If You're Going to Steal, Don't Steal From Holocaust Survivor Funds

The FBI has charged 17 people with participating in a decade-long scam to bilk the government out of millions of dollars that were designated for Holocaust survivors and WWII Nazi victims. God will not be smiling on these people.

According to the FBI, the scam involved thousands of false applications submitted to two separate government funds for Nazi-era reparations—one for Jews who became refugees, and another for Jews who went into hiding. Conspirators allegedly recruited elderly Russians in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, then tweaked the details on their applications (or added fictional details) until they fit the guidelines of the program. When the payments came through, the conspirators would take a portion for themselves.

The fraud went on for 16 years. It cost the funds as much as $42 million. And the alleged ringleader of the fraud: Semen Domnitser, the head of the two funds in question.

This is gonna be so bad for his karma.

[NYT. Photo via]