Poway Rabbi’s Sentencing in Financial Fraud Delayed 6 Months: Probe Persists
Ken Stone, 26 April 2021
Chabad of Poway’s former head rabbi faces a maximum five-year prison sentence for tax-evasion and other financial crimes he pled guilty to last July.
But sentencing of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein won’t take place Monday — a day short of two years after he lost his right index finger in the deadly shooting attack on his congregation.
Federal prosecutors and the 59-year-old rabbi’s lawyers sought, and were granted, a six-month delay — to Oct. 26 before U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant.
“The reason for the requested continuance is that the parties are still working on various sentencing issues, including the defendant’s continued cooperation in the government’s investigation,” said a brief signed in February by Goldstein attorney Benjamin L. Coleman and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Wasserman.
Phillip Halpern, a former prosector in the San Diego DOJ office, says that “based upon Rabbi Goldstein’s cooperation revealed to date, I would expect that he’d receive a substantial reduction in his sentencing recommendation.”
