suffer and, assuming his wife was not a party to Stark’s misbehavior, I do not want her to suffer, either.
But that, too, does not change the facts of what Stark was, that he was murdered, and that he had literally hundreds of enemies.
“Who didn’t want him dead?”
That is the question police are asking right now. And when they’re finished answering it, when hundreds of possible suspects have been eliminated, those who did want Stark dead will hopefully be on Riker’s Island awaiting trial for his murder.
Posted at 12:53 PM in Crime, etc., Haredim, Media & Media Criticism | Permalink
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Shmarya, you have a lot of integrity for writing this piece. Thank you.
Max was a sexual predator, fraudster and who knows what else. He didn't deserve to die, but he did deserve to daven with his cohorts in jail for the rest of his life.
Posted by: Devorah | January 05, 2014 at 01:02 PM
"I’ve spent hours these past two days listening to Satmar hasidim complain about the Post, the Daily News, Pix 11, other media outlets and FailedMessiah.com."
The only boycotts, nypost facebook pages boycotts, what vin is reporting and todays conference condemming the NYPOST is solely and only against the nypost NOT pix11 and certainly not the dailynews.
Posted by: Dov | January 05, 2014 at 01:04 PM
Its a joyous day on Failedmessiah. Shmarya wins the journalism award for incitement against Orthodox Jews.
Although you goofed writing in you first post "If the kidnapping is real and not staged". You left open that perhaps its staged still you did an excellent job in bringing out the lowest of the lowest animals who appear to be human.
The garbage NY Post quotes this Stormfront blog how happy people are that a hassidic Jew was brutally murdered.
They are quoting the looser "Jancsibacsi" comment.
Its hard to say which comment on FM is the most vile and who in this cesspool of a blog is the most happy camper.
Yochanan Lavie the educator who says "we shouldn't not mourn this mans death ecause Nazis and mafioso also have families and no one mourns their death".
YL,whats the chance the killers studied in your classroom? or who knows maybe a Hasid killed this man
"JMC" who seems to know something about this murder write "THIS PERSON DESERVES WHAT HE RECEIVED!"
"Mark H. Jay" writes: "With all respect, au contraire. This man was apparently a truly vile ****. While it is certainly true that no NY court could lawfully sentence him to death, that does not mean that his murder was morally or ethically wrong.
"Devorah" from the monsey area is so excited she cant get enough of this sad story.
On another post on Failedmessiah a comment by FlatEarth is asking the citizens of Bloomingburg to kill Satmar people.
Its open season on Orthodox/Hasidic Jews a HASSIDIC slumlord per Shmarya deserves to be killed
Jancsi,
remember one thing:when your stinky smelly body will rot away in the hospital when no doctor and nurse would want to go near you when no one on FM who you think is you friend will care about you those shtreimel people from BP you so despise who you call beast and monkeys will be the only one feeding you and taking care on your disgusting body.
Posted by: Mefoar | January 05, 2014 at 01:10 PM
Well said. No, VERY well said.
For what it's worth, I recently attended the funeral, and did the week-long shiva ritual for my father. He lived a long and full life, but finally succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. He was 82.
My father's passing caused no headlines. No public figures (esp. law enforcement) took notice, or commented on his passing. The funeral was attended by his family, friends, and neighbors.
You know, it's what people say about you after you are gone that illustrates what kind of life you led, and what you did or did not do with that life.
Now, as far as Mr. Stark is concerned.....for me to say anything more, especially after what Shmarya has said, would be redundant.
And while I hope that the perpetrators are quickly found and brought to justice, we do reap what we sow in this world.
Posted by: Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law | January 05, 2014 at 01:21 PM
"No one had a right to kill Menachem Stark. His murder is absolutely wrong, and those who killed him must be tracked down, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for a very long time.
But that does not change the fact that Stark was clearly a despicable man."
Agreed and agreed.
Posted by: rebitzman | January 05, 2014 at 01:21 PM
Perhaps people he hurt wanted him dead,i don't know. What i do know from reading this cesspool blog that Shamarya and ALL posters are one happy family that this man was brutally murdered even though non of you had any business dealings with Stark.He was a Hassidic jew and a "slumlord" he owes people money,according to Shmarya and gang he got what he deserved.
Posted by: Mefoar | January 05, 2014 at 01:26 PM
Shmaraya, well written piece. Points well taken. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for his friends to condemn anything he did.
Posted by: Pearl of Wisdom | January 05, 2014 at 01:28 PM
@meofer,
Actually my life was threatened right here on this blog by a user(s) named Jeff:
"So you're the guy I have to thank for my nephew's decision to spend his life in poverty and ignorance. I'd like to run into you in a dark alley sometime."
Posted by: Jeff | December 31, 2013 at 04:31
Posted by: Dov | January 05, 2014 at 01:35 PM
"Its hard to say which comment on FM is the most vile"
Not true. It's actually quite easy.
Posted by: rebitzman | January 05, 2014 at 01:39 PM
@Devorah
From where do you take the allegation that he was a sexual predator?? If you are referring to the sealed arrest for touching a girl, for all that I know she could've been a tenant with whom he had a dispute, and it got physical.
Posted by: Yossi | January 05, 2014 at 01:41 PM
I have pulled a copy of the current $29,000,000 foreclosure filing UBS filed against Max Stark: http://www.scribd.com/doc/196223138/...M-loan-default
UBS's complaint on page 10 contains the following:
"(a) fraud or misrepresentation by Borrower..."
"(b) the gross negligence or willful misconduct of Borrower;
(c) material physical waste of the Property;
(f) the misapplication or conversion by Borrower of (i) any insurance proceeds paid by reason of any loss, damage or destruction of the Property..."
"(g) failure to pay Taxes...."
"(i) failure of Borrower to (i) permit on-site inspections of the Property on reasonable notice at reasonable times and subject to the rights of tenants..."
During the course of this foreclosure Mr. Stark then pulled the Bankrtupcy lever to complicate the foreclosure litigation between Southside Associates and UBS.
I haven't been able to pull the actual court filings of Mr. Stark's NYS civil cases. He appears as both a plaintiff and a defendant in multiple actions. There might be more interesting claims of fact in those cases.
Posted by: Philadelinquency.com | January 05, 2014 at 01:42 PM
Yossi –
It's forcible touching – a sexual offense – committed, I'm told, against a minor.
Posted by: Shmarya Rosenberg | January 05, 2014 at 01:43 PM
Primetrades –
No. You're wrong. None of them "deserve" to be murdered or tortured or set on fire.
They may, however, deserve to be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned.
Posted by: Shmarya Rosenberg | January 05, 2014 at 01:46 PM
One vitriolic anti-hasidic blog defending an anti-hasidic paper, big surprises there.
Anything can be justified.
Quoting routine commentors on this site who spew hate daily as Stark's "enemies" definitely qualifies as good journalism..
Assigning 11 reporters to dig up dirt on a (previously) unknown Hasidic murder victim qualifies as unbiased journalism..
And the list goes on and on..
The fact that you even try justifying yourself, your blog and the Post is laughable. I hope and pray that one day you can recover from this hate-rid.
Posted by: Michael Bergstein | January 05, 2014 at 01:53 PM
Excellent editorial!!
Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | January 05, 2014 at 01:54 PM
While on most days I'd agree with many posters, this sad day I disagree with most of you.
As Jews we are commanded to respect the dead, even the criminal dead, as much as the biggest tzaddik. This stems from a mitzvah in Deuteronomy that one is not allowed to let AN EXECUTED CRIMINAL hang overnight after he rec'd his punishment, or in any situation. Kovod Hames is primary in our religion. A Cohen Godol (High Priest ) on his way to the Temple for Yom Kippur if he finds a dead person on the road, he has to defer all , until this Mes Mitzvah is accorded a proper burial.
This is even more so when:
1. There is an innocent wife, and for sure innocent children.
2. The fact that some yuppies don't have hot water to take a shower when they come home from Starbucks is not a capital offense.
3. In the US judicial system a man is INNOCENT until proven guily. Mr. Stark AH is not in any CRIMINAL database Federal of Local.
4. The Post is a sensational tabloid, owned by that Tzaddik Rupert Murdoch, whose people did worse things -- not allegdly did -- who like the Walking Dead , eat this type of human tragedy. It gives them sustenance.
5. In Jewish Law someone who dies a "Misah Meshunah" (exceptional horrible death) is forgiven for many transgressions, alot more serious than stiffing JP Morgan Chase (who btw stiffed our economy far worse) . This man had a horrible death; his children will suffer their whole lives.
I assume that most readers and posters here are Jews, and a minority Christian. Where is the humanity , where is the pain for this man's parents (yes they are alive) his children and friends?
Today I am ashamed of this site.
Posted by: Flatbusher | January 05, 2014 at 02:05 PM
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Public Officials, Hasidic Jews Offended By NY Post Coverage Of Landlord's Murder
Yesterday, family, friends and other members of the Hasidic community took a moment out of their mourning for slain Williamsburg landlord Menachem Stark to loudly condemn the NY Post. The Post's Sunday front cover had a photograph of Stark and alluded to his numerous questionable business dealings, asking, "Who didn't want him dead?" Elected officials were also outraged: City Councilman David Greenfield noted that Stark was a husband and father of eight, declaring, “This clearly crosses the bounds of decency and demands an immediate apology from the newspaper to the grieving family and the entire community. The murder of an innocent man is not something to be celebrated in New York City."
The protesters joined politicians like Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, State Senator Simcha Felder and many others at Brooklyn Borough Hall. James suggested that the government stop advertising in the Post, "Today the Post has reached new low. You have given license to murder." Adams, like many others, demanded that the Post apologize, telling the press, "We stand as One Brooklyn in condemnation of the New York Post’s coverage of the murder of Menachem Stark... The New York Post’s decision to hang him in effigy on the cover of today’s paper, just hours after his family has begun to sit shiva, is a betrayal of the journalistic integrity that its readership deserves."
Of course, the Post refused to apologize, issuing this statement: "The Post does not say Mr. Stark deserved to die but our reporting showed that he had many enemies, which may have led to the commission of this terrible crime. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time of loss." And this gave the Daily News to opportunity to report on the controversy, describing the Post as a "down-market tabloid."
Stark, 39, was kidnapped on Thursday night, with surveillance footage showing two men struggling with Stark and then forcing him into a Dodge Caravan. He was reported missing on Friday and his family offered a $100,000 reward for his return. However, his burned body had been left at in a dumpster a Getty gas station in Long Island, where workers thought a cigarette had been burning until the "horrible smell" alarmed them.
While described as generous and charitable by friends and other community members, Stark and his business partner had defaulted on multi-million dollar loans and also upset some tenants in Greenpoint apartments with their lack of attentiveness. According to the NY Times, "At 239 Banker Street, a former factory Mr. Stark converted into trendy lofts, the building racked up a series of serious violations, including lacking a certificate of occupancy and working without a construction permit. In September 2009, after an inspector found workers had plastered over fire sprinkler heads, the city ordered the building vacated. Residents tried to contact Mr. Stark to recover their security deposits, but lost them when he proved elusive, they said."
Brother-in-law Moses Strulowitz told the Daily News, "The attacker is not from the Jewish community. “We don’t hurt each other... It was a hit job. It looked like a Mafia job or either anti-Semitic.” Another brother-in-law, Zalman Kaufman, said, "This was not professional. A professional guy doesn’t throw him into a public dumpster."
Stark's business partner Israel Perlmutter is reportedly worried he'll be targeted as well: "Perlmutter is 'loaded up with security guards,' said another source in the Satmar Hasidic community. 'Everyone was talking in the synagogue that he’s afraid he’s next.'"
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NY Post Cover Of Murdered Jewish 'Slumlord' Gets Huge Backlash
The New York Post has a tendency to strike with touchy and often controversial covers, but this time it seems they have crossed a line that many are not willing to accept.
The newspaper's Sunday cover, which features the murdered Hasidic Jewish Brooklyn real estate developer Menachem Stark, has sparked outrage and disgust in the Jewish community and beyond.
Here is the cover:
Stark, the father of eight children, was seen on video surveillance being forced into a minivan by two men outside of his office Thursday night. His body was found the next day in a Long Island dumpster.
In an interview with the Algemeiner, Stark's family members called the Post's cover "disgusting," saying it is "adding salt to the wound."
“Apologies wont help, the damage is done," Stark's brother-in-law told the Jewish newspaper. “It would be nice [for them] to apologize, because that is the best they can offer now, but it was disgusting what was done, and that can’t be reversed.”
A statement from the New York Post defended its decision and made no suggestion of an apology on its way:
“The Post does not say Mr. Stark deserved to die but our reporting showed that he had many enemies, which may have led to the commission of this terrible crime. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time of loss."
Twitter has been on fire with disapproval for the cover, accusing it of "condoning" and "justifying" the murder. Among those voicing fury were several New York City council members:
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Soooo, what dem alleged him duh tuh all dem people inna him buildings was nat disgusting?
“Apologies wont help, the damage is done," Stark's brother-in-law told the Jewish newspaper. “It would be nice [for them] to apologize, because that is the best they can offer now, but it was disgusting what was done, and that can’t be reversed.”
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speculation dat is an eastern european hit
dem prefer dat him be referred to as a "real estate developer", he also defaulted on a 51 mill loan and was dealing wid loan sharks as well
and dem don't like when the news refer to dem quasi rabbis as child molesters
some scam business a gwaaan wid him where dem default on properties, property go to auction and family members buy dem up cheap
is like dem figet dat dem live in nyc and not israel the way dem gwaan sometime
nuh last summer dem a put up signs round the hood telling women to wear long skirts and dat bicycle can't ride choo dem hood
jokes mi a tell yuh
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