"Indiana Jones" Rabbi Busted
Magistrate Judge James Francis released Youlus on $100,000 bond. Youlus was given a nitroglycerin pill when he complained of chest pains after his arraignment. Youlus could get 20 years in federal prison.
Rabbi Menachem Youlus
As I reported yesterday, Rabbi Menachem Youlus was finally arrested for his Save-a-Torah scam:
Rabbi who likened himself to Indiana Jones busted as leading man in lucrative international scam
BY Robert Gearty • NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A Baltimore rabbi was busted as the leading man in a lucrative international scam: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Dupes."
Menachem Youlus, 50, who billed himself as the Jewish incarnation of Harrison Ford's big-screen hero, pocketed a small fortune by claiming to rescue Holocaust-era Torahs, prosecutors said Wednesday.
"His alleged exploits were no more real than those of the movie character he claimed to resemble," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Wednesday.
Youlus fabricated his tales of derring-do to solicit donations for his "Save A Torah" foundation - and then siphoned "hundreds of thousands of dollars" into personal accounts, said Bharara.
He was charged with wire and mail fraud, and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Youlus claimed to have personally rescued one Torah in 2004 from the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp. Travel records show he left the U.S. once that year - to visit Israel.
Youlus, in another dubious claim, said he located a Torah in the floorboards of a Bergen-Belsen concentration camp barracks, feds charged.
Youlus sold the "Auschwitz" religious scrolls for $32,000 to billionaire investor David Rubenstein, described as "contributor-1" in the criminal complaint.
The complaint says Youlus tried to hit up contributor-1 for a $250,000 donation for his charity, but never got the money.
Rubenstein donated the Torah to the prominent Central Synagogue in Manhattan, and then worked with Holocaust scholars when questions were raised about its authenticity.
He then found a Holocaust-era Torah whose provenance could be proven and donated it to the synagogue as a replacement. Rubenstein declined to comment through a spokesman.
Magistrate Judge James Francis released Youlus on $100,000 bond. Youlus was given a nitroglycerin pill when he complained of chest pains after his arraignment.
Defense attorney Paul Rooney said his client had a heart attack a couple of months ago.
Related Posts:
Fraud? Rabbi Who "Rescues" Holocaust Torahs May Be Latest Haredi Scammer
Letter from Washington: Haredi Torah 'Rescuer' Should Be Held Accountable For Scam
Deal Reached Over Haredi Holocaust Torah Claims
it belongs in a museum. (my bank account)
Posted by: ruthie | August 25, 2011 at 06:22 AM
Scum
Posted by: ultra haredi lite | August 25, 2011 at 06:45 AM
this is real low
using the holocaust as a scam
Posted by: seymour | August 25, 2011 at 07:42 AM
The sad thing the money probably only covered one year of his kid's tuiton.
Posted by: shimon baum | August 25, 2011 at 09:17 AM
He should have a Refuah Shlemah
Posted by: How sad | August 25, 2011 at 09:29 AM
Old news.
Posted by: 'Yechiel' | August 25, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Exploiting the Holocaust to make a profit.
Sounds like something akin to War Profiteering.
Posted by: chabib | August 25, 2011 at 11:24 AM
I saw him speak a couple of years ago at a elementary school. He gave out a bunch of Megillos, claiming that they were from the 15th century, and he handed them out as if they were tissues. t struck me as crazy, becuase a brand new one is not allowed to be handeled that way, let alone a expensive antique.
Posted by: Q | August 25, 2011 at 11:26 AM
I was at someone's house in a minyan which used one of these supposed rescued Torah scrolls. The story of the rescued scroll was framed. And what a story it was!
Posted by: Betzalel | August 25, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Post says he had 2M in personal $$, how do you get this $$ from a family Judaica store in Wheaton MD.
Posted by: Please advise | August 25, 2011 at 11:57 AM
I sure hope his Board of Director's had a D&O insurance policy
Posted by: Better | August 25, 2011 at 11:59 AM
I live in Wheaton Maryland where his shop was and his dad was mean to everyone but menachem was kind to everybody. My little brother took half of his barmitvah money and gave it to him. What a bummer.
Posted by: Bummer | August 25, 2011 at 12:46 PM
To Bummer:
How far is his store from Lisbon, why do they need 2 stores, today U can buy it all on line,
(except for Crooked Torahs)
Posted by: To Bummer | August 25, 2011 at 01:27 PM
hey Shmarya did you know he has family in Minneapolis
Posted by: Laughing at Kutoff | August 25, 2011 at 01:45 PM
Well, Lisbon's hasn't been Lisbon's for about 7 years, they are now Elli-Chai's, and they are still less than a mile from Abe's. Menachem Youlous attended Ner Yisroel in Bmore in the early 1980s, and certainly played a good game. I've purchased two sets of t'fillin from him, along with at least a dozen mezuzot, and have seen him at more than a few sefer torah completion ceremonies. If true, this is highly distressing. The last time I was in his store I mentioned purchasing mezuzot online, to which he replied, in paraphrase, "Well, I understand that a lot of those mezuzot sold online are really written by Arabs or chilonim - you have to know your sofer." I suppose that applies to a lot of things.
Posted by: BibleBeltJew | August 25, 2011 at 01:47 PM
Heart Attack?...you mean he has a beating heart?...
Posted by: Noe | August 25, 2011 at 01:56 PM
I gave him $50 cash last year when I was in the shop.
To help with saving more Toras. He took it and put it in his pocket and thanked me.
Shortly thereafter, the Washington Post expose came out. Most of the local people said he was framed.
Obviously, we were all in denial.
He also was a menahel ruhani in an Israeli yeshiva many years ago.
What a guy!
Posted by: Litvish | August 25, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Hes got the look of a mashgiach ruchani...probably told stories back then too.
Posted by: Noe | August 25, 2011 at 06:30 PM
http://newsdesk.tjctv.com/2011/08/leading-open-orthodox-rabbi-defends-alleged-fraudster/
Posted by: Noe | August 25, 2011 at 06:33 PM
@ Q, very funny. Not funny but you tell it well.
THis is profoundly disgusting this man. I can hardly think of a more loathsome person.
Posted by: Adam | August 25, 2011 at 09:53 PM
LOL! You couldn't make this up if you tried...great story!
Posted by: chutzpah | August 26, 2011 at 06:19 PM
Very interesting that VIN is totally ignoring this considering that they ran a story on the Washington Post expose of him last year.
I know for a fact that they have been contacted on this but had no response to their lack of coverage.
Oh, well. so much for the Frumme newspaper of record.
Posted by: Litvish | August 26, 2011 at 08:11 PM
I personally know this character (since he was 2-years old), his now deceased grand-parents, parents aunts/uncles, 1st cousins...in short the entire mishpach'a.
Lo and and behold...it seems that there is a family tradition. Several close relatives of his are/were involved in another dubious business also purportedly for the benefit of "klal Yisrael".
Back in 1984, I chided his uncle for his rather "peculiar" and rather unholy form of income...he had the ch'utzpah to tell me that it was all perfectly OK, because if WE don't do it ourselves, then someone else will and it might as well be ME!
As stated in the Talmud..."nezem zahav beaff ch'azir" that is "a gold ring in a pig's nose" . That says it all!
However, a word of advice to all...before wasting your money on similar scams in the future, check the physical provenance of the items and try to find out from "reliable" non-involved parties whether the story you have been told "adds-up" and that the artifact is legit. Just a tiny amount of research will save you a lot of aggravation. I know because I deal in antiques a see many fakes and many very good forgeries.
Posted by: D | August 27, 2011 at 09:36 PM