Eli Weinstein, a 51-year-old Haredi man from the Haredi town of Lakewood, was sentenced yesterday (Friday) to 37 years in prison for fraud, committed just months after his release from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump.
According to a report on the Ynet website, a federal court judge in New Jersey ordered him to pay $44 million in damages, describing his actions as "brazen."
The judge emphasized: "Weinstein was given an opportunity that not many people get, but he wasted it."
Weinstein received the pardon at the end of Trump’s first term in 2021 while serving a 24-year sentence for two cases of Ponzi and real estate fraud worth $230 million.
He was pardoned after numerous activists in the Haredi community in the United States advocated for him, led by Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood. The activists reached out to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, and garnered the support of dozens of members of Congress, lawyers, and former judges who recommended pardoning him. Additionally, ten Haredi victims of his actions also sent a letter to President Trump requesting his pardon.
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After his release from prison, Weinstein pledged in a video he posted and distributed to his associates to "turn over a new leaf;" however, according to the prosecution, Weinstein "continued exactly where he left off" after leaving prison.
With the help of partners, he devised a plan to raise investment through a new company, operating under the pseudonym 'Mike Koenig,' to raise money for what he presented as an "emergency business."
According to the indictment, he promised investors that the funds would be used to purchase coronavirus masks, baby formulas that were in short supply, and first aid kits supposedly intended for Ukraine.
In reality, according to the lawsuit, the money was used for gambling, purchasing real estate and luxury watches, and payments to partners.
During the trial, the jury heard hundreds of tapes played by two of his business partners, in which Weinstein explicitly described his modus operandi. In one recording, he admitted, "I conned, I ran a Ponzi scheme, and I lied to people to cover for our deals."
Prosecutors described Weinstein as a "wizard of deception and lies."
Weinstein was arrested in July 2023, after months of secret documentation, and was convicted last March on a series of charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and making false statements to the probation service.
Weinstein grew up in Israel, studied at a yeshiva in Jerusalem, married, and lived in the city’s Har Nof neighborhood. He began his business career in Israel before moving to Lakewood, where he worked as a used car salesman.
In 2005, he portrayed himself as a real estate investor, leveraging his connections within the Haredi communities in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and California, as well as other places around the world, including Israel and Britain, to convince investors from the community to purchase or rent properties he did not even own.
In December 2009, the FBI began investigating him, and in August 2010, he was arrested at his home in Lakewood. He was charged with a $230 million Ponzi scheme.
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He used donations to charities and Jewish organizations to disguise the fraud.
In January 2013, he pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in a plea agreement reached with the federal prosecutor, leading to a sentence of 24 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release.
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