Frankfurt butchers convicted in kosher meat fraud

The two perpetrators sold faux kosher meat over a two-year period to a Jewish school, nursing home and numerous private residences

By SAM SOKOL
Like his Hahatzer, chef Moti Ohana’s new Medita in Jerusalem abounds with good food and loyal patrons. (photo credit: PR)
Like his Hahatzer, chef Moti Ohana’s new Medita in Jerusalem abounds with good food and loyal patrons.
(photo credit: PR)
The owners of a Jewish butcher shop in Frankfurt were convicted of fraudulently selling their customers non-kosher meat, the Frankfurter Allgemeine reported.
The two men, identified as Leslie W., 48, and Akiva H., 56, went on trial last year, accused of conducting this fraud over a period of two years.
During the trial Akiva H. admitted that he began selling the faux kosher meat in 2008 when “threatened with insolvency,” apologizing to “all those whose religious feelings were hurt,” Bild reported last year.
Leslie W. explained that after discovering the fraud in 2010, he went along with it, fearing the damage that such a revelation could do to his business.
The fraud continued through 2012.
The butcher shop supplied kosher meat to a Jewish school, a nursing home and numerous private residences, both within Frankfurt and in other locales.
The pair involved in the fraud were known as “nice and gentle” men who were “well known in the Jewish community,” Joshua, a Jew from Frankfurt now living in Israel, told The Jerusalem Post at the time. “I knew both of them from synagogue, and many of my Frankfurt friends including myself shopped there.”
Both received sentences of probation and fines, Frankfurter Allgemeine reported, with Akiva H. receiving a two-year suspended sentence and a €9,000 fine, while his co-conspirator received a slightly lesser sentence and was levied a fine of €7,200.
According to district court judge Jorn Immerschmitt, the pair got off with such a small sentence because of the intense social ostracism and stigma they now face after abusing the trust and religious sensibilities of their entire community.
They are also required to pay a fine of €30,000 to a local Jewish sports club.