Devorah Pinto, the wife of embattled Sefardi haredi ‘kabbalist’ Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, tried to kill herself Tuesday night over the bribery, money laundering, embezzlement and corruption charges she and her husband face.
Above: Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto
Report: Wife Of Haredi Kabbalist Tries To Kill Herself Over Bribery Charges
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Devorah Pinto, the wife of embattled Sefardi haredi ‘kabbalist’ Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, tried to kill herself Tuesday night, Israel’s News 10 reported.
This is Devorah Pinto’s second suicide attempt since Israeli law enforcement began to move to prosecute her and her husband for bribery, embezzlement, many laundering, obstruction of justice and extortion charges.
A Magen David Adom ambulance team was called to the couple's luxurious Ashdod apartment and transported Devorah Pinto to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. She is reportedly in light condition.
Pinto was being questioned by the police internal affairs division at their headquarters when he was told of his wife’s suicide attempt. Pinto reportedly immediately left the police headquarters and rushed to the hospital.
Pinto returned to Israel this morning after months abroad after a bizarre deal was made between his lawyers and the state prosecutor’s office that would see Pinto testify against a former top cop he allegedly bribed and then be free to leave the country until some date in the future when Pinto would be allegedly prosecuted for all of his other crimes.
Pinto would need to pass a lie detector test before testifying against that ex-police officer.
If he passes and then testifies completely and truthfully, he will be free to return to New York, where he has an office, a synagogue and a palatial residence.
Then at some time in the future, the prosecution would require submit a plead deal in which Pinto would serve at most one year in prison – if Pinto actually returns to serve it.
Pinto not only allegedly bribed the now former senior police officer, Menashe Arbiv, Pinto and his wife also allegedly attempted to bribe another senior police officer, Ephraim Bracha, with $200,000 in cash.
The Pinto were trying to get information on the investigation into Pinto’s Hazon Yeshaya charity whose leaders – including Pinto – allegedly embezzled tens of millions of dollars by taking large food donations earmarked for poor Holocaust survivors and selling them to food distributors on the black market. The charity’s leaders, including Pinto, allegedly pocketed tens of millions of dollars in cash.
Pinto’s wife was taped trying to bribe Bracha, and some believe that Pinto may have implicated her in the bribery and claimed that he himself had no part in it.
If so, Devorah Pinto could possibly be convicted and would then likely serve several years in prison.
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto is one of the top ten richest rabbis in Israel with a net worth reportedly in the tens of millions of dollars – all of it supposedly earned through his work as a kabbalist to Israel's political and business elite.