Six more Bolivian government officials have reportedly been arrested
for allegedly extorting and robbing American haredi businessman Jacob
Ostreicher.
Jacob Ostreicher
6 More Arrests In Ostreicher Case
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah,com
Six more Bolivian government officials have reportedly been arrested for allegedly extorting and robbing American haredi businessman Jacob Ostreicher, the Associated Press reports.
Ostreicher, who came to Bolivia to manage a rice farm he owns with Swiss partners, has been imprisoned in La Paz for 18 months without charges. The Bolivian government accused him of possible money laundering and of having an obscure connection to a drug dealer who no longer lives in the country.
Bolivia’s interior minister, Carlos Romero, told reporters today that authorities have made seven total arrests of government officials in the case. He said those arrested include the judge who first ordered Ostreicher jailed and officials working in the state agency that seized 18,000 metric tons of rice from him. A senior official in the ministry of the president was arrested yesterday for allegedly stealing rice confiscated from Ostreicher and selling it.
Ostriecher claims several of the Bolivian government officials now under arrest had tried to extort money from him in return for promises to release him from prison.
Ostreicher was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and has been hospitalized at a La Paz clinic for treatment of that condition and to treat the effects of a hunger strike he took on to protest his incarceration.