Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Family of phony Hasidic dad accused of sexually abusing adopted sons defend him
The family of a phony Hasidic father who found fame on TikTok for adopting nine boys is defending him after he was charged with sexually abusing most of them.
Hayum Nissim Cohen, 38, regularly shared videos of his family in Houston on social media, gaining 200,000 followers on TikTok before one of his adopted sons, 17, raised the allegations against him to the BlindSkinnedBeauty podcast.
But Cohen's oldest son, Avshalom, 22, rushed to support his father as he claimed his brother was lying and suffered from multiple personality disorder, autism and cognitive issues.
"My father never abused me," he told DailyMail.com.
"He's a great father that would never hurt any of us. If I saw anything out of order by anyone, I would have done everything in my power to protect my brothers."
Cohen — who claimed to be a Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn despite being born Jeffrey Lujan Vejil in the Lone Star State with aspirations to be a priest — was arrested last month on 12 charges of abuse against six of his nine sons.
Cohen was already out on bond in an earlier child sex case when investigators busted him after looking into his son's phone call, where he claimed he was sexually assaulted since he was 11 and that Child Protective Services never took action despite being called out at least eight times.
CPS declined to comment on the case.
Along with the 17-year-old, five other kids — ages 9, 10, 14, 15 and 16 — also came forward with their own allegations, prosecutors said, with the minors placed into CPS.
Avshalom, who is defending his father with two other siblings, said he has gone to a family court in Houston to try and get custody of the six younger brothers.
"I haven't spoken with them since they were removed from our house," he said. "I'm hoping in the near future I'll have them back home."
Cohen's mother, Corina Lujan, 71, insisted that he would never abuse his adopted sons because it was his goal to "help kids that nobody wanted."
"My son is innocent of the charges against him,' she told the Mail. "He loves his children. He would never hurt them in any way.
"They were for the most part a big happy family who got along. This is all a big bad dream. I'm still in shock by it all."
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