U.S. report

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- Actors Robert Redford and Brad Pitt are slated to begin filming "The Spy Game" in Israel on Oct. 12.

Details are thin, but spokesman Gary Shapiro said that the thriller will be directed by Tony Scott ("Top Gun" and "Enemy of the State") and released by Universal Pictures.

It is expected that the actors and crew will be in Israel for two weeks and will then shoot at other locations.

Evidence suggests Shoah shyster alive

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A man convicted of swindling Holocaust survivors may be alive after faking his death in 1993, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Investigations show the death certificate allegedly belonging to Lucian Ludwig Kozminski bears the social security number of a different person, among other discrepancies.

Kozminski, himself an Auschwitz survivor, may have defrauded as many as 3,000 survivors and their heirs out of reparations money.

Petroleum scammer must pay slick price

NEW YORK (JTA) -- A Detroit-area man pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a case |in which he swindled people out of millions of dollars in a Dead Sea oil scheme, according to the Detroit Jewish News.

As a result of the plea, Barry Yaker is expected to serve 21 months in a federal prison.

Yaker raised more than $2.1 million from investors and used the money for his personal gain, authorities say.

Truman letter reveals he backed reparations

NEW YORK (JTA) -- President Truman wrote two letters in July 1945 backing German reparations for Holocaust survivors, including Jews.

But the letters were never sent to the State Department, according to Reuters, perhaps because U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes did not want to aid Jews who wanted to go to Palestine. At the time, Britain was severely limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine.