But his mother, Ateret Diveroli, said her son’s story is one of a young life that unraveled. His quick wealth fueled drug use, gambling and an alcohol problem.
“It’s like when somebody wins the lottery at a young age … that’s what happened with Efraim,” she said. “He threw everything away and got nothing in return.”
Diveroli said her son, now 25, grew up in a close-knit Orthodox Jewish family in South Florida that taught him community and religion are what’s important in life. So are dignity and respect.
“I was raised that your word is everything, and you live by the law,” said Ateret Diveroli, who lives in Miami Beach.
But Efraim Diveroli chose a different lifestyle.
His mother said he started using drugs as a teen, and when he was about 16, she sent him to Los Angeles to work for her brother, who was in the munitions business.
…Diveroli’s uncle, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach — a nationally known author who hosted the “Shalom in the Home” series on the TLC network — told a federal judge during a sentencing hearing that his nephew was a millionaire by 18. Diveroli’s last reported address is a multimillion-dollar Miami Beach condo.
“No one stopped his excess,” Boteach said in January, according to a hearing transcript. “He had a rocket strapped to his back with absolutely zero moral guidance.”
