Former Holocaust fund worker jailed for fraud

PanARMENIAN.Net - A former caseworker for an organization that aids survivors of Nazi persecution was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Friday, Oct 19, for her participation in a $57 million fraud scheme, Reuters reports.

Polina Breyter, an employee of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa in Manhattan to make restitution of nearly half a million dollars.

Breyter, 69, of Brooklyn, New York, processed false applications and recruited ineligible applicants for reparation programs in exchange for payments, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. She pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The Claims Conference administers programs sponsored by the German government to victims of Nazi atrocities.

Thirty-one people have been charged in the scheme, including 18 who have pleaded guilty, the statement said.