Overview
- U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney sentenced Clift Seferlis, 55, to 37 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, a $40,000 fine, and a $2,200 special assessment.
- Seferlis had pleaded guilty to 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs.
- Court filings say that from March 2024 through June 2025 he sent at least 40 letters and two postcards to more than 25 targets, including synagogues, museums, schools, community centers, nonprofits, and a deli, often threatening to destroy buildings or injure people.
- Officials said the threats were intended to intimidate Jewish institutions and interfere with worship, with the case investigated by FBI Philadelphia and FBI Baltimore along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DOJ Civil Rights Division.
- At sentencing, Seferlis apologized and attributed his actions to outrage over the war in Gaza while claiming no intent to act, as the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia thanked investigators for the outcome.