An Israeli lawyer has been setenced for defrauding Holocaust survivors of $240 million.

Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Yisrael Perry on Tuesday to 12 years' imprisonment and another five-and-a-half years suspended. He was also fined $6 million.

Perry was found guilty of defrauding dozens of Holocaust survivors he had represented in filing post-war government insurance claims in Germany. According to a group of survivors who had taken the lawyer to court, Perry siphoned off $240 million worth of benefits.

Perry has denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal his conviction and sentence with the Supreme Court.

(c) JTA