Sholam Weiss - Biography

Sholam Weiss (also spelled Shalom Weiss; born April 1, 1954), is a former American businessman and convicted felon. In 2000 he was convicted of multiple fraud and money laundering counts and sentenced to 845 years in prison for looting the National Heritage Life Insurance. It was believed to be the largest insurance failure in history at the time, with over $450 million in losses. Weiss fled the country at the end of his trial and was a fugitive for one year. He was subsequently extradited from Austria.

The sentences imposed on Weiss and his 2 accomplices, Michael Blutrich and Richard Herman, were believed to be the longest known to have ever been imposed for a white-collar crime. Weiss was convicted of 78 counts including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering and ordered to pay $125 million in restitution and $123 million in penalties. About a dozen individuals were convicted for involvement in the collapse; another defendant, Keith Pound, received a 700 year sentence, and $139 million in restitution and died in prison.

Weiss was captured in Austria and extradited pursuant to an international arrest warrant. He was not permitted to appeal his extradition in accordance with the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, which holds an appeal may be rejected on the grounds that the appellant is a fugitive.

Early life and background

Weiss grew up in Borough Park, Brooklyn, where his father ran a fruit stand. He was educated in a yeshiva, where he spoke Yiddish, and received the equivalent of a high school education. He was born and raised Jewish. He did not learn English until he was in his late teens. He began doing construction work as a young man and established a plumbing supply company.

The plumbing supply firm failed and declared bankruptcy. Weiss began hiring himself out as a bankruptcy specialist, advising other businesses. Through that business he met Michael D. Blutrich, who owned the topless club Scores, which then was controlled by the Gambino Crime Family.

In 1994, Weiss was indicted on mail fraud charges. He was convicted and served eight months in prison.

National Heritage Life Insurance

Weiss' looting of the National Heritage Life Insurance Co. was the largest in history, according to the FBI, with the loss exceeding $450 million.

Federal authorities said the fraud began in the early 1990s, when a group of businessmen began looting the company. Weiss took control in 1993, and with several confederates bought up worthless stocks and mortgages. The money vanished or ended up in accounts controlled by Weiss.

On October 18, 1999, after a nine-month trial, Weiss failed to appear while the jury was deliberating, and was declared a fugitive. At Weiss's sentencing on the National Heritage charges in February, Judge Patricia C. Fawsett said that Weiss should be removed permanently from society because of the magnitude and repeated nature of his fraudulent acts. He was eventually apprehended by Austrian authorities in the Fall of 2000.

Weiss was extradited from Austria after appeals to the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations failed to prevent his extradition.

Incarceration and subsequent proceedings

Weiss challenged his incarceration in a habeas corpus petition in federal court, claiming that the United States violated its extradition treaty with Austria. Because the courts cannot provide a re-sentencing and appeal, Weiss argued that, under treaty law, the Executive branch of the United States must still provide the benefit of a re-sentencing and appeal and that he was denied that benefit as a result of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine. Weiss is currently serving his 845-year sentence at United States Penitentiary, Canaan, a high security prison near Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has a current projected "release date" of November 23, 2754, effectively a life sentence.

External links

• "Best's Review" article