The wealthy heir to a raisin empire who yelled vile antisemitic slurs at his Rabbi neighbor from the balcony of his $5.3 million mansion has been charged with three felony hate crimes.
Bruce Lion, the 64-year-old scion tied to the dried fruit dynasty, flooded his cell repeatedly this week to avoid standing in front of a judge, the California Post can reveal.
He was still slapped with one count of violation of civil rights and two counts of criminal threats after he was allegedly recorded by Rabbi Zushe Cunin making vicious threats.
Lion was scheduled to appear before a judge Thursday afternoon. He made it to the courthouse but wasn’t allowed upstairs to the courtroom due to his behavior.
He was allegedly strapped to a safety chair and had flooded his cell by flushing the toilet non stop. His lawyer told the court Lion had mental health issues and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
The judge then ordered an evaluation and examination and bond was set at $225,000. If convicted as charged, he faces up to nine years and four months in state prison.
The Post last week obtained several videos of Lion harassing neighbor Cunin from the balcony of his mansion, screaming grievances he had with the Jewish faith or with the religious leader himself.
In one vile exchange, he screamed: “I ain’t going nowhere Jew boy, lose some f—ing weight. Go f—ing work. Do something for a change.
“Your fake f—ing gospel don’t mean s—t. You’re f—ing done. You kill Jesus, you’re going to f—ing hell. Do you understand?” Lion also threatened to “pull” the rabbi’s nose.
Rabbi Cunin said: “While the legal process must now take its course, we hope these charges provide a measure of reassurance to our community, which has endured months of fear, intimidation, financial loss, and trauma.”
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He added, “Our focus remains on healing, strengthening our community, and ensuring that every family can live, worship, and raise their children in peace and safety.”
When Lion was arrested on June 13, he was seen spewing more anti-Semitic hate towards a camera man capturing the arrest.
He can be heard yelling: “Hey f—k you Jews, f—k you Jews, you’re going to hell,” among other unhinged statements.
The scion was also seen resisting while being placed into a police cruiser.“Listen motherf—er, I’ll f—ng hurt you. Hey, call my lawyer, call my f—ng lawyer,” hes’ heard saying as the door closes.
A friend of the Lion family, identifying herself only as Megan, says that Lion has been troubled for some time.
“Bruce has some mental issues and they need to be addressed immediately ” she told The Post, adding: “But right now my thoughts are with Rabbi Cunin, we need to do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn’t feel threatened in his own home.”
Megan tried to see Lion today, but when he wasn’t let into to the courtroom she was only able to give the bailiff a message of support for the heir.
District attorney Nathan Hochman said: “Hate has no place in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County is experiencing an alarming increase in hate crimes, with record-high antisemitic offenses, we will prosecute any crime motivated by prejudice against them.”
Lion is scheduled to be in court again on July 6 after his mental health evaluation.