The World Jewish Congress, the tiny nonprofit organization that won billions of dollars for Holocaust survivors, said yesterday that Edgar M. Bronfman Sr., the billionaire liquor magnate who is its largest patron, had resigned as its president.

The organization has been in turmoil for three years since accusations of financial improprieties surfaced against its former secretary general, Israel Singer, attracting the attention of the New York State attorney general and the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Singer was close to Mr. Bronfman and served as his spiritual adviser before the two had a falling out this year. Mr. Bronfman declined to be interviewed yesterday, but his resignation raises questions about the future of the organization.

Mr. Bronfman’s contributions have accounted for as much as 15 percent of its annual revenues in recent years, and it is unclear whether he will continue that support.

Additionally, donations to the organization declined after the controversy involving Mr. Singer began.

Mr. Bronfman’s resignation came as a surprise. The organization’s spokesman had assured reporters on Friday that Mr. Bronfman intended to stay on until 2009.

But Stephen E. Herbits, a longtime business associate of Mr. Bronfman’s who is the organization’s secretary general, said Mr. Bronfman, who served as president since 1979, had long planned to step down. “Edgar has been trying to retire for years,” Mr. Herbits said.

In a memorandum to Mr. Bronfman’s son Matthew, Mr. Herbits said the organization would need $5 million over the next two years to turn around its finances.

New accusations of further financial improprieties by Mr. Singer, however, will make raising that kind of money difficult.

In a presentation prepared for the organization’s steering committee, Mr. Herbits charged that Mr. Singer withdrew cash from the World Jewish Congress affiliates without accounting for it and covered personal expenses with the organization’s money, among other things.

Mr. Bronfman dismissed Mr. Singer in March because of the new accusations, Mr. Herbits said, but if they are true, Mr. Singer will have caused the World Jewish Congress to violate the terms of a settlement it signed with the New York attorney general’s office more than a year ago.

Under the agreement, the attorney general could reopen the investigation. A spokesman for Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general, did not return a call seeking comment.

Hank Scheinkopf, Mr. Singer’s spokesman, said Mr. Singer had declined to comment on the new allegations “because he is no longer involved with the World Jewish Congress and has moved on with his life.”

Mr. Singer’s ouster and Mr. Bronfman’s resignation and scheduled departure next month also leave the organization with a leadership vacuum, particularly since leaders of the Israeli and European branch have lobbied for Mr. Herbits’s departure, as well.

Menachem Rosensaft, a lawyer and founder of the International Network of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, said there was a need for the World Jewish Congress, which has served as a representative of Jewish diaspora communities around the globe. “I hope that it can continue in that role, but that will require a leadership that enjoys broad-based legitimacy and acceptance,” he said.

Mr. Bronfman had hoped his son Matthew would take his place as president, but Matthew Bronfman has been tarnished by accusations that he had conflicts of interest as a board member of the Israel Development Bank, according to reports in Crain’s New York Business. Matthew Bronfman has said that there was no conflict of interest.

Ronald Lauder, the billionaire cosmetics executive, sought the presidency a few years ago and has expressed an interest in it again. In his presentation, Mr. Herbits suggested that Mr. Lauder had sought to win Mr. Singer’s support during his first bid, maintaining that Mr. Singer “may have accepted” a gift of stock from Mr. Lauder.

Nelson Warfield, Mr. Lauder’s spokesman, denied that accusation. “It’s an insult to even suggest such a thing,” he said.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company