Former Tropper Sponsor Forced Into Psych Ward
Guma Aguiar is an energy tycoon, sports-team owner
January 14, 2010
Aguiar last year.(Jerusalem Post)
A court ordered Guma Aguiar, the celebrity owner of Jerusalem’s soccer and basketball teams, to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital yesterday. The 32-year-old has reportedly been acting bizarrely of late; most recently, he explained his tardiness to a soccer match by claiming he had been visiting kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Aguiar, who made his millions in the energy industry, used to sponsor the charities of Rabbi Leib Tropper, the conversion guru whose sex scandal Tablet Magazine covered yesterday and today. Aguiar had a falling out with Tropper over allegedly misappropriated donations. He helped precipitate the current scandal by leaking audio tapes of conversations Tropper allegedly had with prospective converts in which he solicited them for sex.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
