The former executive director of Congregation Beth El, a synagogue in La Jolla, will have to pay $470,500 in restitution for stealing from his congregation to pay for vacations, furnishings and more.
Eric S. Levine, 37, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay the restitution after he pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in federal court.
Court records say while serving as the director, Levine falsified the synagogue’s books and records to hide five years’ worth of thefts.
From 2007 to 2013, the embezzled money went to vacations in Hawaii, Mexico and Las Vegas, as well as expensive gym memberships, a personal trainer, costly furnishings and barbecue equipment, according to prosecutors.
Levine is also accused of using the synagogue’s nearly $2 million budget to pay his own bills or his personal credit card balance. Court documents allege he used names like "High Holidays" or "Purim Baskets" as line items to hide his thefts.
Although in his guilty plea he admitted to misappropriating $394,872.99, a restitution order, filed Oct. 27, told him to pay a total of $470,500 to Bel El, a bank and an insurance company.
Levine will pay $208,281.18 to the congregation, while $162,218.82 will go to Chase Bank, which is considered a victim because the ex-leader used funds that were not his to pay off his personal credit cards.
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Philadelphia Insurance Companies, which insures the temple, will get another $100,000.
While he is in prison, Levine will pay 50 percent of his income, or $25 per quarter if that is greater, the order says. Under three years of supervised release, he will have to give his victims $300 per month.
Congregation Beth El will get its money back first, followed by Chase Bank and Philadelphia Insurance Companies.
Levine is expected to surrender himself to prison by Nov. 14.
At his sentencing in September, congregation members and rabbis expressed their anger toward Levine in letters filed with the court, saying he has taken away from the mission "of creating a lively Jewish community" and has forced the diminished staff to spend much more time on accounting.
