Former Jewish first lady of Peru flees to Israel after extradition request

[Judi Lynn]

BY JACOB KESSLER
MAY 12, 2023 5:08 PM



Eliane Karp, left, with her husband, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, at a convention in Dublin, Ireland, Oct. 16, 2014. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images)


LIMA, Peru (JTA) — Eliane Karp, Peru’s former Jewish first lady, has flown from the United States to Israel in an attempt to avoid extradition to Peru in a money laundering case.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola announced the news on Wednesday at a press conference in Lima.

“The United States Department of Justice has informed the Peruvian embassy in the U.S. that Mrs. Eliane Karp has taken a flight to Israel using her Israeli passport,” he said. Peru does not have an extradition treaty with Israel.

Karp was first lady of Peru from 2001 to 2006. Born to Jewish parents in France, she is an anthropologist who met her husband, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, while the two were students at Stanford University. Before getting her PhD from the California university, Karp got her bachelor’s degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

More:
https://www.jta.org/2023/05/12/global/former-jewish-first-lady-of-peru-flees-to-israel-after-extradition-request