Sean Penn has confirmed that Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman held captive in Bolivia for two years, has escaped and is back in the US. Penn told the Associated Press that Ostreicher was rescued in a "humanitarian operation" in order to save him "from the corrupt prosecution and imprisonment he was suffering in Bolivia." Bolivia's Justice Minister Cecilia Ayllón also confirmed Ostreicher's escape at a press conference, revealing that Mr. Ostreicher had been gradually testing the boundaries of a remarkably lax house arrest before escaping the country on Sunday.
Jacob Ostreicher was accused of money laundering for drug cartels in June 2011. The Brooklyn man had traveled to Bolivia in order to oversee his investment in a rice farming business. Although never formally charged, Ostreicher was imprisoned at Palmasola prison, where he was reportedly abused and humiliated. Ostreicher's case drew the attention of Hollywood actor Sean Penn who traveled to the country calling for his release. This led the Evo Morales' government to release Ostreicher into a house arrest program with no guards which only required him to check in with authorities every 15 days.
According to Ayllón, Ostreicher had been testing the boundaries of his house arrest with trips to La Paz before eventually escaping altogether across the border to Peru where he caught a flight from Lima back to the United States. The Bolivian government argues that his escape is proof of his guilt and is considering extradition: Bolivia and the US are party to an extradition treaty.
However, the story of Mr. Ostreicher's release has taken on a new twist as conflicting versions of events have emerged. According to Ostreicher's daughter, Gitty Weinberger, her father was kidnapped in Santa Cruz and her uncle, Aaron Ostreicher, negotiated a ransom with the kidnappers in order to secure his release. While the claims of a kidnapping have not been confirmed, the US State Departmen has confirmed Mr. Ostreicher's arrival in the United States.
Yet according to a US government official, the kidnapping was a "cover story" to save the Bolivian administration from embarrassment after charges of extortion and corruption have emerged against Bolivian officials involced in Mr. Ostreicher's arrest.
Despite the conflicting stories of his escape, it is clear that Mr. Ostreicher is at last free of his harrowing ordeal and is safely back on US soil.
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