The plot was hatched during the summer of 2016 by Shimen Liebowitz, a divorce mediator from Kiryas Joel, Aharon Goldberg, an Israeli rabbi from Bnei Brak, and Binyamin Gottlieb.

[1] Joseph Masri, a taxi driver from Kiryas Joel, New York had been living there with his wife and children when his marriage started to have problems.

[3] Shimen Liebowitz, a Satmar Hasid raised in Melbourne, Australia who came to Kiryas Joel at the age of 16 to attend the rabbinical college there, was an internet entrepreneur who dabbled in divorce mediation as a sideline.

[5] Levin, who advertised himself as a private investigator and divorce consultant to the Orthodox community was later described by defense attorneys as a "small-time fraudster" who disliked members of the Satmar sect.

During a meeting of the three held 3 days later, the venue was changed back to the United States, and the two men gave Levin an additional $20,000 for planning.

[6][7] On August 25, 2016, Liebowitz met up with Levin at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York to pay him an additional $12,000 that he had demanded.

Liebowitz opined that Masri, a taxi driver who occasionally traveled to Montreal could "miss a night, or even two or three" before his family grew concerned.

"[3] On September 11, 2016, Binyamin Gottlieb was arrested as he boarded a flight to Ukraine at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York.