Israeli police officer whom celebrity rabbi tried to bribe kills himself amid ‘witch hunt’
JERUSALEM – Israeli police say a senior officer whom a celebrity rabbi with a following in the United States tried to bribe has taken his own life amid what police denounced as a witch hunt.
The body of Assistant Commissioner Efraim Bracha was found Sunday.
Bracha, Israel’s top police investigator, reported Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s attempt to bribe him in exchange for classified information about his charitable organizations.
Pinto subsequently accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced in May to a year in prison. Bracha was cleared of any wrongdoing but Pinto’s associates continued making accusations against him.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld accused Pinto of carrying out a “witch-hunt” against Bracha that included slanderous media reports.
Pinto amassed his fortune as a spiritual guru to the wealthy in Israel, New York and elsewhere.
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