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- Feb 6, 2010
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A Jewish charity co-founder who claimed he crisscrossed the globe rescuing Torahs as a "Jewish Indiana Jones" has surrendered to face mail and wire fraud charges after authorities said he duped benefactors by fabricating dramatic stories about sometimes dangerous trips, including to concentration camp sites in Poland and Germany.
Menachem Youlus, who owns the Jewish Bookstore in Wheaton, Maryland, where he lives, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan and was released on Wednesday on $100,000 (£61,000) bail.
His attorney, Paul Rooney, said: "We deny this accusation, and anything else we have to say will be said in court."
Court papers said 50-year-old Youlus carried out the fraud from at least 2004 until last year, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Save a Torah charity he co-founded in 2004 as a nonprofit organisation. A criminal complaint said he passed off Torahs he bought from US dealers to synagogues and congregations nationwide, sometimes at inflated rates.
'Jewish Indiana Jones' accused of fabricating stories | World news | guardian.co.uk
Menachem Youlus, who owns the Jewish Bookstore in Wheaton, Maryland, where he lives, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan and was released on Wednesday on $100,000 (£61,000) bail.
His attorney, Paul Rooney, said: "We deny this accusation, and anything else we have to say will be said in court."
Court papers said 50-year-old Youlus carried out the fraud from at least 2004 until last year, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Save a Torah charity he co-founded in 2004 as a nonprofit organisation. A criminal complaint said he passed off Torahs he bought from US dealers to synagogues and congregations nationwide, sometimes at inflated rates.
'Jewish Indiana Jones' accused of fabricating stories | World news | guardian.co.uk