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Yisrael Perry (Motti Kimche) Last update - 21:44 19/02/2008 Lawyer jailed for fraud in dealing with Jews' pensions in Germany By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Israel, Yisrael Perry  The Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday sentenced attorney Yisrael Perry to 12 years in prison, for embezzling 320 million German marks worth of insurance premiums from Israelis who claimed German retirement benefits. He was also fined NIS 21.75 million and sentenced to five and a half years of suspended imprisonment. Perry announced last week that he intended to appeal to the High Court, but if the latter decides to reject his appeal, he will reimburse his clients for the extraneous premiums they had been charged. Advertisement To this end, Perry has already transferred NIS 50 million to a trust he established. Perry also announced that his clients could cash the payments they are owed via various insurance firms, and urged the court to consider his gesture while making a decision on his sentence. In 1983 Perry learned that according to an agreement signed by the Israeli and the West German governments, any person who had been a citizen since 1953 and resided within the 1967 borders, was eligible, with a down payment of DM 100,000, to join the German pension scheme and receive full benefits. Perry decided to set up a firm to represent applicants and sort out the joining procedures, including applying for loans in international banks. The defendants made their clients sign contracts that would enable them to claim insurance premiums on their part. Justice Zecharia Caspi said the clients were made to believe they signed an agreement with established insurance firms as third party, whereas in fact they were all under Perry's control. Caspi stated that a firm Perry set up in the Cayman Islands, called Britannia, cannot be recognized as an insurance firm, and that the defendant deceived his clients to draw additional profits. The judge said that Perry and his associates "did not purchase an insurance firm as had been promised, even though they charged their clients for that purpose, and the premiums were fraudulently calculated. The defendants are therefore guilty of deceitfully handling and embezzling the claimants' money." "This is a very difficult time for me and my family," Perry said. "I have undoubtedly made mistakes all along the way. Although I haven't always been acting with full transparency, I don't think my conduct constitutes a criminal offense." He added that "for years the media have made people believe that I stole Holocaust survivors' reparation money. I'm a Holocaust survivor myself. Those horrible things that have been said about me have nothing to do neither with the work of my organization nor with the offenses I've been convicted of, and I'm pleased the court found it appropriate to put things straight in the sentence." More Jewish World news and features Related articles: Editorial: Correct use of fruits of growth Haaretz TV: Productive retirement Pensions for former Russians to increase by 40 percent Bookmark to del.icio.us   Intrigue at Heathrow According to the BBC, an IDF general dodged arrest as U.K. police feared shootout. Decency in remission A Ramat Yishai widow is suspected of faking cancer to receive donations.   1.   LET HIM ROT IN PRISON 11:20  |  Dror 19/02/08   2.   what a miserable piece of human garbage 11:43  |  don 19/02/08   3.   Lawyer jailed for fraud in dealing with Jews` pensions in Germany 11:52  |  Never Again 19/02/08   4.   Jewish lawyer stealing Jews 12:03  |  Gabriela 19/02/08   5.   LAWER/THIEF 12:07  |  The Teacher/instruct 19/02/08   6.   fraud 12:10  |  rut 19/02/08   7.   Jonathan S will blame this on... 12:25  |  Jonathan T 19/02/08   8.   Why? 12:47  |  RF 19/02/08   9.   Another Light unto all Nations 12:53  |  SJ 19/02/08   10.   Disgusting piece of human garbage 13:19  |  Chris Linthwaite 19/02/08   11.   "Suspended Imprisonment"? 13:31  |  Jonathan 19/02/08   12.   corruption 14:35  |  Yitz 19/02/08   13.   #8 Why? BECAUSE HE IS JEWISH 14:57  |  accountablity 19/02/08   14.   A subtle difference between a true democracy and Germany #7 15:22  |  Jonathan S 19/02/08   15.   Cancel your power of attorney with the German Pension Authority 16:08  |  St. Krower 19/02/08   16.   All claim settlements look like this 16:10  |  St\ 19/02/08   17.   # 4, would that be acceptable if victims were gentiles? 16:17  |  Moshe 19/02/08   18.   WHAT`S THE BIG OUTCRY...........????????? 16:18  |  Robert 19/02/08   19.   Yisrael Perry 16:50  |  Rozz 19/02/08   20.   Is anyone really surprised? 16:54  |  John Bull Capistrano 19/02/08   21.   Rotten Swine / Crooked Lawyer/ Ganav. 17:40  |  Stephen. 19/02/08   22.   HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? 18:31  |  Shocked! 19/02/08   23.   Like the Blakmarketeers in the Ghettoes 18:49  |  Yaakov Sullivan 19/02/08   24.   Robert - You are right 20:31  |  Disgusted 19/02/08   25.   He shames the Jewish nation 03:57  |  sweis Melbourne 20/02/08

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