Court to rule on early prison release for high-powered rabbi
Prosecution says parole board decision to free fraudster Yoshiyahu Pinto failed to give ‘appropriate weight’ to facts
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

A court was due to rule Monday whether to approve a parole board decision to release celebrity rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto three months early, or to accede to a state prosecution appeal to leave him in jail until the end of his one-year term for bribing a police officer.
A week ago, the parole board decided to free Pinto from Nitzan Prison in the central Israeli city of Ramle, stressing that the prisoner’s ill health — he is suffering from cancer — was the primary reason for green-lighting his early release.
The conditions were that Pinto meet unspecified demands of the prisoner rehabilitation authority, participate in group therapy for fraud offenders, and submit to house arrest from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Pinto was due to be freed Sunday, but the decision was delayed pending the court’s verdict on the appeal, the Ynet website reported.
On Friday, state prosecutors argued at the central district court that the parole board had failed to give “appropriate weight” to the facts put before it, given the serious nature of the crime, the way Pinto had related to his crime, the contents of confidential information provided to it, and the police assessment of that information and its implications.
According to Israel Radio, Pinto told the release committee that he felt “like a criminal” and wanted to “repent” for his crimes. “I’m not a rabbi anymore,” he reportedly said. “I exploited my position… I feel regret and am ashamed at myself.”
The rabbi, who enjoys an international following among celebrities and business leaders, as well as high-powered contacts in the Israeli government and elsewhere, was sentenced to time in prison as well as a NIS 1 million ($260,000) fine for bribing a senior police officer who subsequently retired from the force.
The family of the late Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha — the object of Pinto’s bribery attempts, who reported the offer to his superiors and subsequently committed suicide last year — reacted with horror last Monday to the release committee’s decision.

“After the state abandoned our dear Ephraim in his lifetime, it has abandoned him once more in death,” they said. They added that the decision conveyed a message to the police force that “they shouldn’t report on bribery offers but ignore them, because the criminals will not really be properly punished.”
Justice would be meted out to Pinto in Heaven, they said, where the rabbi’s “lying apologies” would not help him.
Hours after his death, the Justice Ministry cleared Bracha of any wrongdoing.
Under his plea bargain, Pinto agreed to testify against Menashe Arviv, the former head of the police anti-corruption unit, who is suspected of receiving benefits from businessmen associated with the rabbi.
Pinto’s lawyers alleged to the State Attorney’s Office that Arviv had accepted favors illegally and provided secret information in return. Arviv was last questioned by police in September. Charges have not been brought against him.
The scandal prompted Arviv to take an extended vacation, and then, in February, to resign after 36 years of service in the police, though he maintained his innocence.

Since 2011, Pinto, 42, who heads several charity organizations and Torah study institutions in the coastal city of Ashdod and in the US, has been the subject of a number of ongoing investigations, both by Israeli police and the FBI.
The rabbi — whose followers have included Jay Schottenstein, chairman of the American Eagle Outfitters clothing company, and Israeli real estate mogul Jacky Ben-Zaken — was suspected of embezzlement of funds from an organization he oversaw. According to FBI suspicions, he was also the target of a blackmail attempt.
In April 2014, federal prosecutors brought charges against Republican US Congressman Michael Grimm for receiving large contributions from followers of Pinto.
Grimm has acknowledged receiving $250,000-$300,000 in contributions from followers of the rabbi.