2 jan 2011
US murder suspect commits suicide in Israel
Israeli doctor accused of killing two women, committing insurance fraud in US kills himself in Russian Compound detention center; Prison Service launches investigation.
A murder suspect has committed suicide in a Jerusalem prison cell while awaiting extradition to the United States. The suspect, a 62-year-old Israeli doctor, who was set to be handed over to the US for murder and fraud charges, was being held in a cell with eight other detainees.
Early on Sunday morning, he cut open an artery in his foot at the Russian Compound detention center. His death was determined at the scene, after medics failed failed to revive him.
The man was arrested two months ago at Ben-Gurion Airport was in the United States for the past six years for allegedly committing two murders in 2002 and 2004 and fraud offenses. He was jailed with eight other detainees.
Prisoners in the Russian Compound heard grunts from the suspect's bed early on Sunday morning and noticed that he was bleeding. They called the guards, but even the Magen David Adom teams that were called to the scene couldn't save him.
Initial examinations revealed that he cut his arteries using a razor. As in any suicide case, the Israel Prison Service launched an investigation and reported the incident to the police.
This is the first detainee to commit suicide in 2011, following 12 detainee and prisoner suicides in Prison Service facilities in 2010. The Prison service stated that the man was not considered suicidal and so, was not under constant supervision.
The man was accused of murdering two women by injecting them with unidentifiable substances. In one case, he collected over $1,000,000 from insurance companies. He escaped from the US in 2005 and never returned over fears that he would be arrested.
US authorities suspected that he was in contact with an American woman who had emigrated from Russia and together they worked to issue life insurance policies worth $1 million each - in her name. The two supplied the insurance companies with false details and hid the existence of the other policies from each company.
In November 2002, two years after the policies were issued; it is suspected that he murdered the woman, 47, by injecting her with substances that were unidentifiable in the post mortem autopsy.
At the same time, he used a similar system with another woman, 51, also a Russian immigrant. According to the accusations, he killed her using the same method in August 2004, but in this case was unable to collect on the insurance policy.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4007586,00.html
7 jan 2011
Atlanta: Israeli charged with murder of Jew
Police believe Hemy Neuman killed businessman Russel Sneiderman last November; motive remains unclear.
Hemy Zvi Neuman, a 46-year-old Israeli was arrested Thursday night over suspicions that he murdered a Jewish businessman two months ago in Atlanta. The victim was shot after dropping off his two-year-old son at kindergarten.
According to reports, Neuman, an operations manager with General Electric, had supervised the victim, 36-year old entrepreneur Russel Sneiderman's wife, Andrea Sneiderman.
The victim's brother, Steve Sneiderman, said that his brother had a big heart and many friends. "There are still many questions that need to be answered," he noted. "We thank the police department for its hard work in solving the case".
The background for the murder remains unknown, but according Atlanta news reports, the motive for the murder was a romantic triangle that involved the victim, the murder suspect and an additional woman. Yet the victim's brother said he didn't know whether the Sneiderman and Neuman knew each other.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010357,00.html
9 jan 2011
Ex-Tax Authority chief convicted; prosecution: Deterring message
Jackie Matza convicted of breach of trust, assisting a bribe in case involving two businessmen who bribed officials to gain influence in Tax Authority.
Former Israel Tax Authority director Jackie Matza was convicted Sunday of breach of trust and assisting in granting a bribe.
As part of a plea bargain, the charge of accepting a bribe was removed from the revised indictment, which was submitted to the Petah Tikva District Court.
The primary finding of the investigation was that during his tenure as Tax Authority director, Matza involved two businessmen - Kobi Ben-Gur and Yoram Karashi - in Tax Authority appointments.
Karashi is the brother of Shula Zaken, who served as Ehud Olmert's bureau chief during his tenures as prime minister and finance minister.
Matza admitted that Ben-Gur and Karashi advanced his appointment as Tax Authority chief and later demanded his assistance in promoting Tax Authority employees.
As part of the plea bargain, Matza admitted to five counts of breach of trust.
According to the revised indictment, Matza also helped Ben-Gur bribe Tax Authority official Orna Bachar.
The State Prosecutor's Office said Matza's admission of guilt "sends an important and deterring message to civil servants in the fight against corruption in the public sector."
According to the indictment, Ben-Gur and Karashi bribed Tax Authority officials to advance the appointments of other Authority officials.
The scandal was made public in January 2007, when police raided the homes of Matza, Zaken and other suspects in the case.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010920,00.html
10 jan 2011
Israeli drug dealer arrested in Peru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47uTOPRsHnc
(Video) Thirty-six-year-old Yaniv Benaim wanted in India for involvement in Goa drug network linked to local police officers, politicians. Reports claim Benaim also wanted on 16 counts of fraud, violence in Israel.
Alleged Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim, dubbed Atala, was arrested by Peruvian police after a manhunt that lasted nearly five months, the Times of India reported on Monday.
Benaim, 36, is accused of being a member of a drug trafficking network in India, but managed to escape the country after being released on bail.
According to the report, he fled to Israel and then continued to Peru, where he was arrested after intense cooperation between the Goa police and Interpol.
Benaim's extradition procedure to India is slated to begin in the upcoming future.
The report also claimed that Benaim also has 16 counts pending against him in Israel, including offences related to drugs, violence, property and fraud.
Benaim allegedly played a key role in a large drug network in Goa, which has also been linked to several local political figures.
He was arrested in March 2010 after his ex-girlfriend posted videos of him on the internet without his knowledge, in which he is shown smoking drugs and bragging about his connections with local police officers and politicians.
Benaim was released on bail until his upcoming trail and stayed in a Goa hotel, but managed to flee the country on August 7.
The Indian police launched an investigation into the circumstances of his escape and transferred the details of the case to Interpol.
Indian publication Calcutta News reported that Benaim was linked to the interior minister of the state of Goa. At least seven police officers were also arrested on suspicion that they maintained contact with Benaim.
"Benaim is connected to the Israeli mafia there. He is actually a nice person, but he made all the mistakes possible. Atala wasn't careful, and stepped on many toes without giving due respect. He insulted people, stole from other clients and betrayed friends who covered for him," another Israeli with links to the drug network in Goa told Ynet.
"I got to know him pretty fast," he added, "Israelis are like sheep, they exist in a herd and I lived there and met all the Israelis in the area.
"He had a shop on the main road, like a coffee house, where he sold all these drugs in public. Everything was listed on the menu acid, ecstasy, cocaine, hashish everything. It was all written on the menu because he paid off all the cops."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4011807,00.html
- 20 jan 2011
The body of Sarit Benit-Zikri was discovered in her Jerusalem apartment early last week, and her live-in partner was arrested as the prime suspect.
The man suspected of murdering his partner in Jerusalem last week and hiding her body on the balcony of the apartment they shared was employed as an undercover police agent, police acknowledged yesterday.
The body of Sarit Benit-Zikri was discovered in her Jerusalem apartment early last week, and her live-in partner was arrested as the prime suspect. However, a gag order was placed on his identity, and it was removed only yesterday.
The suspect, Itzik Edri, 36, has been serving as a police informant for the past several months. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court remanded him for another five days yesterday.
The police investigation began last Sunday, when Benit-Zikri's family reported her missing. Police then began looking for Edri. Last Tuesday, they picked him up in Beit Shemesh, where he was driving Benit-Zikri's car. He was held for questioning and led police to the balcony of Benit-Zikri's house, where he had hidden her body behind various other objects.
Benit-Zikri, a divorcee, lived there with four children. When her body was finally discovered, her children had already been living in the house for four days without knowing that their mother's body was on the balcony.
In addition to hiding the body, Edri also tried to conceal the killing, police said, by sending the children text messages from their mother's cell phone that implied the two of them were on vacation up north.
Edri, a convicted criminal who has done jail time for drug offenses and violence, had been employed by the police as an undercover agent in recent months to obtain information about the alleged extortion of a Jerusalem contractor.
Police said yesterday that his efforts, in fact, produced evidence against three suspects in that case.
Last Sunday, however, a few hours before Benit-Zikri's relatives reported her missing, Edri cut off contact with his police handlers.
Yesterday, Edri refused to attend his remand hearing to protest his detention conditions, and his attorney, Haim Rubinstein of the Public Defender's Office, said his client had launched a hunger strike.
Rubinstein also stressed that even if his client killed Benit-Zikri, it was not necessarily murder. He told reporters it could well prove to be a lesser offense, like manslaughter.
This is the second time this month that a police informant has been suspected of committing a serious crime. Erez Dual, a 22-year-old criminal from Netanya whom police were using as an undercover agent in a drug trafficking investigation, was arrested on January 5 on suspicion of raping a 12-year-old girl.
His contract with the police required him to refrain from committing new crimes.
In that case, the girl said "an adult" had approached her in a public park one evening and begun to chat with her. At a certain stage, the man began touching her and then proceeded to rape her, despite her pleas that he stop.
The Netanya police were stunned when they discovered that the "adult" in question was apparently Dual. In that case, too, police said the suspect had been an effective undercover agent.
http://bit.ly/g92bIq
- 6 febr 2011
Anat Kam convicted of leaking classified IDF docs
n framework of plea bargain, prosecution drops 'intent to harm state security' charge against ex-soldier who stole some 2,000 classified army documents and gave them to Haaretz reporter; sentence apparently won't exceed nine years in jail.
In the framework of a plea bargain, the Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday convicted ex-solider Anat Kam of illegally possessing classified IDF materials and passing them on to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau without authorization.
Kam was initially charged with harming state security, but the charge was dropped as part of the plea bargain. It is estimated that the prosecution will ask the court to sentence her to no more than nine years in prison.
Following the hearing, Kam said she had admitted to the charges against her.
Kam's attorney, Eitan Lehman, confirmed she admitted to illegally possessing and passing on classified information. According to him, the prosecution agreed that his client had no intention of jeopardizing state security.
"There is still some information which the public has not been privy to. I hope this information will convince the court that (Kam's) intentions were good."
In January of 2010 Kam was indicted for handing reporter Uri Blau some or all of more than 2,000 classified army documents she had stolen while serving in the office of former Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh.
The documents stolen by Kam contained plans of military operations, summaries of discussions within the IDF, deployment and order of battle (ORBAT) of IDF forces, summaries of internal IDF inquiries, IDF situation estimates, IDF targets and more.
In September it was reported that a plea bargain was in the works. According to the reports, Kam would be charged with "serious espionage" but without the intent to harm state security.
News of the affair broke out in April 2010, when Kam was working as a reporter for the Walla website.
In November 2008 Blau published a report based on documents he received from Kam. The report argued that IDF forces in the West Bank assassinated Palestinian terrorists, allegedly against Supreme Court rulings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4024440,00.html - 28 mrt 2011
7 Israeli's Plead Guilty To Stealing from America's Most Vulnerable
Seven Defendants Charged in Multi-Million-Dollar Lottery Telemarketing Fraud Scheme Plead Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court Residents of Israel Stole $2 Million from Elderly Victims in the United States
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the guilty pleas of seven individuals, all residents of Israel, for their participation in a lottery telemarketing fraud scheme through which they stole approximately $2 million from elderly victims in the United States between 2007 and September 2008.
LIOR ORGAD, DAVID YAMIN, and MOR GALANTI pled guilty today before Magistrate Judge JAMES C. FRANCIS IV. GUY MAYO, ELAD MAYO, ASI ALMAKIAS, and YANIV KALBERS pled guilty before Magistrate Judge ANDREW J. PECK on March 15, 2011.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “These defendants bet that they would strike it rich by preying upon some of America’s most vulnerable citizens—the elderly—but they gambled and lost. We will continue working with all of our national and international law enforcement partners to protect Americans from fraudsters wherever they reside.”
According to indictments and an information previously filed in Manhattan federal court:
The defendants participated in a phoney “lottery prize” scheme that targeted hundreds of victims, mostly elderly, throughout the United States. The defendants identified victims by purchasing the names and contact information of U.S. residents who subscribed to sweepstakes lotteries from list brokers. They then contacted the victims and solicited information about their finances by falsely telling them that they had won a substantial cash prize and that they would receive it as soon as they paid the necessary fees and taxes. In reality, there was no lottery prize and the victims were collectively robbed of approximately $2 million.
All seven defendants were provisionally arrested in Israel in September 2008 based on the indictments. In November 2010, they were extradited from Israel into the United States. SHAI KADOSH, who is also charged in the scheme, is currently a fugitive.
GUY MAYO, ELAD MAYO, ASI ALMAKIAS, and LIOR ORGAD face a total maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and YANIV KALBERS, DAVID YAMIN, and MOR GALANTI face a total maximum penalty of five years in prison. In connection with their guilty pleas, these defendants each agreed to forfeit a sum of money equal to approximately $1.9 million.
All seven defendants will be sentenced on June 27, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. by United States District Judge LEWIS A. KAPLAN.
The investigation into the lottery telemarketing fraud scheme was conducted in New York by the FBI, with assistance from the Israel National Police. Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI and the Tel Aviv Fraud Division of the Israel National Police. He also thanked the Office of International Affairs of the United States Department of Justice’s Criminal Division; the Department of International Affairs within the Office of the State Attorney in the Ministry of Justice for the State of Israel; and the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office, for their cooperation in the investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys AVI WEITZMAN and STEVE C. LEE are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney MICHAEL LOCKARD is in charge of the forfeiture aspects of the case.
http://bit.ly/fTB4rj
1 april 2011
Israeli investors jailed in Tbilisi
Two Israeli businessmen, owed US$100 million by the Georgian government, have been found guilty of bribery by a criminal court in Tbilisi.
It comes after a lengthy trial, with both businessmen maintaining that they were the victims of a government set-up.
Ron Fuchs was handed 7.5 years in jail and a million-dollar fine, while his associate Zeev Frenkiel was given 6.5 years and a $200,000 fine.
It comes after an international court ruled that Saakashvili's government should compensate the two businessmen over a breached contract. The controversial trial has caused tension between Tel Aviv and Tbilisi, with Georgia's parliament speaker being asked to postpone his visit to Israel.
Greg Craig, Fuchs' lawyer, claims the businessman was entrapped by the Georgian government to avoid paying Fuchs the millions he was owed.
“There was, in fact, a cooperation, a collaboration between four important ministries in the government, and probably with the approval of the president – the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and the Prime Minister’s office – all of which came together with the plan to entrap Ronnie Fuchs,” he said. “Fuchs was then informed through diplomatic channels that he would not be released until the arbitration award was waived.”
http://rt.com/news/tbilisi-government-court-businessmen/
27 apr 2011
Lawyer Jacob Weinroth questioned by police over 'secret recordings' of judge in tax case
Prominent lawyer Jacob Weinroth is currently facing charges of bribery and money-laundering.
Currently facing charges of bribery and money-laundering, prominent lawyer Jacob Weinroth has been questioned by police officers over accusations that he tried to get another man, Ronen Bar Shiva, to discuss Weinroth's case with District Court Judge Gilad Neuthal and secretly record the conversation.
The issue came up during the trial of Bar Shiva, who is being tried for fraudulently raising money for a campaign to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and to help the victims of the Carmel fire.
Bar Shira told police fraud squad investigators that Weinroth had asked him to record Neuthal because "a change in the course of the trial could save him [Weinroth]." Bar Shira volunteered to take a polygraph on the matter.
An associate of Bar Shira, Aryeh Polasky, told police he was present at a meeting between Weinroth and Bar Shira in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Tel Aviv late last year, and that it was Bar Shira who proposed to Weinroth that he would record Neuthal and that Weinroth asked Bar Shira to bring him the tape.
Weinroth vehemently denied the allegation, and said that if Bar Shira had suggested such a thing, he would have reported it to the police.
Weinroth has not been questioned under warning in the affair. Rather, police asked him and his secretary, Flora Prastai-Abuhatzera, as well as Bar Shira and Polasky, a series of 10 questions, the answers to which Haaretz has obtained.
Prastai-Abuhatzera told police she had received text messages from Bar Shira complaining that Weinroth had not fulfilled a pledge to donate to Bar Shira's supposed charities, "maybe because he did not receive recordings of the judge." Weinroth recently fired Prastai-Abuhatzera.
'Drop a bombshell'
Bar Shira allegedly contacted Weinroth's office less than a year ago. At first he received a contribution of NIS 10,000 from Weinroth supposedly for an event to help free Gilad Shalit. Later, Bar Shira said Weinroth referred him to a foundation of wealthy businessman Frank Lowy to receive a donation, and promised to raise additional money for him.
According to Bar Shira, Weinroth supposedly hinted to him to record Neuthal at a meeting at a Tel Aviv cafe near Weinroth's office. A few days later, they had another meeting at the Renaissance Hotel.
During Bar Shira's questioning under warning on the fraud suspicions, he told police he wanted to "drop a bombshell and say that Weinroth asked me to record his judge, Gilad Neuthal."
One of the detectives questioning Bar Shira noted on the form containing Bar Shira's testimony that the latter "was upset and crying again," and that he was "asking to be given a lie detector test over this thing."
Bar Shira reportedly told police: "Weinroth told me 'go be his friend' [referring to Neuthal] and told me that he would arrange another contribution from the Meier family of Geneva of NIS 1 million for the Carmel communities."
When asked how the subject of Neuthal came up, Bar Shira said: "Weinroth asked me at the meeting at Aroma whether I could do something personal for him. He told me how cruel Judge Neuthal was being toward him and other such things." Bar Shira said that at their second meeting, at the Renaissance, Weinroth clearly stated the mission of recording Neuthal, and that "Weinroth linked [his] contribution and this task."
"I remember that a week or two later Weinroth's father died and then he sent me a text message that the judge didn't even express his condolences. I was very surprised to get a text message like that but I understood what he meant."
Bar Shira said that Weinroth told him he was to "persuade the judge that Weinroth was a good man, a man that made contributions, to influence the judge so he would find Weinroth innocent; that's what he wanted."
When the investigator asked Bar Shira why he thought Weinroth needed a recording, Bar Shira replied: "...it seems to me he wanted to disqualify Neuthal with the recording."
When the investigators pressed Bar Shira further on the matter of the recording, he said: "I guess he wanted me to record the judge because of my ability to get people to like me, to make relationships... He told me in his colorful language to try to persuade the judge that he did not launder money and he is being falsely accused."
The investigator asked Bar Shira why Weinroth, a prominent attorney, would take such a risk as to ask Bar Shira, a person Weinroth did not know, on such a sensitive matter.
Bar Shira said: "I did not analyze it intellectually. I was dependent on him."
Bar Shira also added: "I had no way to do that crazy thing. If it had been my initiative, he should have gone to the police."
The investigators told Bar Shira they had found no mention of Judge Neuthal in messages he sent to or received from Weinroth, at which point Bar Shira said he would take a lie detector test, and that Weinroth's messages were allusions such as "I want to hear the music."
Polasky told police he heard Weinroth tell Bar Shira to bring him the cassette recording if he could and "I want to hear it and then I'll talk to you." When asked what Weinroth wanted to hear, Polasky said: "That he [Bar Shira] spoke to the judge and persuaded him to help Weinroth."
Weinroth's testimony
Weinroth told police that Bar Shira said he had been Neuthal's commander in the army, that he serves with Neuthal in the reserves and is a close friend, and that when the two chatted, Neuthal had said good things about Weinroth to Bar Shira.
Weinroth told police he was suspicious of such a statement, "because I know Neuthal to be a very closed man. But then I said that even a closed man has friends." Weinroth said said he was happy to hear about Neuthal's supposed good opinion of him because he is on trial before Neuthal.
Weinroth also said he thought Neuthal might have a good opinion of him because when Harish was attorney general, he would ask Weinroth to help people who were having legal problems and Neuthal, as Harish's aide, might have heard about Weinroth's good works.
Weinroth said he never complained to Bar Shira that Neuthal had not extended his condolences on the death of Weinroth's father.
He also said he had never asked Bar Shira anything with regard to Neuthal, and that Bar Shira had never offered to do anything in that connection, calling the idea "bizarre."
Police asked Weinroth how he explained that Polasky said he heard Weinroth and Bar Shira discussing the matter, and he said it was because Polasky and Bar Shira were a "pair of swindlers" who were "trying to explain how they had not gotten money fraudulently but in exchange for a recording."
Bar Shira, who has a criminal record, is suspected of raising funds fictitiously and taking hundreds of thousands of shekels for himself.
Weinroth is suspected of working for a former senior figure in the Tax Authority, Shuki Vita, for less than the usual fee and in return, Vita is suspected of engineering tax breaks for some of Weinroth's clients, including Arkadi Gaydamak and Michael Chernoy.
The decision to indict Weinroth raised a storm because of the legal precedents it involved as well as Weinroth's celebrity status in the legal world.
Neuthal, 52, is considered a rising star in Israel's juridical scene. In 1994, after serving as a senior aide to then-Attorney General Yosef Harish, Neuthal was appointed a Magistrate's Court Judge, and in 2007 was appointed to the District Court.
http://fwd4.me/00MJ - 29 apr 2011
TA residents suspected of pimping teens
Two suspects aged 20, 21 allegedly gained trust of teens they met on Facebook, in malls, convinced them to have sex with clients during school breaks.
Police have uncovered a network of under aged teens who were raped and forced into prostitution in south Tel Aviv on Friday. Two Tel Aviv residents, aged 20 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of rape and pimping. They are scheduled to face a remand hearing later on Friday.
The affair was exposed after a teen that went missing was located in Tel Aviv. It was revealed he was victimized by the two suspects. An undercover police operation was then launched.
The investigation revealed that the two suspects would find their victims on Facebook and chat rooms as well as malls. Investigators claim the suspects operated a "hunting network" and targeted teens who were struggling with their sexual identities.
After gaining their victims' trust and sleeping with them the two would persuade them to continue experimenting with sex with adults and acquainted them with men.
The suspects would charge anywhere between NIS 300 (roughly $88) and NIS 800 (roughly $234) for sexual encounters which were held in hotels or in clients' homes. It is suspected the two drove the victims to the rande vous and charged money from clients which they initially took for themselves. They later paid the teens half of the profits.
10 victims traced
Some of the clients are allegedly family men over the age of 60. Police interrogated some of them and managed to trace 10 teens allegedly victimized by the suspects. The victims were from all parts of the country and some were as young as 13-years-old, police said.
The encounters were arranged to coincide with school holidays and in the afternoon hours so as not to arouse suspicion among the patents. The suspects also sent teens to find clients in the Diamond Exchange area in Ramat Gan.
Police estimate there are other under aged victims.
The suspects were interrogated on Thursday and linked themselves to the events in what police described as a "partial confession."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4062204,00.html
1 juni 2011
Reality TV star suspected of rape
Police say 17-year old girl complained of sexual assault, but suspect denies allegations.
The star of a famous reality TV show has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault, police say.
On Wednesday he was brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court for a hearing on the remand of his arrest, but the court decided to release him under house arrest. Judges also placed a gag order on his name.
Police say a 17-year old girl complained that a week ago the young celebrity came to her house and raped her.
The suspect has denied the allegations, claiming the girl is an acquaintance and that he did not use force.
"This is a gentle-spirited boy, who has women falling at his feet. It sounds like intentional framing," said his agent, adding that she hoped he would be released soon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4076873,00.html - 27 juni 2011
State comptroller to probe Israel Football Association
Sports Minister Limor Livnat asks Micha Lindenstrauss to look into IFA ethics following suspicions linking top figures in Israeli soccer to match-fixing scandal.
Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat has approached State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss and asked him to launch an official inquiry into recent suspicions of irregularities in the Israel Football Association.
Last week it was revealed that the police were investigating suspicions suggesting the results of several Major League games were fixed by team owners linked to organized crime.
Livnat told the paper she asked Lindenstrauss to look into several things, including ethnics, public directors who serve in the Israel Football Association and the team ownership guidlines.
"The Football Association has a codex which states who can and cannot own of a soccer team. The question is – is it being enforced," she said.
"The phenomenon of private team ownership, which is relatively new in Israeli sports, has become an opening for negative elements. It is believed that organized crime has infiltrated the soccer arena and the question is what can be done.
"I'm the one responsible, but ultimately, the police are the ones investigating criminal allegations… I hope we find there is nothing to these suspicions," she said.
Following the publication of the case, the Culture and Sports Ministry reissued its Code of Ethics for Sports in Israel.
Livnat said the code means to "create the proper, unified norms in Israeli sports, based on the ethics of sportsmanship, fairness, transparent and integrity – beyond the formal rules customary in sports."
The code, she stressed, includes two important articles: "The first bans any gambling by athletes, coaches, referees and managers in their respective disciplines; and the second bars conflict of interest by sports officials serving in several positions simultaneously – a problem we know taints Israeli sports."
Livnat added the Association for Sports Betting in Israel will also adopt the code.
As for those in Israeli sports who oppose cementing the code in legislation, as Livnat plans to do, the minister said that "It may be a generic code and things can be added to it, but we will not diminish from it and (the sports world) will have to abide by it – it will be a prerequisite for ministry funding… Teams will become financial dependent on it."
The ministry, she concluded, has no intention of compromising sports ethics.
Aryeh Melinek and Gidi Lipkin contributed to this report
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4087699,00.html - 1 juli 2011
Israelis involved in 'Nigerian sting' jailed
US court approves plea bargain in lottery scam case involving seven Israelis who defrauded elderly citizens.
A US court approved a plea bargain for a group of Israelis who were convicted of defrauding elderly US citizens out of millions of dollars.
Six of the defendants were sentenced to two to nine years in prison which they will serve in Israel. A seventh defendant awaits his sentencing.
The group was arrested in September 2008 in a joint FBI-Israel police operation which uncovered their lottery scam.
The Israelis would call senior US citizens and present themselves as lawyers representing large firms.
They then informed the victims they had won a large cash prize explaining they must pay a preliminary tax. This earned them some $2.5 million.
Six of the defendants were extradited to the US last November, while one suspect has yet to be apprehended and is currently wanted in the US.
The prosecution claims that many of the victims have lost their homes and savings, causing some to sink into depression.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4089802,00.html - 13 juli 2011
Foreign Ministry employee arrested for fraud
Benny Bashan, an employee at Israel's embassy in Amman arrested following undercover investigation that exposed theft of hundreds of thousands of shekels.
The Rishon LeZion Magistrates' Court has cleared for publication that an employee the Foreign Ministry stationed at the Israeli embassy in Jordan, Benny Bashan, has been arrested by authorities on suspicion of theft and fraud while working at the embassy.
Bashan allegedly carried out the violations in cooperation with Jordanian citizens. The court has remanded his arrest by five days.
An investigation was launched after a complaint was filed by the Foreign Ministry over discrepancies discovered in the Amman embassy's expenses.
Suspicion fell on Bashan, who is in Amman as a ministry employee with his partner. According to suspicions Bashan exploited his role to fraudulently obtain funds from the Foreign Ministry with the cooperation of Jordanian locals.
The fraud was allegedly committed by receiving inflated invoices for equipment ordered for the embassy. Investigators suspect that he would also present false expense statements to the embassy, transfer them to Israel and receive the funds.
Police suspect that Bashan had been committing the offenses for some time, allowing him to rake in hundreds of thousands of shekels.
Bashan was asked to return to Israel where he was arrested following an undercover investigation by the police's National Fraud Unit. Meanwhile, Jordanian police questioned a Jordanian employee at the embassy who is suspected of cooperating with Bashan.
Bashan was remanded on house arrest for 30 days.
http://fwd4.me/06W7 - 14 juli 2011
Source: NY suspect said he suffocated boy
Jewish man says he panicked, proceeded to dismember 8-year-old haredi child.
The suspect in the killing of a Brooklyn 8-year-old told investigators that he suffocated the child before a massive search led to the discovery of his dismembered remains.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the information is part of a confession by Levi Aron, 35. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation has not been completed.
The official said Aron also told investigators he took the child to a wedding in upstate New York. Investigators say they don't know whether that is true.
Thousands of mourners gathered Wednesday night at the funeral for the boy, Leiby Kletzky. He disappeared Monday after getting lost on a short walk home from day camp.
The funeral came just hours after police discovered the boy's remains, and arrested Aron, who told them he had taken the boy home after he asked for directions.
'I panicked'
According to a partial transcript of a written confession posted on the website of NBC New York, Aron told investigators he took the boy to a wedding in the suburb of Monsey. He said he didn't realize that a small army of volunteers was out searching until the next morning.
"When I saw the flyers I panicked and was afraid," he reportedly wrote on a legal pad during a police interview. NBC said it had obtained a transcript of Aron's handwritten notes from "a law enforcement source."
Detectives found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in the man's freezer, as well as a cutting board and three bloody carving knives. A plastic garbage bag with bloody towels was nearby.
"It is every parent's worst nightmare," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday, following the arrest.
Aron was awaiting arraignment Thursday on a charge of second degree murder.
Leiby disappeared Monday afternoon while on his way to meet his mother on a street corner seven blocks from his day camp, the first time the young Hasidic child was allowed to walk the route alone. Authorities said he had evidently gotten lost after missing a turn, and had reached out to Aron, a stranger, for help.
The break in the case came when investigators watched a grainy video that showed the boy, wearing his backpack, getting into a car with a man outside a dentist's office. Detectives tracked the dentist down at his home in New Jersey, and he remembered someone coming to pay a bill. Police identified Aron using records from the office, and 40 minutes later he was arrested, shortly before 3 am Wednesday.
Aron told police where to find the rest of the body; it was in pieces, wrapped in plastic bags, inside a red suitcase that had been tossed into a trash bin in another Brooklyn neighborhood, Kelly said.
Previous attempt to abduct?
Police said there was no evidence the boy was sexually assaulted, but they would not otherwise shed any light on a motive except to say Aron told them he "panicked" when he saw photos of the missing boy on fliers that were distributed in the neighborhood. Police were looking into whether Aron had a history of mental illness.
Police said Aron, who is divorced, lives alone in an attic in a building shared with his father and uncle.
Kelly said it was "totally random" that Aron grabbed the boy, and aside from a summons for urinating in public, he had no criminal record. A neighbor told authorities her son had said Aron had once tried to lure him into his car, but nothing happened and she didn't think much of it until the news of the killing, police said.
Aron's ex-wife, Debora Aron, said Levi injured his head when he was hit by a car while riding his bike at the age of 9 and suffered problems stemming from that accident.
http://fwd4.me/06cr
- 15 juli 2011
Police: NYC boy possibly tied up before his death
Investigators believe Leiby Kletzky, 8, may have been tied up, tried to fight off assailant before murder. Suspect Levi Aron hasn’t expressed remorse.
Investigators believe an 8-year-old boy who was abducted and dismembered may have been tied up and tried to fight off his captor before he was killed, police officials said Thursday.
At a news conference, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the man charged in the killing, Levi Aron, had scratches on his arms, wrists and elsewhere on his body — a sign "there was some kind of struggle." There also were marks on the Brooklyn boy's remains that could have been caused by restraints, the commissioner added.
A preliminary medical examination indicates Leiby Kletzky was "smothered or suffocated," but it remained unclear when that happened, Kelly said.
Kelly also confirmed reports that Aron had given a written confession in Leiby's gruesome slaying that ended with, "I'm sorry for the hurt that I caused."
Beyond that, "he hasn't expressed any remorse," Kelly said.
Leiby vanished late Monday afternoon after getting lost during what was supposed to have been a seven-block walk from his day camp to where his mother was waiting for him.
New York Police Department investigators later used a surveillance video to trace the missing boy to Aron, a hardware supply store clerk whom the boy had apparently asked for directions.
Detectives found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in the man's freezer, as well as a cutting board and three bloody carving knives. A plastic garbage bag with bloody towels was nearby.
Aron, 35, told investigators that after taking Leiby off the street Monday, he brought the boy to a wedding in the suburb of Monsey and spent several hours there, Kelly said. Other guests at the wedding confirmed Aron was there but didn't see the boy, the commissioner added.
By the time the pair returned to the city, it was so late that Aron decided to take Leiby to his home to sleep and left him there Tuesday when he went to work, according to the police version of the confession. Kelly said the hardware supply store confirmed that he showed up as usual that day.
The suspect told police he killed Leiby when he got home after being spooked by a massive search for the boy in his tight-knit Hasidic community in Borough Park.
"When I saw the fliers, I panicked and was afraid," he said, according to police.
Aron also recounted how he dismembered Leiby in details Kelly said were too "grotesque" to make public.
Suspect denies molestation
In his confession, Aron described how he put some of the body parts in a freezer and took a shower, police said. He then put some remains in a suitcase and drove around with it for 20 minutes before putting the suitcase in a trash bin.
Aron has denied he molested the boy, but Kelly said police still consider that a possibility.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he plans to charge Aron with felony murder and was also investigating whether he might have had any improper contact with children in the past.
Aron's lawyer, Pierre Bazile, said he expected his client to be arraigned Thursday.
"From the Aron family, they'd like to extend their condolences to the family of the boy," he said, adding they would let the justice system work and wouldn't make any further statements.
http://fwd4.me/06gl - 26 juli 2011
Pliner's murderer gets 18 year sentence
T. convicted of murder, robbery after breaking in to Anat Pliner's home, demanding money and stabbing her. 'Courts gave murder seal of approval,' says Pliner's mother.
The Tel Aviv Distroct Court on Tuesday sentenced T., who was convicted of the 2006 murder of Attorney Anat Pliner, to 18 years in prison. T. was 15 at the time of the murder and so as a minor his name remains undisclosed. He was convicted of murder in November 2010, four and a half years after the act. In addition he will be required to pay compensation of NIS 200,000 ($59,000) to Pliner's family.
The indictment details how T. decided to break into a Ramat HaSharon home. At around 9pm, he left his house equipped with black gloves and a commando knife, both belonging to his father. He knocked on the door of Pliner's home, identified himself as a "neighbor" and when she opened the door told her "get out all your money".
Pliner who was at home with her two children called out for help and in response, T. took out his knife and stabbed her twice in the stomach. Afterwards he threw the knife's sheath to the floor and fled. During his escape he threw the knife and gloves into a garbage can in a nearby street. Pliner collapsed in front of her children as her son called the police. She later died of her wounds.
The case remained a mystery for two years, as the knife sheath was all the police had to go on. Only after his arrest in connection with the theft of a motor scooter did the police connect T. with the murder using DNA samples. T. confessed to the murder and even reconstructed the events.
T. was convicted of murder while committing murder perpetrated during the commission of a robbery to which aggravated circumstances apply, but he denied planning the murder in advance and claimed that he was mentally retarded, suffering from mental disorders and incapable of distinguishing between good and evil.
'No justice'
After presenting the evidence as well as a psychiatric evaluation on behalf of the defendant, the presiding judge Shaul Shohat determined that "the defendant was not mentally impaired and failed to fulfill the first condition required in order to limit criminal liability."
Nonetheless, in the ruling Tuesday the judges agreed that T. should not be given a life sentence as sought by the prosecution due to his mental problems and the fact that he expressed regret over his actions. The judges were however divided over the length of the prison sentence: Judge Sara Dotan seeking 24 years while Shohat and Judith Shitzer set his sentence at 18 years.
Anat's mother Tehiya Aharoni collapsed after hearing the sentence saying: "We expected at least a life sentence. Today the courts gave minors a seal of approval to carry out murder," she explained. "This is a country with no justice…those who pay enough for a lawyer are released of all blame. If that judge's daughter was murdered he would have acted differently."
Attorney Dafna Vahnish from the Tel Aviv Prosecutor's Office admitted that "this is a disappointment; I believe that the message should have been a different one. This sentence is insufficient, even when dealing with a minor. The message should have been clear, especially with the recent rising wave of violence. The court should have enforced a harsher punishment."
Meanwhile the defendant's attorneys Moshe Maroz and Shira Maroz and expressed their satisfaction with the sentence: "The court needed to give a sentence and balance between the awful pain and the special circumstances in the case. The boy suffered from personal and mental problems and carried out the act unknowingly in a sudden outburst."
http://fwd4.me/07aJ
Rabbi stabbed to death in Beersheba
Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira
Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, 70, grandson of known kabbalist 'Baba Sali', attacked by 42-year-old man while receiving audience in his yeshiva. Suspect, captured by rabbi's followers, said to have been unhappy with advice on marital issues.
Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, 70, was stabbed to death Thursday night in his Beersheba yeshiva, apparently by a man who was unhappy with the rabbi's advice.
Rabbi Abuhatzeira was one of the city's prominent religious figures. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, known as the "Baba Sali", leading Moroccan Sephardic rabbi and kabbalist who was renowned for his alleged ability to work miracles through his prayers.
The rabbi will be laid to rest Friday on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives following a funeral procession in Beersheba.
According to an initial investigation, the rabbi received the suspect for a conversation, during which he was stabbed for an unknown reason. The rabbi's students captured the stabber and handed him over to the police.
private audience – stabbed the rabbi in his upper body, inflicting lethal wounds. The man, identified as Asher Dahan, 42, from the central community of Elad, was said to have been unhappy with the rabbi's advice on marital issues.
The Beersheba Magistrate's Court extended Dahan's remand by 13 days on Friday and ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
The investigation also revealed that the suspect had arrived at the yeshiva to consult the rabbi several times, and therefore was well familiar with the place.
Dahan's lawyer, Attorney Yuval Livadaro of the Public Defender's Office, said after the court session that "the suspect said he hadn't hoped for this result and is very sorry for what happened."
'The Rabin murder of the religious world'
Suspect in court.
Magen David Adom emergency services were called to the scene and began resuscitation efforts, before rushing the 70-year-old to the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba.
Unfortunately, doctors had no choice but to pronounce him dead on arrival.
Massive police forces arrived at the scene, including Southern District Police Commander Yossi Pariente.
Local residents who frequent the yeshiva gathered at the scene, shocked by the news. "This is just unbelievable, we're all in shock" one of the rabbi's followers told Ynet.
"This was a heinous act against a prominent man in Israel. I just can't believe it," another added.
Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger responded to the murder by saying, "I believe that such a shocking thing has never happened before."
He added, "We have to ask ourselves how this happened. As a rabbi, I am frightened by the thought of a man arriving to get advice and murdering the rabbi who received him in cold blood."
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef "cried bitterly" when he heard about Rabbi Abuhatzeira's death, his associates said, adding that he was "shocked and hurting".
"If it were a heart attack or an illness, he could have dealt with it, but cold-blooded murder just can't be accepted," said one of Yosef's aides.
Former Shas spokesman Itzik Sudri, a relative of Rabbi Abuhatzeira, referred to the tragedy as the "Rabin murder of the religious world".
Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the Shas party arrived at the scene of the murder on Thursday night and visited the rabbi's house. "This is a great loss, a great pain," Yishai said. "We are shocked."
Rabbi Abuhatzeira was the offspring of a dynasty of rabbis. He was considered an expert in the "occult sciences" and Kabbalah. He lived in a house with a tunnel leading to the synagogue, and his followers say he only left the place several times in the past decades for modesty reasons.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4101678,00.html