‘Jewish Indiana Jones’ Faces Fraud Case Over Torahs
A man who dubbed himself the ‘Jewish Indiana Jones’ and claimed to have rescued Torah scrolls lost in the Holocaust was charged with fraud by federal authorities on Wednesday.
Menachem Youlus, 50, of Wheaton, Md., faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly concocting the bogus stories to raise money for his Save a Torah charity.
He was hit with one count each of mail fraud and wire fraud, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bhahara and U.S. Postal Inspector Ronald Verrochio.
Authorities said Youlus owns the Jewish Bookstore in Maryland and co-founded Save a Torah in 2004.
The charity raised over $1.2 million in contributions from 2004 to 2010. Youlus is accused of defrauding the charity out of “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Bhahara said.
Youlus allegedly lied about finding Torahs scrolls that had been lost or hidden around the world during the Holocaust, including at concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, authorities said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
