Father-In-Law Retracts Claim Against Rabbi Pinto
After first accusing his son-in-law, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, of using him to launder money, Argentine Chief Rabbi Shlomo Ben Hamo retracted his claim in an agreement that was given the force of a verdict by the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Ben Hamo said on Thursday that the retraction was “part of an arrangement made for legal reasons and to preserve domestic tranquillity.”
Last month, Haaretz published passages from an affidavit Ben Hamo submitted in response to a lawsuit. In the suit, the developer of a luxury residential project accused Ben Hamo of failing to pay the balance due on two apartments he had purchased.
In his defense, Ben Hamo claimed that the debt belonged to the Pintos. In his affidavit, he described at length how his daughter and Pinto persuaded him to open a bank account in Argentina for them in his own name. He said he did so because his daughter told him his refusal was causing discord between her and her husband.
In 2007, the Pintos came to Ben Hamo and informed him that they had purchased two apartments in the prestigious Jerusalem of Gold complex. According to the affidavit, Ben Hamo agreed to serve as a guarantor of the Pintos’ contract with the developer.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
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