True Left

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A rabbi who was badly wounded in a deadly antisemitic attack at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Southern California was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in federal prison for running a multimillion-dollar donation fraud, authorities said.

Yisrael Goldstein, 60, also was ordered to pay about $2.8 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty in 2020 to wire and tax fraud.
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The rabbi received an outpouring of support, addressed the United Nations and met with President Donald Trump at the White House.
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He was accused of collecting $6.2 million in fake donations to the synagogue and affiliates. Prosecutors said he returned 90% to contributors with phony receipts, allowing them to deduct the full amount from their taxes while Goldstein kept the remaining 10%, or $620,000, for himself. One donor got back his contribution in the form of $1 million in gold.

The scheme and others spanned years and even decades, prosecutors said, and resulted in losses in federal taxes, to the synagogue that never received the donations and to companies that matched donations and never got back their contributions.

The rabbi also admitted taking about $185,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services by submitting fake invoices for damage related to 2007 wildfires.