Popular rabbi convicted of bribery released from prison
Yoshiyahu Pinto set free after completing one-year sentence for bribing a senior police official
A popular rabbi convicted for bribing a senior police official was released from prison on Wednesday, after completing his one-year prison sentence.
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto was found guilty in April 2015 after striking a plea deal with prosecutors admitting to bribery, attempted bribery, and obstruction of justice for bribing Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha, who reported the incident to his superior.
Bracha committed suicide in July 2015 after an extended campaign of defamation against him, orchestrated by Pinto’s followers. He was cleared of wrongdoing hours after his death.
In addition to the one-year sentence, Pinto was ordered to pay a NIS 1 million ($264,000) fine.
Under his plea deal, Pinto agreed to testify against Menashe Arviv, the former head of the police’s anti-corruption unit, who was suspected of receiving benefits from businessmen associated with the rabbi.
In exchange, Pinto, a kabbalist with a sizable and influential international following, was guaranteed a light jail sentence plus fines.
The scandal prompted Arviv to take an extended leave, and then, in February, to resign after 36 years of service in the police, though he maintained his innocence.
The investigation into Pinto’s dealings grabbed headlines in Israel in January 2014 after his lawyers alleged to the State Attorney’s Office that Arviv had accepted favors illegally and provided secret information in return. The lawyers offered the information in the hope of securing immunity from criminal charges for Pinto in an investigation against him over a charity fund and the bribing of Bracha.
Since 2011, Pinto, 43, 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 include 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 the charity fund. 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.
יצא לחופשי-
הרב יאשיהו פינטו שוחרר הבוקר מכלא ניצן, וזאת עם סיום שנת המאסר שנגזרה עליו בגין מתן שוחד ושיבוש הליכי משפט. pic.twitter.com/GuUe3xAVUO— שמעון ארן شمعون آران (@simonarann) January 25, 2017
Pinto was granted early release from prison on medical grounds in September, but days later the Central District Court in Lod overturned the parole board’s decision, with state prosecutors saying prison officials had failed to give “appropriate weight” to the gravity of Pinto’s crime, his behavior and a police assessment.
Prosecutors also said that there was a reasonable suspicion that if released, Pinto would maintain his “criminal connections,” according to the Haaretz daily.
Pinto’s lawyers filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the decision, but the Supreme Court upheld the early ruling, with Justice Uzi Fogelman basing his decision on Pinto’s failure to fully participate in court-ordered rehabilitative therapy sessions at the Nitzan Prison in Ramle, one of the conditions for his early release.
