In a totally bizarre meeting with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, rapper Kanye West – who has made countless blatantly antisemitic statements, including releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler” – apologized for his actions, claiming that it is due to his suffering from bipolar disorder.
In 2010, YWN reported that Pinto met with NBA player LeBron James on a yacht, where he paid Pinto a staggering six figures to give him “business advice”.
Pinto later did a year in prison and had since rebranded himself as a major Mekubal living in Manhattan.
Rabbi Pinto served ten months in an Israeli prison which was a part of a plea bargain agreement in a bribery trial. It is interesting to note, that Pinto initially stated “If I have bribed anyone I am willing to remove my fedora and from now on, I am not a rav.” A short time later, he pled guilty to bribery, and was sentenced to prison.
He admitted to his actions, offering a $200,000 bribe to Menashe Arbiv, the former Commander of Israel Police’s 433 Unit (known as Israel’s FBI) – in exchange for information pertaining to the Israel Police and FBI investigations against him. In light of his confession, the court convicted Rabbi Pinto of charges including attempted bribery and obstruction of justice.
Rabbi Pinto kept his word, and removed his fedora, and instead replaced it with a cap. He did continue being a Rav, and opened a Shul in Manhattan, where he continues sharing his Kabbalistic wisdom to people, many of whom continue to shower him with large sums of money. He later took off hias cap and replaced it with the clothing of a Moroccan Mekubal.
Years ago, NBA superstar player LeBron James paid Pinto six figures to sit in on a merchandising meeting on a yacht somewhere off the coast of New York.
Rabbi Pinto has tried to get accepted by the mainstream Chareidi community, and has donated large sums of money to the Peleg Yerushalmi. Pinto met with the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg, as well as Hagaon Harav Elya Ber Wachfogel and made hefty donations to the Peleg causes.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
Just privately telling the rabbi “I’m sorry” isn’t teshuva. His past public statements caused a lot of harm. If kanye is truly remorse he needs to put out a public statement retracting his former words.