(Photo by Josh)

Four Orthodox Jewish organizations have reached a $14.5 million settlement with women victimized by voyeur and a former rabbi at Kesher Israel, Barry Freundel.

Kesher Israel is a modern Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Georgetown that Freundel had led as rabbi since 1989, until he was accused of spying on bathing women and arrested in 2014. Freundel hid cameras around a shower and the synagogue’s mikvah, which is a bath used in cleaning rituals and for conversion. Freundel was eventually convicted of 52 counts of voyeurism in 2015. He is currently serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence that ends in 2021. Many of the women he victimized filed a class action lawsuit against Kesher and other organizations, claiming they should have done more to prevent the voyeurism.

In a statement about the settlement on Tuesday, Kesher Israel said that victims had originally sought $100 million. The settlement will go to hundreds of women; $25,000 will go to women confirmed to have been videotaped, and $2,500 for people who disrobed in the mikvah at some point between 2005 and 2014, according to the Washington Post.

Kesher also says that the settlement will be funded entirely by insurance.

“Although Kesher is confident that it would have been found without fault if the case were litigated to final judgment, Kesher believes that resolving the case at this time is in its best interest, as well as the best interests of the Kesher community and Freundel’s victims,” the statement reads.

The four organizations named in the lawsuit were Kesher Israel Congregation, the National Capital Mikvah, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Beth Din of the United States of America, according to the Post.

Previous:

Investigators Set Up Hotline For Potential Voyeurism Victims of Georgetown Rabbi

Georgetown Rabbi Accused of Voyeurism Suspended From Synagogue
D.C. Rabbi Accused Of Voyeurism Fired From Synagogue
Georgetown Rabbi Pleads Guilty To 52 Counts of Voyeurism