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NY lawyer convicted in Dead Sea Scrolls case

A scholar's son used online aliases to harass and discredit his father's detractors in a heated academic debate over the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a New York court has found.

Raphael Golb, a 50-year-old Manhattan property lawyer, was convicted on Thursday of 30 counts against him, including identity theft, forgery and harassment. He was acquitted of one count of criminal impersonation.

Prosecutors said Golb used fake e-mail accounts and wrote blog posts under assumed names accusing his father's rival Professor Lawrence Schiffman, 62, of plagiarism.

Golb acknowledged crafting the e-mails and blog posts, and said the writings amounted to academic whistle-blowing and blogosphere banter - not crime.

He said outside court that he would appeal.

Golb's father, 83-year-old University of Chicago Professor Norman Golb, said nearly a decade ago that Dr Schiffman, chairman of New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, had plagiarised his research....

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)