Bruce Lion, 64, heir to the Fresno-based Lion Raisins company, has been charged with three felony hate crimes after allegedly threatening to kill his neighbor, Rabbi Zushe Cunin, during a Shabbat prayer service at Cunin's Pacific Palisades home.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the incident took place on June 5 at around 8pm, when Lion allegedly stood on the balcony of his $5.3 million home and shouted antisemitic threats at Cunin, who was leading the evening prayer service next door. Lion was arrested a week later, on June 13, and has been held on $225,000 bail since his arraignment.
Cunin told reporters the harassment had been building for months since Lion purchased the neighboring property in March, describing racial slurs, intimidation, and what he called terror and horror directed at himself, his family, and his community. He said several people in the neighborhood had moved away because of Lion's behavior. According to ABC30, tensions escalated in the lead-up to the arrest when Lion allegedly confronted a group of workers outside his home with a hammer, threatening to kill them and using an antisemitic slur.
Published reports, including by the New York Post's California Post, cited videos allegedly showing Lion shouting antisemitic slurs from his balcony and interrupting religious gatherings at the Chabad of Pacific Palisades, which Cunin runs next door. Lion was also reported to have accused Jewish residents of having burned down the Palisades, an apparent reference to the wildfires that devastated the neighborhood earlier this year.
This is far from Lion's first run-in with the law. Court records reviewed by GV Wire, a Fresno outlet, show a pattern of violent and erratic conduct stretching back years. In 2019, Lion violated the terms of a restraining order by possessing a firearm and making threats, for which he received credit for time served and two years' probation.
In September 2023, Monterey County sheriff's deputies arrested him on charges including assault, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, and assault with a deadly weapon, after he allegedly threw rocks at cars and assaulted construction workers and deputies along Highway 1 in Carmel Highlands. Two months later, in December 2023, Fresno police arrested him again, this time for allegedly violating a domestic violence protective order at his ex-wife's home, a case that followed a separate incident at the same address just a day earlier.
Court records from Lion's 2018 legal separation also show the scale of his family's wealth: his ex-wife was awarded three vehicles, including a BMW, a Porsche, and a GMC Denali, along with exclusive use of the Fresno home and a second property at Shaver Lake, while Lion was ordered to pay her $94,395 a month in spousal support. Lion is listed on LinkedIn as an administrator at Lion Raisins, the century-old, Selma-based company founded by his family, where his father, Alfred Lion Jr., serves as president and CEO.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office is aggressively prosecuting the current case, noting that the county is experiencing a sharp rise in hate crimes, including record numbers of antisemitic offenses. If convicted on all three felony counts, Lion faces up to nine years and four months in state prison.
Lion Raisins issued a statement distancing itself from Bruce Lion's conduct, saying the reports were deeply troubling and did not reflect the company's values, and emphasizing that he does not take part in its day-to-day operations. Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, also condemned the alleged conduct, saying hate has no home in her district or anywhere in the city.
