Yisrael Perry, who was convicted of defrauding Holocaust survivors of nearly NIS 1 billion

Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that attorney Yisrael Perry, who was convicted of defrauding Holocaust survivors of nearly NIS 1 billion, must begin serving his sentence immediately. The court made the decision after reviewing evidence indicating that Perry had planned to flee the country to evade his jail term. Perry, whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this month, was detained in the Tel Aviv area on Monday over his suspected flight risk. About 11 days ago the Supreme Court upheld Perry's conviction, but reduced his prison sentence from 12 to 10 years.

Perry and an organization founded in his aname were convicted in October 2007 by the Tel Aviv District Court on various theft and fraud charges for embezzling DM 320 million worth of insurance premiums from Israeli Holocaust survivors who claimed retirement benefits from Germany

. Perry was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of about NIS 21 million. In his appeal, Perry argued that factual errors were made by the court and that the sentence was too harsh. The Supreme Court ordered Perry's sentence to begin on March 8 and ordered him to report to a local police station twice a week in the intervening period. According to his attorney, Yaakov Weinroth, Perry was arrested on Monday when he reported to the Bat Yam police station as usual.