Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto was supposed to return to Israel last month from the US to meet his obligations in his plea bargain with state prosecutors. But Pinto was a no-show, and Israel’s Supreme Court issued an order demanding he return to Israel by today. But Pinto – a felon who tried to bribe one of Israel's top cops – didn't make that flight, either.
Above: Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto
Updated 4:12 pm CDT
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto Faints At Airport, Does Not Return To Israel As Ordered By Supreme Court
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto was supposed to return to Israel last month from the US to meet his obligations in his plea bargain with state prosecutors. But Pinto was a no-show, and Israel’s Supreme Court issued an order demanding he return to Israel by today. Pinto was also ordered to submit a copy of his airline ticket to the court by last Thursday.
Pinto sent the court a copy of his ticket but then didn’t quite manage to get on his plane. The Sefardi haredi ‘kabbalist,’ who has already admitted to trying to bribe a top police official in a bid to get inside information on the looting of a charity his close associates controlled (Pinto allegedly benefited from the looting, which stole millions of dollars of food donations earmarked for elderly Holocaust survivors), felt weak and ill at the airport and then allegedly fainted, Ha'aretz reported, and was then briefly hospitalized in New York.
Pinto claims to be undergoing cancer treatment in the US and was allowed by Israel’s Supreme Court to return to the US for six weeks to continue that treatment after his plea was entered. Pinto, who is reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars (if not more), posted a 3 million shekel (about $780,000) bond before leaving.
Prosecutors and, it seems, judges as well, appear to believe Pinto is exaggerating his illness and using it to avoid beginning to serve his 1-year prison sentence – a sentence that already is ridiculously light for the crimes he committed.
Israel's Supreme Court responded to today's delay by ordering Pinto to return to Israel tomorrow.
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