Report: AG To Give Corrupt Kabbalist Sweetheart Plea Deal Despite Being Caught Bribing Cops And Allegedly Looting A Charity

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto – the kabbalist to the stars and top Israeli politicians whose behavior allegedly more closely resembles characters from the Sopranos rather than a holy man – may get most of the criminal charges against him dropped in exchange for information on a senior police officer Pinto claims to have bribed.

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto

Report: AG To Give Corrupt Kabbalist Sweetheart Plea Deal Despite Being Caught Bribing Cops And Allegedly Looting A Charity
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

He allegedly stole from the poor, including Holocaust survivors, bribed police and threatened witnesses, and now he’s reportedly going to get a sweetheart plea deal anyway.

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto – the kabbalist to the stars and top Israeli politicians whose behavior allegedly more closely resembles characters from the Sopranos rather than a holy man – may get most of the criminal charges against him dropped in exchange for information on a senior police officer Pinto claims to have bribed, Israel HaYom reported.

That police officer, Menashe Arviv, resigned last month after police and the attorney general refused to question him or hear his side of the story in any way. Arviv eventually released a letter sent to the AG through Arviv’s attorneys that appears to factually refute most or all of Pinto’s charges against him. Yet Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has still refused to have Arviv questioned or deposed.

And now Weinstein appears to accept a plea deal with Pinto – even though Pinto was also caught redhanded trying to bribe a different senior police officer. Pinto’s charity, Hazon Yeshaya, also stole huge amounts of food donations earmarked for Holocaust survivors, sold the food on Israel’s black market and used the cash from the sales to enrich its top officers – and, allegedly, Pinto himself – and Pinto allegedly looted Hazon Yeshaya besides that. Pinto also allegedly obstructed justice, tampered with witnesses, made terroristic threats against enemies and committed several other crimes.

But none of this rampant, crude criminality – much of it clearly documented by police long before Pinto made bribery allegations against Arviv – seems to be enough to stop Weinstein from allowing Pinto to get off easy.

Many observers (and many police officers) insist that Pinto’s claims about Arviv were made only so that Pinto could have a bargaining chip to get out of the criminal charges against him and Israel's top prosecutor stepped down from the case over Weinstein's previous attempt to make a plea deal with the allegedly corrupt kabbalist.
 
If Weinstein approves the new proposed plead deal with Pinto, Pinto will reportedly only be charged with attempted bribery – all the other charges, from theft and embezzlement to threatening witnesses and destroying evidence – will be dropped. The state would ask the court to sentence Pinto to a short prison term, while Pinto's lawyers would ask for a suspended sentence, instead.

But, if  Pinto's information somehow results in a prosecution of Arviv, prosecutors would entertain further watering down Pinto's indictment or recommending to the court that Pinto serve no time in prison.

Pinto was caught on tape attempting to offer a senior police officer, Ephraim Bracha, $200,000 in exchange for inside information on the police investigation into Hazon Yeshaya.

Even so, if Weinstein accepts the plea proposed plea deal, it is likely Pinto will never serve a day in prison whether his "evidence" turns out to be valid or not.

The Justice Ministry's spokesman reportedly declined to comment on the report of new plea deal for Pinto.

Arviv’s attorney, Gideon Fisher, was dismissive of the report, which was first aired by Israel’s Channel 2 News.

"The spins manufactured by Pinto's people are designed to let him walk. They come just after his people tried to use forged documents and false affidavits to protect him,” Fisher said.

Most of Pinto allegations are built on an affidavit by Ben Zion Suky, a Pinto’s top aide and relative who first made his fortune as a distributor of pornography and has now branched out into high end real New York estate.

Suky, Pinto and Pinto’s brother Menachem are the chief defendants in a civil suit filed by an Israeli investor who claims Suky stole millions from a real estate deal, and that Suky and Pinto had a corrupt NYPD cop arrest him on false charges and try to extort him.

Prosecutors dropped those charges but do not appear to have indicted or charged the cop, Pinto or Suky.

The 39-year-old Pinto is one of the ten richest rabbis in Israel with a net worth – all 'earned' through his kabbalah business – in the tens of millions of dollars.

Related:

All Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto Posts.

Comments

[Sarek]

So he drops a (possibly counterfeit) dime on someone. What happened to the prohibition against being a moser that they're so fond of?

[Pax Monzi (not the one from Cedarhurst)]

I don't process. First the AG "refused" to question Menashe Arviv or "hear his side of things in any way"
But now they will let this charlatan go free for dropping a dime on him?!?!
Am I missing something? (Other than my mind)

[anuran]

Well, of course he will. He's Charedi which means he doesn't have to obey aporikos laws.

[ah-pee-chorus]

this is so ass-backwards. there never would have been a bribe had pinto not been up to his eyes in theft and fraud. none of the other charges have any direct connection with the bribe. if anything it should be the opposite whereby pinto is fully prosecuted and punished for everything else but given a slightly reduced sentence on the bribery charge if he cooperates.
In effect prosecutors are setting a dangerous precedent in which criminals can commit theft, fraud, money laundering etc. and then when they know they're about to get caught all they have to do is find some corrupt cop to bribe using just a small portion of their ill-gotten fortune and they go scot free.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

somebody should be investigating the AG and eventually lock him in an underwater cell together with his rabbi chum.