The scam involved charging clients a fee to learn how to fool state psychologists into judging them mentally ill.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBHandcuffs [Illustrative](photo credit: INIMAGE)
The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday sentenced two defendants to up to 22 months of jail time in addition to fines reaching NIS 100,000 as part of a plea bargain for their involvement in defrauding the IDF and the National Insurance Institute by coaching people how to feign psychiatric disorders.The scam involved charging clients a fee to learn how to fool state psychologists into judging them mentally ill.The two men were also convicted of falsifying or assisting in falsifying medical documents to support the false diagnosis, which could have led to an illegal loss of state funds of up to NIS 6.8 million.Yisrael Pinto of Jerusalem was sentenced to 22 months in prison and a NIS 100,000 fine. Yehuda Kreitman, also of Jerusalem, was sentenced to four months and NIS 14,200.The lesser fine imposed on Kreitman was part of the bargain that the court ordered despite a deal between the prosecution and the defendants that was expected to reduce the fine to NIS 8,000.The court explained that there was such strong evidence that at least NIS 14,200 was stolen that it could not endorse a deal that did not at the minimum fine Kreitman that amount.Pinto returned two highly valuable books that he had stolen from the National Library in Jerusalem as part of the court deal. He estimated that the books would have cost him tens of thousands of shekels had he purchased them legally.The men were indicted on October 27, 2013, for their involvement in defrauding the NII between January 2012 and April 2013.The men’s efforts to defraud the army focused on the IDF draft offices in Jerusalem, Tel Hashomer, Yavne and B’nai Brak during the period from February 2011 to July 2013.Both men are due to begin their sentences in the Ayalon Prison in October.
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