Rabbi Milton Balkany Lost Court Appeal

Rabbi Milton Balkany

This holy man never had a prayer at beating the rap.

A Manhattan appeals court today upheld the conviction of a crooked Brooklyn rabbi for trying to shake down billionaire Steve Cohen's hedge fund with phony allegations of inside trading.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Rabbi Milton Balkany's claim that jurors should have been allowed to consider if he was entrapped, saying "Balkany failed to present any evidence that the government 'induced' him to commit the crimes charged."

"As the government notes, the evidence with respect to the extortion, wire fraud and blackmail counts established that it was Balkany who made the first unsolicited call to SAC (Capital Advisers), claiming that he had damaging information that Cohen had engaged in insider trading which he urgently wanted to share," the ruling says.

The unsigned decision by Judges Amalya Kearse, John Walker Jr. and Gerard Lynch also shot down Balkany's argument that he was convicted of making a false statement through a "perjury trap" set by the feds, noting that "Balkany was under no obligation to speak to the federal investigator to whom he lied."

Balkany, 65, is currently serving four years in a federal slammer in Miami for trying to scam $4 million in donations to his financially strapped Bais Yaakov Jewish girls school.

Defense lawyer Paul Shechtman said, "Rabbi Balkany accepts the court's ruling."

"A good man -- a distinguished educator -- exercised poor judgment and is now paying a heavy price," he added.