Ostreicher resting in LA!

(L-R) Ari Ostricher next to his brother Yanky, Mark Wahlberg,  Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz on Dec. 31, 2013.

In the first photos to emerge of Yanky Ostreicher since his arrival in the United States, the Brooklyn businessman is shown together with Holywood actor Mark Wahlberg at the home of a Los Angeles philanthropist.

VIN News has confirmed the authenticity, and that the photographs were taken on December 31st at the home of Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz.

According to a VIN News source who is familiar with the situation and asked to remain anonymous, it was Wahlberg who first made actor Sean Penn aware of Ostreicher’s plight, which set into motion the sequence of events that finally ended in Ostreicher’s escape from Bolivia.  Both Wahlberg and Rechnitz have been working for over a year to facilitate Ostreicher’s return to the United States.

“It was a covert operation, although maybe not James Bond style,” said the source.

Ostreicher, who is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, is said to be staying indefinitely at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles, where he is recovering from his lengthy ordeal in Bolivia.  Ostreicher’s brother, Ari, has flown in from New York and Penn has been visiting with Ostreicher on a daily basis.

The Aleph Foundation, which has also been involved in the Ostreicher situation for many months, presented Penn and Wahlberg with silver menorahs on Monday and Tuesday respectively, in appreciation of their humanitarian efforts.

The Aleph Foundation declined to comment on their involvement with Ostreicher and due to the New Years holiday, Wahlberg’s communication office was unavailable for comment.