Former Israeli PM Olmert found guilty of fraud

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, already facing a six-year prison term after a corruption conviction, was found guilty on Monday in a separate case of accepting illegal payments from a US businessman, Israeli daily (Haaretz) reported.
The Jerusalem District Court found Olmert guilty on charges of fraud under aggravating circumstances and breach of trust in the retrial of the "cash envelopes affair." Olmert was acquitted in 2012 on breach of trust charges in the case, but a retrial was ordered last year after a plea bargain with the prime minister's former office manager, Shula Zaken, allowed for the introduction of new evidence.
Audio recordings made by Zaken, about which she testified in the retrial, disclose that Olmert had persuaded her not to testify in the first trial, out of fear that she would incriminate him, Haaretz said.
The judges noted that Olmert refrained from testifying after Zaken presented the new evidence.
A judge on the new panel, Rebecca Feldman Friedman, said there was enough evidence to overturn the earlier verdict. "In light of the new findings, we are changing the verdict," the judges said.
Olmert will be sentenced May 5. The maximum sentence for fraud under aggravating circumstances is five years in prison. The maximum penalty for breach of trust is three years, but most courts favor punishment ranging from community service to one year in prison.
Olmert's lawyer, Eyal Rosovsky, said in response to the verdict, "We are obviously very disappointed. We had hoped to convince the court not to overturn the verdict."