The truth about Ritchie Torres
The public record is brutal: children in Gaza were killed and maimed, Torres backed more weapons for Israel, Sludge reports he held investments in weapons makers, and Bronx public housing is still waiting.
The point
Torres built a national brand defending Israel, attacking critics of AIPAC, and backing weapons transfers. The Bronx did not get that urgency. Public housing did not get that fire. This is what complicity looks like.
The contrast
UNICEF reported that more than 50,000 children in Gaza had been killed or injured by May 2025. Sludge reports Torres invested in weapons makers while backing billions in arms for Israel. The Guardian framed the backlash plainly: AIPAC over affordability.
What the pipeline means
Every vote for more weapons lands somewhere. It lands in hospitals, on children, on families, and on a future that politicians like Torres keep helping destroy.
Exhibits
Epstein link
A Torres for Congress FEC filing lists a $3,300 contribution from Glenn Dubin, a financier whose name is publicly tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Torres also took money from donors listing Apollo, the firm co-founded by Leon Black, who stepped down amid scrutiny over his Epstein payments and ties.
The Dubins deny allegations related to Epstein. The precise fact is still ugly: Torres's donor universe runs through Wall Street circles publicly linked to Epstein, Apollo, Blackstone, Elliott, weapons makers, and AIPAC.
FEC filing: Glenn Dubin ABC News: Dubin documents sought AP: Leon Black and Epstein
Receipts
The brand
Torres sells himself as a Bronx Democrat focused on affordability and local needs.
The reality
The Guardian framed the backlash directly: "AIPAC over affordability." Torres made Israel a national brand while the affordability crisis at home kept grinding. Bought by Zionism and CodePink put Torres at the center of a campaign targeting AIPAC-aligned politicians.
The obsession
A video analysis of Torres's posting from Oct. 7, 2023 through March 2025 found he posted about Israel 3,320% more often than he posted about poverty.
What it shows
That is the whole problem in one number: nonstop urgency for Israel, near silence for the basic crisis crushing his own district.
The vote
Torres backed more U.S. weapons and military support for Israel.
The money
Sludge reports Torres invested in weapons makers while backing billions in arms for Israel. His office said the stocks were bought by an independent manager and that he would no longer buy individual corporate stocks. That explanation does not erase the conflict.
The body count
UNICEF reported more than 50,000 children had been killed or injured in Gaza by May 2025.
Why it matters
Torres did not watch from the sidelines. He helped facilitate the weapons pipeline and attacked the people trying to stop it.
The Bronx crisis
NYCHA's own capital plan says public housing needs $78.3 billion over 20 years to bring developments to a state of good repair.
The Torres problem
Torres knows public housing. He came from it. But Bronx tenants did not get the urgency, obsession, or national megaphone he gave Israel.
The donor trail
FEC itemized receipts for Torres for Congress in the 2024 cycle show contributors listing Blackstone, Apollo, and Elliott in employer fields. That is not a housing movement. That is Wall Street.
Why it matters
Blackstone and Apollo are private-equity giants. Elliott is the Paul Singer universe: billionaire hedge-fund politics, Republican donor power, and hard pro-Israel pressure. A separate FEC filing also lists a $3,300 contribution from Glenn Dubin. Torres does not just talk like a Wall Street candidate. The money trail says it too.
FEC: Blackstone FEC: Apollo FEC: Elliott OpenSecrets: Paul Singer FEC filing: Glenn Dubin
The Apollo problem
Torres's donor records include people listing Apollo in their employer fields. Apollo was founded by former Drexel Burnham Lambert bankers after Drexel's collapse. Drexel was the junk-bond shop of Michael Milken, who later pleaded guilty to securities and reporting violations.
The Epstein problem
Apollo co-founder and former CEO Leon Black stepped down in 2021 amid scrutiny over his payments and ties to Jeffrey Epstein. AP reported in June 2026 that Congress subpoenaed Black after a contentious interview about Epstein payments; Black denies involvement in Epstein's crimes.
The Gaza problem
Current Apollo CEO Marc Rowan was named by the White House to Trump's Gaza "Board of Peace." The White House says the board's work includes reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization. That is private-equity Gaza: financiers deciding what reconstruction means.
FEC: Apollo Apollo history SEC Historical Society: Milken AP: Black and Epstein White House: Gaza board
The direct check
A Torres for Congress FEC filing lists Glenn Dubin giving $3,300 on Aug. 21, 2023. ABC News reported that the U.S. Virgin Islands sought Epstein-related documents from Dubin, his wife, and his former investment firm in its Epstein sex-trafficking probe.
Precision matters
The Dubins have denied allegations related to Epstein. The point is narrower and still damning: Torres took money from a financier whose name is publicly tied to the Epstein universe, while also taking money from the Apollo/Blackstone/Elliott Wall Street circuit.
FEC filing: $3,300 Dubin contribution ABC News: Dubin documents sought Vanity Fair: Dubin and Epstein questions
The smear
Torres has publicly attacked Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization, instead of treating anti-Zionist Jews as a real constituency with a real moral claim.
What that means
He does not get to weaponize Jewish identity to defend mass death and then erase the Jewish organizers demanding a ceasefire, Palestinian freedom, and basic human dignity.
Bottom line
He had urgency for AIPAC. He had votes for weapons. He had investments tied to weapons makers. He had Wall Street money behind him. Bronx tenants deserve someone who fights for them with the same force.
There is a way to fix this
The Bronx can replace a Wall Street, AIPAC-first congressman with a fighter who names the problem, confronts power in public, and puts tenants, workers, peace, and development first.
Watch Jose confront Torres directly.
