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Rabbi Pinto’s Legal, Personal Troubles Mount

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Popular sage Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto is coping with multiple crises, as he faces possible criminal charges and his wife recovers from a suicide attempt.Sage & Wife Under House Arrest, Wife Attempts Suicide

A wave of new troubles have hit Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, the famed sage and celebrity business advisor, who – while being investigated by Israeli police on a charge of money laundering – has been placed along with his wife under house arrest for allegedly attempting to bribe a senior police officer to provide him with classified information about the probe. Adding to the family crisis, the rabbi’s wife Devorah Rivka was reported to have taken an overdose of pills in an apparent suicide attempt.

The rabbanit was admitted to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and was said to have suffered light injuries. Said by observers to have committed the act out of despair over her husband’s run-in with the law, Devorah Rivka Pinto took the pills while her husband was going through a three-hour police interrogation into the bribery charges. The interrogation session was abruptly ended when the news about Rabbi Pinto’s wife came in.

Late last week, the Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court ordered the Pintos to remain under house arrest for 15 days. In response to that move, Pinto family spokesman Amir Dan accused the police and the court of ignoring the family’s requests to delay the investigation, given the rabbanit’s tentative psychological condition. Dan also condemned the authorities for ignoring the Pintos’ request to impose a media blackout on the probe. In addition to the temporary house arrest, the police announced on Monday that Rabbi Pinto is banned from traveling for a six-month period.

The police in Israel launched their inquiry into Rabbi Pinto after he approached Brigadier General Ephraim Bracha, the director of its investigations department – who is said to be a follower of the sage – and allegedly offered him a large bribe in exchange for information about a separate investigation. That probe is looking into the dealings of Ofer Biton, a former assistant to Rabbi Pinto, who has been under investigation in the United States for possible financial improprieties related to his simultaneous role as a fundraiser for Staten Island Representative Michael Grimm.

While he was preparing to campaign for the House position in 2010, Grimm was introduced to Pinto by Biton, following which the rabbi’s congregants donated more than $500,000 to Grimm’s campaign. A number of those congregants subsequently claimed that the Republican politician and Biton told them it was acceptable to make donations over the legal limit. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn is examining those improper donations.

Biton was arrested in August on charges that he lied about personal information while applying for a special immigration visa to the United States. He was released on $1.5 million bail after spending 50 days in prison.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Devorah Rivka Pinto gave a suitcase filled with $200,000 in cash to the police officer’s wife, to be delivered to her husband. The Pintos deny the accusation, according to the family spokesman. “The rabbi answered all the questions in his investigation,” Dan stated. “He is sure that after the facts come to light, the police will understand that the suspicions are completely baseless.” According to reports, Rabbi Pinto insisted to the police that Bracha is a relative, and the rabbi was merely trying to give him financial assistance. Pinto said Bracha misunderstood his intentions, and the rabbi could not fathom why the senior officer thought he was making a bribery attempt.

Rabbi Pinto is the head of Shuva Israel, a yeshiva and charity organization that distributes food to the poor in Israel. The Sephardic rabbinical leader has provided business advice to numerous big names in Israel, including former Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni, Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, real estate magnate Yitzhak Tshuva and business giant Nochi Dankner. In the United States, he has advised former Representative Anthony Weiner, basketball star LeBron James and conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

Pinto’s attorney Yaron Lipshes insisted that his client has completely cooperated with the police, and that the charges against him are absolutely false.

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