By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK, July 11 (Reuters) – An Israeli man who pleaded
guilty to illegally brokering kidney transplants for profit in
the United States, the first such conviction under federal law,
was sentenced on Wednesday to 2-1/2 years in prison, prosecutors
said.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, a 61-year old Israeli citizen who
lived in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty last October to charges that
he brokered kidney transplants between paid donors and
recipients on three occasions.
Prosecutors said Rosenbaum charged between $120,000 and
$150,000 to help t hree New Jersey residents find kidneys for
transplant between 2006 and 2009.
He also pleaded to a count of conspiracy to broker a fourth
kidney transaction following a sting operation leading to his
arrest involving an undercover FBI agent who pretended to have a
sick uncle.
Prosecutors said Rosenbaum typically found donors in Israel
through newspaper advertisements who were willing to give up a
kidney in exchange for payment, and that he helped arrange the
necessary blood tests to ensure a match and for the donors’
travel to the United States.
As part of his service, he also helped donors and recipients
invent a cover story to trick hospital staff into thinking the
donation was a purely altruistic exchange between friends or
relatives, which is legal, rather than an illegal business deal,
according to prosecutors.
At least one relative of a kidney recipient spoke in defense
of Rosenbaum at the hearing at the U.S. District Court in
Trenton, New Jersey, on Wednesday, saying he was a hero who
helped save her father’s life, local media reported.
But at least one of the donors, who agreed to cooperate with
the government’s case in exchange for immunity from prosecution,
described to the court that he felt exploited by Rosenbaum.
Paul J. Fishman, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney, whose office
prosecuted the case, said Rosenbaum was motivated by profit, not
the saving of lives.
“A black market where the moneyed sick can buy replacement
parts from the less fortunate is not only grim, it apportions
lifesaving treatments unfairly, insults donor dignity, and
violates the law,” Fishman said in a statement following the
sentencing by Judge Anne E. Thompson.
“Prison is an appropriate punishment for Levy Rosenbaum’s
illegal capitalization on others’ desperation. Although
Rosenbaum painted himself as a benevolent kidney matchmaker, the
criminal profits went right into his pocket.”
Rosenbaum’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for
comment. Rosenbaum had been facing up to five years in prison
for each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty,
prosecutors said.
Rosenbaum had earlier agreed to forfeit the $420,000 he had
made in the kidney brokering cases for which he was convicted.
He is due to begin his sentence on Oct. 12. As he is not a U.S.
citizen, immigration authorities will decide whether to attempt
to deport him once he has finished his sentence.
(Editing By Cynthia Johnston)
