Ex-Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert sentenced to 8 months in prison
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 69, was sentenced Monday to eight months in prison for unlawfully accepting money from a U.S. supporter. Olmert, who was forced to resign in 2009, was convicted in March in a retrial in the Jerusalem District Court.
The eight-month sentence is in addition to a six-year prison sentence Olmert received last year for a separate real estate bribery conviction. Olmert's new sentence also includes a $25,000 fine.
In 2012, Olmert was acquitted on charges including "accepting cash-stuffed envelopes" from Morris Talansky, a U.S. businessman, according to The Associated Press. Talansky apparently gave Olmert about $600,000 while Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem. But later, Olmert's former office manager, Shula Zaken, served as a state's witness, offering recorded conversations between her and Olmert about illicit money deals, which led to a retrial.
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Olmert's lawyer, Eyal Rozovsky, has stated that he will appeal the ruling to Israel's Supreme Court, and Olmert was granted a 45-day stay before he must begin the jail sentence.
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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
