At the end of an undercover investigation by Lahav 433 and the Tax Authority, together with the French police and Europol, 3 suspects were arrested as part of an affair whose focus was fraud in the amount of tens of millions of shekels with “complex constructions of virtual currencies”. At the center of suspicion: a “large-scale” fraud of the French state treasury – from within Israel
The police announced this morning (Monday) that they had arrested three suspects and that they had detained additional suspects for questioning as part of a new case that has so far been investigated covertly, and centered on suspicions of money laundering in the amount of tens of millions of shekels – using what was called “complex constructions of cryptographic currencies”. The investigation is led by Lahav 433’s cyber unit, the elite unit of the police, in cooperation with the Tax Authority.
According to the suspicion, a number of suspects organized themselves in an orderly and systematic way to launder money from abroad and from Israel, some of which originated from crimes committed abroad, using virtual currencies on various platforms with the aim of obscuring and disguising the identity of the owners of the funds and the movements in them. The investigation, it was reported, focused on the suspicion of a “large-scale fraud” against the state treasury in France, which was carried out from within Israel, as well as the theft of millions of euros and the laundering of the funds by converting them into crypto-currencies.
It is also suspected that the profits of the suspects from the activity in crypto-graphic currencies were hidden from the Israel Tax Authority, and that various tax offenses were committed with cumulative amounts of tens of millions of NIS. Early this morning the three main suspects were arrested, and as mentioned, a number of other suspects were detained for questioning. They are charged with money laundering, Fraudulently receiving something under aggravating circumstances, and tax offenses including willful omission of income.
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The police said that the three main suspects will be brought to the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court for an extension of detention, “as much as necessary”. The investigation is being conducted in cooperation with the Diamond Unit of the Tax Authority, Europol and the French Police, and accompanied by the Cyber Department and the International Department of the State Attorney’s Office.
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August 14, 2022 Published by Ynet
