Youlus pleads guilty
Rabbi Menachem Youlus, the Maryland rabbi who has referred to himself as the “Jewish Indiana Jones,” pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York on Thursday to mail and wire fraud.
He admitted in open court that he had fabricated tales of rescuing Torahs lost during the Holocaust, and that he had deceived people into paying him large sums of money for the Torahs.
Each of the two counts of fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 21. Youlus will also be required to pay more that $862,000 in restitution to the victims he defrauded.
One of Youlus’ Torahs was sold to Bob Kushner, of Mt. Lebanon, and is being used at Beth El Congregation of the South Hills.
Read the full story in next week’s Chronicle.
(Toby Tabachnick can be reached at tobyt@thejewishchronicle.net.)
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