The Aleph Institute is an American non-profit organization affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement that provides support services to the approximately 85,000 Jews in the U.S. prison system and Jewish members of the U.S. military located in the United States and deployed abroad.
17-595: Aleph's prison programs focus on assisting Jewish inmates during their prison stay as well as helping them reintegrate into society once released. Aleph helps them observe the Jewish holidays and assist them with their daily Jewish practices, books, food items and materials holidays and daily Jewish practices. Aleph also has a summer visitation program which sends Rabbinical students around the US visiting over 3,000 Jewish inmates. The institute has intervened on behalf of Jewish prisoners, in
34-422: A Bolivian. Ostreicher was visited by actor Sean Penn on October 31, 2012. Bolivian law allows for imprisonment without charge for 18 months during the investigative phase. Since Ostreicher was arrested in early June 2011, the 18-month mark occurred in early December 2012. Ostreicher appeared in a hearing on Tuesday, December 11, and the judge ordered that the case be sent back to the lower court. Actor Penn
51-537: A public effort to plea for his release, and actor-activist Sean Penn visited Ostreicher in Bolivia and pledged to work for his release. On December 18, 2012, Ostreicher was released from prison on $ 14,000 bail and placed under house arrest . Bolivian officials were later arrested for what authorities state was an extortion ring. On December 16, 2013, Ostreicher arrived in the United States after 30 months in Bolivia. It
68-606: A stay of execution on behalf of Martin Grossman who was convicted of the 1984 killing of a law enforcement officer. Pope Benedict XVI also sent a personal request to commute the sentence but the execution proceeded and Grossman was killed in 2010. Aleph assists with the spiritual needs of Jews serving in the U.S. Armed Forces by providing Jewish books as well as moral and spiritual support. Aleph also distributes special holiday packages to soldiers for Jewish holidays to Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine bases. The European Aleph Institute
85-546: Is an American businessman and investor. In June 2011, he was arrested in Santa Cruz , Bolivia , while overseeing a rice growing agricultural venture that he had invested in, and was jailed for 18 months on suspicion of money laundering , though he was never formally charged. Ostreicher maintained his innocence and stated that the allegations by the Bolivian government were "the scam of the century". His family and friends initiated
102-605: The Interior Regime another division of the Ministry of Government; and Jose Manuel Antezana Pinaya , an official in the Ministry of the Presidency. Members of the network approached indicted, and usually imprisoned persons, offering to resolve their cases in exchange for payments from $ 5,000 to $ 100,000. The Associated Press has described the affair as "the biggest scandal to face the country's judicial system." As of 5 December 2012,
119-518: The Presidency and prosecutor's offices are alleged to have constituted an extortion ring that demanded cash from individuals facing prosecution, including American investor Jacob Ostreicher . The ring has been the subject of official investigation since November 2012. Its central figures are allegedly Fernando Rivera Tardío and Dennis Efraín Rodas , both lawyers for the Bolivian Minister of Government; Boris Villegas Rocabado , former Director of
136-544: The United States and abroad. For example, the institute connected Jacob Ostreicher , a Jewish businessman arrested in Bolivia in 2011 for purportedly money laundering, with actor Sean Penn . Penn made a direct appeal to Bolivian President Evo Morales on Ostreicher's behalf. Ostreicher was released in 2013 and credited the Aleph Institute with helping to secure his release. In 2010, Aleph Institute joined 200 Jewish organizations petitioning then Governor Charlie Christ for
153-572: The White House; this requirement was met. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) held a hearing in the Congress on June 6, 2012, to investigate the role that the United States Department of State has played in helping free Jacob from Bolivia. Hearings were also held on August 1, 2012, and May 20, 2013. On December 16, 2013, Ostreicher arrived in the US after 30 months in Bolivia. He
170-464: The judge reversed his decision a week later. A month later the judge was promoted and a new judge was assigned to the case. Following several postponements, the second judge recused himself from the case; no other judge had yet to be assigned. A marriage certificate showing Ostreicher was married in Bolivia was entered into evidence during the September 23 hearing. Ostreicher denied that he was married to
187-568: Was arranged by Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind . On May 3, 2012, supporters of Ostreicher initiated an online petition on the White House We the People website requesting the Obama Administration to assist in the effort to free Jacob. As of December 2, 2019, 35,958 people signed the petition. A total of 25,000 signatures were needed by June 2, 2012, in order to submit the petition to
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#1733085334706204-551: Was arrested for suspicion of money laundering and criminal organization. The prosecutors also claimed that one of the investors, Andre Zolty, was under investigation in Switzerland, however, the Swiss authorities have denied this. Rodriguez has also been arrested. Ostreicher was imprisoned at Palmasola prison. Ostreicher was brought before a judge who after several hearings ordered for him to be released on September 23, 2011. However
221-459: Was cheating them. Ostreicher was dispatched to Bolivia to handle the situation, and pursued criminal charges against Rodriguez. The investors also state that Rodriguez became involved in a romantic and financial relationship with a drug trafficker by the name of Maximiliano Dorado. Dorado was arrested in 2010, and was imprisoned in Brazil. On June 4, 2011, after an initial investigation, Ostreicher
238-548: Was founded in 2005 and based in Brussels to ensure the religious rights of the estimated 3,500 to 5,000 Jews imprisoned in Europe. The institute arranges for prisoners to be provided with kosher meals, religious texts and ceremonial objects, as well as counseling, education, and financial support to families of prisoners. The expressed intent is to avoid recidivism . Jacob Ostreicher Jacob Ostreicher (born February 7, 1959)
255-557: Was present at the hearing. On December 18, Ostreicher was released from prison on $ 14,000 bail and was placed under house arrest. Fifteen people, including prosecutors, government officials, and the judge who originally had Ostreicher imprisoned, were arrested in what authorities say was an extortion ring . They include: A rally was held for Ostreicher in front of the Bolivian Mission in New York City on May 3, 2012. The rally
272-465: Was reported to be in an undisclosed location with Sean Penn and receiving medical attention. It was unclear how he had fled the country. In May 2014 Ostreicher revealed that after his release, Penn had personally nursed him back to mental and physical health at the latter's home. Bolivian prosecutorial extortion ring A cluster of officials in the Bolivian Ministries of Government and
289-638: Was unclear how he managed to flee the country. Ostreicher was born in Brooklyn , New York , in 1959 to David and Violet Ostreicher, both Orthodox Jews . He has 2 children and 7 grandchildren. A group of investors, including Ostreicher and Geneva lawyer Andre Zolty, invested at least $ 25 million in a rice farming project in Bolivia in 2008. Zolty stated that the idea originally came from Claudia Liliana Rodriguez who he had worked with in Geneva. The investors became concerned with irregularities and suspected that Rodriguez
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