Haredi Man Jailed For 10 Months Without Charges In Bolivia

Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman, has been confined for 10 months in one of Bolivia's most unruly prisons without being charged. He has shed more than 30 pounds, helpless to do anything as, he alleges, the multimillion-dollar rice farming venture he managed has been plundered.

US man sits 10 months in Bolivian jail, uncharged
FRANK BAJAK and PAOLA FLORES

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) —Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman, has been confined for 10 months in one of Bolivia's most unruly prisons without being charged. He has shed more than 30 pounds, helpless to do anything as, he alleges, the multimillion-dollar rice farming venture he managed has been plundered.

At more than two dozen hearings, prosecutors have presented no evidence to back their allegations that the 53-year-old American may have been laundering drug money.

And this week, the presiding judge quit the case, likely meaning more weeks of delay.

"This is the scam of the century," Ostreicher said by telephone afterward. "I feel Iike I've been hijacked and kidnapped by people who are hiding behind the law."

The prosecutor would not discuss Ostreicher's complaints with The Associated Press. Nor would senior Bolivian officials, though U.S. diplomats have appealed to them to try to extract Ostreicher from the legal labyrinth.

The troubles began when Ostreicher and a group of Swiss partners decided to invest $25 million to grow rice in Bolivia's eastern lowlands four years ago.

Andre Zolty, one of the Swiss investors, said the idea came from a Colombian lawyer, Claudia Liliana Rodriguez, who had done some work for him in Geneva while a student.

"I made a big mistake to trust that woman," Zolty said.

Some of the land that Rodriguez bought for the venture turned out to belong to the brother of a drug trafficker who had
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escaped from a Brazilian prison and who, the investors say, became romantically and financially entwined with her.

When the investors suspected they were being defrauded, they dispatched Ostreicher to investigate. He wound up firing and suing Rodriguez.

The drug trafficker, Maximiliano Dorado, was deported in early 2011 to Brazil, where he is back in prison. Rodriguez was subsequently jailed in Bolivia, accused of money laundering.

The 32-year-old woman would not agree to an interview, though her lawyer, Oswaldo Flores, said her relationship with Dorado was strictly commercial and she did not know he was a drug trafficker when she bought the property.

Dorado's connection to the rice venture, led authorities to Ostreicher.

During the June 4 hearing at which he was ordered jailed, prosecutor Jeanette Velarde said the American had made investments with "capital of dubious origin."

But as the months have stretched out, officials have never produced enough evidence to warrant formal charges—and have ignored information to the contrary, the investors say.

According to a court transcript, Velarde said Zolty was under "investigation in Switzerland and other countries for the alleged laundering of money from illicit drug sales."

Zolty obtained a letter from Swiss federal police last year saying he faced no criminal investigations. The Associated Press confirmed its authenticity and also checked with New York police on Ostreicher, who said they found no record of wrongdoing.

Velarde told the AP last month that the case remained in a "preparatory phase" because she was waiting for bank records from Switzerland, Argentina and the United States detailing the investors' holdings.

Ostreicher and Zolty say they have provided all requested banking records, in Ostreicher's case more than 1,000 documents.

The New Yorker said that since his imprisonment, nearly 40 million pounds (18,000 metric tons) of his venture's rice was seized in the name of Dircabi, the government agency that manages assets frozen in criminal investigations.

"And nobody knows where it is and nobody knows who got the money and for how much money it was sold," Ostreicher said.

Arrest warrants were issued in January for three men accused of falsifying documents in the case. They include a former Dircabi employee who allegedly forged a letter allowing the rice to be taken. The agency's regional director has been suspended and is under investigation.

Ostreicher says his only guilt is in being naive about doing business in the poor, landlocked South American nation.

He has been through five lawyers and two judges, had more than 30,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of land frozen and has been unable to prevent rice worth more than $4 million being confiscated and sold. Ostreicher says his attorneys fees have reached $500,000.

"The injustice that was done to him here is consuming him," said his wife, Miriam Ungar, 47. "He cannot sit still. He paces back and forth in a five-foot space in his cell all day. He doesn't sleep nights."

He chain smokes and says he often stares blankly at a single page for several hours when he tries to read. At least he has a cell to himself in a prison teeming with 3,500 inmates. He does his best to avoid the hoodlums who run things inside Palmasola, where he says he is the only U.S. citizen.

As an Orthodox Jew, Ostreicher keeps a kosher diet, which is not an option in the prison cafeteria. So he often goes days without meat. He says he plans to begin a hunger strike April 14, when Passover ends.

"He is slowly losing his mind," his wife said.

A few other countries in the region rank lower than Bolivia on Transparency International's index of perceived corruption, but human rights groups say bribes and case-fixing are common in Bolivia's legal system. Last year, five Bolivian prosecutors were dismissed for irregularities including alleged corruption, the Interior Ministry says. Currently, 15 prosecutors are under investigation.

The judiciary also suffers from disorganization and a shortage of judges.

In September, a judge ordered Ostreicher freed, only to retract his order a week later, saying he had erred. That judge was later promoted and a new judge was named to the case.

Then, on Monday, the new judge removed himself from the case, saying Rodriguez accused him in court papers of favoring Ostreicher at her expense. Another problem adds to delays: the court's judges are handling double their normal caseload because so many judicial posts are unfilled.

The U.S. government has tried to help Ostreicher but doesn't have much influence, being without an ambassador since its last one was expelled in 2008 for allegedly inciting opponents of leftist President Evo Morales.

The U.S. Embassy said there has been "frequent contact with Bolivian officials at the highest possible level regarding the case (and seeking) to ensure that Mr. Ostreicher is afforded due process." Its statement said U.S. officials had visited Ostreicher and were concerned for his health.

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca acknowledged receiving diplomatic notes from the U.S. State Department but would not say whether the Bolivian government was acting on them.

When Interior Minister Carlos Romero was asked about the case, he said only that he would look into it.

While investment in big Bolivian energy and mining projects has risen recently, investment in agriculture has suffered because of disputes over land ownership and government confiscations of several major tracts.

"Domestic and international investors alike are afraid," said Ronald Nostas, vice president of the Bolivian Federation of Private Businessmen.

Another American who ran into trouble over land is longtime Bolivia resident Ronald Larsen, who was stripped in 2010 of his 58-square-mile (15,000-hectare) cattle ranch after authorities accused him of exploiting his workers. Larsen called the charges trumped up. He now lives mostly in Brazil, where his son Dustin says he is fixing up a seaside hotel.

Dustin Larsen expresses sympathy for Ostreicher, but says the New Yorker clearly was not prepared for doing business in Bolivia.

"Americans take everyone at face value. Unfortunately, down here you can't do that," he said. "A lot of deals have gone bad down here."

———

Associated Press writer Paola Flores reported from Santa Cruz and Frank Bajak from Lima, Peru. AP writers Carlos Valdez in La Paz, Bolivia, and Ian James, in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Comments

[dh]

Quick! Send Lewin!

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

He should send a pre-Passover letter to all of the Jewish children à la SMR.

[Litvish]

Bolivia has become a stronghold for Hamas and Iranian agents. The dictator of the country, Evo Morales, has thrown in his lot with Castro and Hugo Chavez.

He has recognized Palestine and broken relations with Israel.

His hostility to Jews is well known.

Jacob Ostreicher is a complete fool to have put money and his person into the hands of this notorious criminal. He deserves to suffer based on his incredible stupidity.

[David]

This is a terrible injustice. I hope he gets out of jail soon.

I keep telling people, don't visit and don't do business with these Third World sh*tholes!

[BeenThereDoneThat]

This is sad, but inevitable, if real-world education is considered as bitul toreh.

You have to learn about the world if you wish to work and live in it.

[jancsibacsi]

Bolivia is an outlaw country no sane person should go there and do buisness with those terrorist lovers it is uncontioanable what they are doing to ostreicher it is inhuman.

[the usual chaim]

litvish: how terribly insensitive.

[dh]

Litvish is simply saying that in Bolivia they apply the rule of law often referred to, in legal circles, as Felony Stupid.

[seymour]

Jacob Ostreicher is a complete fool to have put money and his person into the hands of this notorious criminal. He deserves to suffer based on his incredible stupidity.

Posted by: Litvish | April 05, 2012 at 06:12 PM

please while i agree with most of you post i must disagree 100% with you in this case.

also i am amazed their is no outcry for him in the frum community no petition no pidyim shumium.

this leads me to believe that he is host man, since every crook get noticed and pidyum shunium get organized

smr the Japaneses boys

but not this guy wonder why

[WoolSilkCotton]

This story does indeed tie in with previous threads- frumma guys have no formal business education and no understanding of the political realities of third world shitholes.

[dh]

Listen, the guy got distracted by a pretty light that he thought was a dollar sign.

Glad you got a break at work, WSC.

[Abracadabra]

What makes no sense to me is why this case is not more widely publicized in the frum world, and why there is no letter writing campaign to Hillary Clinton and to President Obama about the injustice of Bolivia holding this US citizen in jail with no charges for 10 months. Even without a US embassy, there are other diplomatic pressures that can be put onto the country. Why are we not raising our voice?

When 3 US citizens were jailed in I-R-A-N for hiking and inadvertantly crossing the border (undeliniated on the mountain they were hiking), successful diplomatic efforts were made to release them. Why not here?

Although I do see this as utter stupidity on the part of this man, and it very possibly could be because chassidish kids aren't given a proper secular education which includes knowledge of the horrible state of third world countries, still and all, if he did nothing illegal, there is no reason not to put an effort into trying to get him released. Just as those American hikers were stupid for not having a very clear map and staying VERY far away (as in 30 miles or more) from the border of a country which is the sworn enemy of your own.

At this point this case seems like a far cry from the incident of the boys in Japan. They KNEW they were smuggling illegal things and they were getting paid for doing so and taking that chance. (They just didn't know that it was drugs they were smuggling, they thought it was antiques.) According to the above article that is not the case here.

As Ostreicher has not been charged with a crime, and it seems that after all this time, in a country with a corrupt legal system, he is being held either because he has not bribed enough officials, or, knowing how Anti-Semitic the ruler is, because he is a Jew, THIS seems to be a classic case of Pidyon Shvuyim. Forget SMR, forget the boys in Japan, THIS man is being held for what seems to amount to a randsom. As members of his tribe, it would seem to be a worthy cause for us to do what we can to get him freed. Letters to our government, funding the bribing of corrupt officials, etc.

Of course there is the possibility that he was involved in illegal activities, and not just planting rice fields. But until evidence of illegalities surface, or are proven by the government holding him, he should be considered by the law as innocent, and should be released from jail. 10 months in that hellhole without being charged?! Ouch!

It is when I read about cases like these that I am so very grateful that I live in the United States of America!!

[Litvish]

I have a Bolivian patient who works for the World Bank. He tells me on a regular basis how Evo Morales has totally destroyed his country, made it into his private fiefdom, openly invited terrorists from Iran to set up bases there, etc. etc.

The point is that they cut relations with Israel, which were some of the closest in the world under previous presidents, in 2009.

That is three years of warning to all Americans and Jews to stay the hell out!!

Anyone dumb enough not to heed this warning is like someone walking into a mine field.

Ostreicher can't be that dumb. If he is then why even defend him?

Evo Morales is the scum of the scum; a terrorist murderer, anti-Semite and fierce enemy of Israel and America.

What else would you expect from such garbage then to hold an American Jew hostage?

[Flatbusher]

It is a disgrace that with all the influence we allegedly have that we could not help THIS INNOCENT fellow Jew who is rotting away in a 3rd world country concentration type of jail.

Why can't we organize a midnight candlelight vigil in front of the Bolivian Embaasy in NY during Chol Hamoed and have the Organizations of all stripes, Rabbonim of all stripes manadate attendance.

If we get 20,000 people with lighted candles saying Tehillim there the media will cover and things can happen.

[anuran]

This is terrible. I don't know what we can do, but the State Department should be on this.

[emanuel]

When I read this article, the first RED FLAG that crossed my eyes were..."the idea came from a Colombian lawyer, Claudia Liliana Rodriguez..."

A Colombian lawyer? Really? Doing business in Bolivia? If the idea would have come from a Bolivian lawyer, I would have considered it more legit, and still would not have invested a dime.

For those who do not understand Latin America politics and culture, there is certain animosity among and between us, certain levels of total mistrust among us. It is not all roses and peaches in Latin America, there is a lot of mistrust between Colombianos, Equatorianos, Bolivarianos, Venezolanos, Argentinos, etc. And I am not talking about soccer rivalries, no, it goes beyond that. I remember there was a joke in Colombia when you were trying to call another one dumb, we would say..." te estas poniendo Peruano"...you are getting Peruvian. You get my drift? Which leads us back to the "Colombian lawyer" suggesting a business opportunity in Bolivia. Yeah, right.

This guy is in jail doing hard time because he was a fool and did not bother to consult an expert on the matter.

I am not saying it is self inflicted, just saying he failed to do his homework before jumping abroad.

[emanuel]

Abracadabra,

I heartily agree with you. I want to dd that instead of wasting our time here bashing Rubashkin or Deborah Feldman, Mark Shapiro or Rabbi Elyashiv we should be working harder to get this poor fellow out of there sending letters to our representatives and senators and the President. Bolivia is not the country it used to be, nor Brazil or Venezuela.

[emanuel]

I meant I want to add in the paragraph supra.

[yechi ben levitas]

to D H; AND HIS DAUGHTER AS WELL. These are top washington GEDOLIM lawyers of the first magnitude. full moon to night. Chag Smeach, mr F M.

[Yochanan Lavie songwriter extraordinaire]

I hope in this festival of freedom, this poor fool gets released. I also hope that modern day Pharoahs like Evil Morality (aka Evo Morales), Hugo Chavez, and Afterdinnerjob get relegated to the dustbin of history.

IMO, there are only a few countries where Jews should live: USA, Israel, Canada, Australia,and ironically, modern democratic Germany.

[Isa]

My wife has distant cousins who have a thriving business in Russia...

I met one of them and I asked " How do you manage bribes?"
answer:
"We have Russian business partners who have 50% of the business and they deal with all that stuff"

So there you have it!! grease enough people and they WANT you to be successful so that THEY get rich too!

Want to set up a factory in China?
Then give a job to some son or son-in-law of some Communist Party functionary and pay in hard currency. More or less legal
Guaranteed no problems either!

[s]

could the oragnization "Amnesty International" help?

[waiting4schneersohn]

Would you all be so outraged in the guy were a Reform Jew? A secular Jew?

The fact is that he is a frumik who ignored the most basic laws of doing business in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Some of the land he used came from the brother of a drug trafficker who had escaped from a Brazilian prison. His currency was considered to be laundered by some.

But worst of all, he kept company with shady people like the Colombian lawyer.

There are so many variables here.

Where is the outrage in the frum community about the American secular Jew who has been sitting in prison in Cuba for so long?

All I hear is silence from the otherwise outraged "Torah-true" Jews.