Top Rabbi Was Laundering Money For The Underworld, Senior Cop Says under Oath
Shmarya Rosenberg
A former high-ranking Israel Police officer, Eren Malka, reportedly testified last week in a case against a third party. During that testimony, Malka spoke about an investigation done in 2005 by the national investigations unit Lahav 433, Israel’s equivalent of the FBI. It reportedly found that Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, the Sefardi haredi kabbalist, laundered money for the local underworld in Ashdod.
After discovering the money laundering, Malka went to the Lahav 433’s head, Ephraim Bracha, and asked for a case against Pinto to be opened.
Bracha – who Pinto tried to bribe a half decade later in another case – reportedly refused to open an investigation against Pinto, who he was then close to.
“We don’t investigate him!” Bracha allegedly told Malka.
“I explained to him that we documented the money transferred to Rabbi Pinto’s court and that we must investigate, but Ephraim [Bracha] told me quietly, ‘forget it, it is not necessary,’” Malka testified.
When Malka persisted, Bracha allegedly replied, “Do you have an idea who Rav Pinto is? No way! He is not to be questioned!”
Bracha has previously denied being close to Pinto.
Before his fall, Pinto was extremely close to many top Israeli politicians and businesspeople and built a net worth of tens of millions of dollars through ‘donations’ he received for his kabbalah-inspired advice, making his one of the top ten richest rabbis in Israel.
But now it appears a significant part of Pinto’s fortune may have come through illegal activity, like laundering money for criminals.
When he was caught trying to bribe Bracha two years ago, Pinto was trying to get detailed information of another police investigation, this one into the looting of the Hazon Yeshaya charity, which was closely linked to Pinto. Hazon Yeshaya received millions of dollars in food donations earmarked for elderly Holocaust survivors. But instead of using the food to feed these poor people, Hazon Yeshaya allegedly sold the food on the black market. The charities top leaders then allegedly pocketed the cash, with a big chunk going to Pinto.
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