A massive international financial crime network was exposed on Wednesday morning when Israel Police and the Tax Authority announced the arrest of three suspects on charges of obtaining money by deception, money laundering, and tax offenses amounting to approximately half a billion shekels.
The affair was uncovered following a covert investigation that lasted more than a year. The three main suspects are believed to have operated a sophisticated international financial crime network designed to launder money, evade taxes, and deliberately conceal income—causing substantial losses to the state.
The investigation was codenamed “Payment Voucher” because of the suspects’ extensive use of real estate payment vouchers as part of their criminal activity.
According to investigators, the suspects operated a sophisticated network of fictitious companies and nonprofit organizations in Israel and abroad through which they laundered money for Israeli businesses while smuggling funds from overseas into Israel. The scheme included several stages: receiving large amounts of cash from clients, issuing fraudulent invoices, concealing funds through complex bank transfers, payments using real estate vouchers, and using bank accounts belonging to relatives to hide the true origin of the money.
The investigation entered its overt phase last week when investigators raided the homes of 16 suspects and detained several of them for questioning.
During the raids, authorities seized dozens of assets suspected of having been acquired through fraud and with funds derived from concealed income, including real estate, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and cash in various currencies. Investigators estimate the value of the seized assets to be in the millions of shekels.
Dozens of individuals have since been questioned on suspicion of receiving and using the suspects’ services to launder money, conceal income, and obtain assets via fraud.
A court on Wednesday extended the detention of the two principal suspects, ages 48 and 56, from Kiryat Ye’arim (Telz-Stone) and Tel Aviv, respectively, until Thursday, July 23.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)