In this Aug. 24, 2011 file photo, Menachem Youlus leaves federal court in New York after appearing on mail and wire fraud charges. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister, File)
NEW YORK (TheBlaze/AP) — A Jewish charity co-founder who billed himself as a “Jewish Indiana Jones” bent on rescuing vintage Torahs across the globe was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Thursday for conning donors out of about $1 million.
Menachem Youlus told a judge in federal court in Manhattan that he was ashamed of his scam, but still hoped for leniency. TheBlaze first reported about this story in February.
“I will carry that shame and dishonor with me for the rest of my life. … I know I have lifetime of atonement ahead of me,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon gave Youlus 51 months behind bars – the maximum under sentencing guidelines. She imposed the term after hearing some the victims express anguish over discovering that their donations — given to help to save the sacred scrolls in Europe and Israel — instead went into his pocket.
“We’re here because Mr. Youlus is a liar and because he lied in order to obtain money,” the judge said.
Youlus — a 50-year-old father of nine children and owner of a book store in Wheaton, Md. — had told donors he traveled the world to recover Torahs lost or hidden during the Holocaust, including at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.
At a 2004 Torah dedication, Youlus wrote: “I guess you could call me the Jewish Indiana Jones,” a criminal complaint said, referencing the action-adventure hero played by Harrison Ford in the 1981 Stephen Spielberg classic “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
But prosecutors said Youlus rarely went abroad during the years he had claimed to go Torah hunting. They accused him of instead distributing Torahs he bought from U.S. dealers to synagogues and congregations nationwide, sometimes at inflated rates.
Here’s a 2008 clip purportedly showing his “work”:
Authorities also alleged Youlus put some of the donations into his personal accounts, spending the funds on private school tuition for his children and on personal expenses, including meals and health care.
Defense attorney Ben Brafman insisted Thursday that Youlus actually had “squirreled away” most of funds. He also sought to assure victims they would get back all their money.
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Panchogun
Oct. 12, 2012 at 12:44pmI’m certain he’s an Obama voter, screwing over his fellow Obama voters. They prey on each other.
I don’t get it. American Jews voted in the 80 th percentile for Obama, and his policies, his statements, and his treatment of Israel have emboldened every anti-Semite and/or moslum on the face of the planet. I don’t understand the Jewish vote. It is self-destructive. There are many, many Christians that support Israel, but Jews gives Christians the cold shoulder, and then are surprised that the moslum sympathizer who they voted for, is seeking to undo Israel. I am unable to understand the Jewish voter–he is suspicious of his friends, and supports his enemies.
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phrogdriver
Oct. 12, 2012 at 6:39pmWhat the American Jews do not seem to understand is that their real enemy is, and always has been, statism. No gov’t can exterminate them – no one can load them into boxcars – unless the state has the power to do so. It doesn’t matter if it is Soviet Russia, Islamic Egypt or Nazi Germany – their lives and freedom are in danger SOLELY becaue the state has the power to control them.
And yet many continue to vote to give the state the same power that has been used to abuse them for 5000 years.
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123456beatriz
Oct. 12, 2012 at 8:05amVery sad!
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Kevin M
Oct. 12, 2012 at 7:52am“I will carry that shame and dishonor with me for the rest of my life. … I know I have lifetime of atonement ahead of me,” he said.
Fibber. He’s Jewish, so he just has to atone for one day next Yom Kippur, and he’s done with it.
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The_Jerk
Oct. 12, 2012 at 8:19amBernie Madoff.
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tzion
Oct. 12, 2012 at 9:46am@kevin
Your ignorance is clearly showing. Yom Kippur doesn’t automatically cause one’s sins to be forgiven. Moreover the time of repentance is much longer than one day. For the entire month leading up to the new year the Shofar (trumpet made from a rams hron) is blow to remind Jews that the time of repentance is coming. On the new year itself, Jews pray for forgiveness. The new year also opens the Ten days of Repentance, when one is supposed to ask for forgiveness from whoever they have wronged, which culminates in Yom Kipuur itself. Most importantly though, one must genuinely be repentant and resolve to do better if they seek forgiveness.
By comparison, it is the Catholic confessional that forgives quickly and easily.
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truthnstuff
Oct. 12, 2012 at 2:37pmkevinm, not true. According to Torah law he is also required to repay what he has taken. Don’t simply believe what the institution is telling you, it is made up out their book.
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Dano.50
Oct. 12, 2012 at 3:33pmTzion
Now your ignorance is showing.
Confession provides absolution only if in your heart you actually repent, as in try not to sin in any way. If you just waltz out of the booth, say a couple Hail Mary’s, then act like nothing ever happened and you never hurt anybody, it’s a no go.
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Oct. 12, 2012 at 7:34amFor this kind of fraud, on such a matter, I wish there was a way the justice could have sentenced him to 51 years.
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SamIamTwo
Oct. 12, 2012 at 7:20amI sold cemetery property to get thru college…you’d not believe some of the gullible people out there!!
If the family did not buy it, I would leave them fighting over the fact that the wife will spend more at the time of need. It was a great two hour spiel with flip charts. LOL
Then one day the FBI busted the company. I didn’t work there when they got busted. I got wind of the impending bust and gave my two week notice. I was simply a worker bee and not the pusher of the scam.
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GotzvB
Oct. 12, 2012 at 7:29amVee Ver only following orders, Ja?
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