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Eliyahu Weinstein, who had an extended prison sentence for fraud commuted in 2021 by the then outgoing President Donald Trump, was arrested again, this time on a new set of fraud charges. He is accused of operating under the alias Michael Konig together with four others including Israeli businessman and former IDF officer Shlomo Erez.
Shlomo Erez is a 55-year-old Israeli attorney who claims to have served in a classified IDF unit attached to the Prime Minister’s Office. But this has not been independently verified and his personal website where the claim is listed is currently down. Erez was arrested when his international flight landed at New York’s JFK airport.
According to the official complaint, Eliyahu Weinstein and the others allegedly committed a sophisticated fraud scheme that caused victims losses in the millions of dollars. He is said to have done so by using a fake name and falsely promising access to deals involving scarce medical supplies, baby formula, and first-aid kits supposedly destined for wartime Ukraine. Authorities described the activities as “brazen and sophisticated crimes that involved multiple conspirators and drew right from Weinstein’s playbook of fraud. No matter how many times someone attempts to prey on innocent investors, my office will dedicate whatever resources are necessary to root out and punish fraudsters.”
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“We allege Mr. Weinstein took part in a new scheme to rip off investors by hiding his real identity,” Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy of the FBI’s Newark field office said in a statement released by the Justice Department. “He was aware his actions were against the terms of his release on a previous investment fraud conviction, and we allege he engaged in criminal activity anyway.”
“These were brazen and sophisticated crimes that involved multiple conspirators and drew right from Weinstein’s playbook of fraud,” SAID Philip R. Sellinger, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, at a press conference.
When Eliyahu Weinstein received clemency from President Trump, he was serving a 24-year sentence for felony convictions that involved two schemes. One of his crimes involved defrauding members of an orthodox Jewish community out of more than $200 million.
This time, Weinstein is charged with cheating 150 people out of $35 million.
