27 dec 2018
FBI says that women, who worked for an Israel-based company, promised to the victims of their multimillion-dollar scheme they would be millionaires within a year.
They followed a call script for reassuring investors: A broker boasted of winning up to 95 percent of his trades. Sales representatives promised a client she would be a millionaire within a year if she didn't withdraw her five-figure investment.
"If you win, I win," the broker told the woman, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.
Those were just some of the lies told to victims of a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme that has led to federal charges in Maryland against four women who worked for an Israel-based company, authorities say.
Yukom Communications employees pretended to be from other countries, lied about their professional qualifications and adopted "stage names," authorities say. They falsely guaranteed returns of up to 40 percent. And they didn't tell investors that the company handling their "binary options" trades only made money if its customers lost money, according to the FBI.
A federal trial had been scheduled to start in Maryland on January 8 for Lee Elbaz, an Israeli citizen who served as CEO of Yukom, which provided sales and marketing services for internet-based businesses with the brand names BinaryBook and BigOption. But a judge agreed December 18 to postpone her trial indefinitely. The judge allowed her defense attorneys from a New York law firm to withdraw from the case and be replaced, saying they had failed to properly prepare for trial.
Elbaz, 37, was indicted in March on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was arrested in 2017 after traveling to New York.
Since then, federal prosecutors in Maryland have filed related charges against three other women who worked for Yukom. Shira Uzan and Liora Welles were charged earlier this month with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The same charge was filed in November against another defendant, Lissa Mel.
Welles and Uzan, both of whom worked under Elbaz as sales representatives, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges during separate hearings recently and are scheduled to be sentenced in March. Welles and Uzan acknowledged that they were "directly responsible" for approximately $2.4 million and $1.8 million in investor losses, respectively, according to court filings.
Authorities believe the fraud scheme cost investors tens of millions of dollars. BinaryBook received customer deposits totaling nearly $99 million from the second quarter of 2014 through the fourth quarter of 2016 and returned just under $20 million to its clients during that period, according to records cited in the FBI agent's September 2017 affidavit.
An email instructed BinaryBook sales representatives to target retirees, Social Security recipients, pension holders and veterans as clients, according to a court filing. Elbaz's indictment says three victims were residents of Gaithersburg, Laurel and Annapolis, Maryland.
The scheme's victims also include Eugene and Penelope Timmons, of Kansas City, Missouri. They dipped into life savings to invest approximately $110,000 through BinaryBook over nearly two years. They lost everything.
"It was all a mess and a scam," said Eugene Timmons, 82.
The couple thought they were talking to experienced brokers in London. Penelope Timmons, 72, said BinaryBook's website initially created the illusion they were making money.
"We couldn't get our money out. All they kept doing was hand us off to other people," Penelope Timmons said. "Once you realize these people have taken you, it's very demoralizing and discouraging."
The binary options market largely operates outside the US through unregulated websites. Its victims span the globe. In court papers, prosecutors said the payout on a binary option is usually linked to "whether the price of a particular asset_such as a stock or a commodity_would rise above or fall below a specified amount."
"Investors are effectively predicting whether its price will be above or below a certain amount at a certain time of the day, and when this option 'expires,' the option holder receives either a pre-determined amount of cash or nothing," they wrote.
In 2011, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received only four complaints from victims of binary options fraud, reporting losses of just over $20,000. In 2016, however, the center received hundreds of these complaints with millions of dollars in reported losses.
"This has been a worldwide problem," Justice Department prosecutor Ankush Khardori said during a September 2017 detention hearing for Elbaz, according to a transcript.
Defense attorney Jonathan Lopez, who represented Elbaz at that hearing, said his client worked for a legitimate business.
"They do a lot of things in this (FBI) complaint to make it (seem) like this is some Nigerian boiler room or some sort of lottery scam. That is none of these things," he said.
Elbaz and other co-workers made commissions based on the amounts of clients' deposits, not their profits, prosecutors say. Her indictment cites a September 2015 email from one employee to co-workers about a sales "marathon," a competition to obtain deposits from investors.
"This is not a cemetery here! It's a boiler room!" the employee wrote.
They followed a call script for reassuring investors: A broker boasted of winning up to 95 percent of his trades. Sales representatives promised a client she would be a millionaire within a year if she didn't withdraw her five-figure investment.
"If you win, I win," the broker told the woman, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.
Those were just some of the lies told to victims of a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme that has led to federal charges in Maryland against four women who worked for an Israel-based company, authorities say.
Yukom Communications employees pretended to be from other countries, lied about their professional qualifications and adopted "stage names," authorities say. They falsely guaranteed returns of up to 40 percent. And they didn't tell investors that the company handling their "binary options" trades only made money if its customers lost money, according to the FBI.
A federal trial had been scheduled to start in Maryland on January 8 for Lee Elbaz, an Israeli citizen who served as CEO of Yukom, which provided sales and marketing services for internet-based businesses with the brand names BinaryBook and BigOption. But a judge agreed December 18 to postpone her trial indefinitely. The judge allowed her defense attorneys from a New York law firm to withdraw from the case and be replaced, saying they had failed to properly prepare for trial.
Elbaz, 37, was indicted in March on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was arrested in 2017 after traveling to New York.
Since then, federal prosecutors in Maryland have filed related charges against three other women who worked for Yukom. Shira Uzan and Liora Welles were charged earlier this month with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The same charge was filed in November against another defendant, Lissa Mel.
Welles and Uzan, both of whom worked under Elbaz as sales representatives, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges during separate hearings recently and are scheduled to be sentenced in March. Welles and Uzan acknowledged that they were "directly responsible" for approximately $2.4 million and $1.8 million in investor losses, respectively, according to court filings.
Authorities believe the fraud scheme cost investors tens of millions of dollars. BinaryBook received customer deposits totaling nearly $99 million from the second quarter of 2014 through the fourth quarter of 2016 and returned just under $20 million to its clients during that period, according to records cited in the FBI agent's September 2017 affidavit.
An email instructed BinaryBook sales representatives to target retirees, Social Security recipients, pension holders and veterans as clients, according to a court filing. Elbaz's indictment says three victims were residents of Gaithersburg, Laurel and Annapolis, Maryland.
The scheme's victims also include Eugene and Penelope Timmons, of Kansas City, Missouri. They dipped into life savings to invest approximately $110,000 through BinaryBook over nearly two years. They lost everything.
"It was all a mess and a scam," said Eugene Timmons, 82.
The couple thought they were talking to experienced brokers in London. Penelope Timmons, 72, said BinaryBook's website initially created the illusion they were making money.
"We couldn't get our money out. All they kept doing was hand us off to other people," Penelope Timmons said. "Once you realize these people have taken you, it's very demoralizing and discouraging."
The binary options market largely operates outside the US through unregulated websites. Its victims span the globe. In court papers, prosecutors said the payout on a binary option is usually linked to "whether the price of a particular asset_such as a stock or a commodity_would rise above or fall below a specified amount."
"Investors are effectively predicting whether its price will be above or below a certain amount at a certain time of the day, and when this option 'expires,' the option holder receives either a pre-determined amount of cash or nothing," they wrote.
In 2011, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received only four complaints from victims of binary options fraud, reporting losses of just over $20,000. In 2016, however, the center received hundreds of these complaints with millions of dollars in reported losses.
"This has been a worldwide problem," Justice Department prosecutor Ankush Khardori said during a September 2017 detention hearing for Elbaz, according to a transcript.
Defense attorney Jonathan Lopez, who represented Elbaz at that hearing, said his client worked for a legitimate business.
"They do a lot of things in this (FBI) complaint to make it (seem) like this is some Nigerian boiler room or some sort of lottery scam. That is none of these things," he said.
Elbaz and other co-workers made commissions based on the amounts of clients' deposits, not their profits, prosecutors say. Her indictment cites a September 2015 email from one employee to co-workers about a sales "marathon," a competition to obtain deposits from investors.
"This is not a cemetery here! It's a boiler room!" the employee wrote.
13 dec 2018
David Keyes (L) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on their way to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem al-Quds, March 11, 2018
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s international media spokesman David Keyes has formally resigned his position three months after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him.
Keyes, who denies the allegations, first took an open-ended leave of absence in mid-September, when The Times of Israel published an exposé regarding him, citing 12 women who described a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward themselves and other women, including at least two accounts of what could be considered sexual assault.
Since then, four more women have contacted The Times of Israel to complain about their encounters with Keyes. To date, four of the women who have complained about Keyes’s behavior have been named.
After the publication of the exposé, Keyes said all the allegations “are deeply misleading and many of them are categorically false.”
He later said that he was taking a leave of absence amid the uproar to try to clear his name.
On November 29, the Civil Service Commission formally closed its probes into alleged misbehavior against Keyes, saying no wrongdoing was found on his part that would require further disciplinary action.
The head of the commission’s Department of Discipline, Guy David, said in a letter that most of the complaints against Keyes related to the period before he started working for Netanyahu, and cited a 1963 law that states that disciplinary measures can only be taken against civil servants for deeds committed while they were working for the state.
In a statement on Wednesday, Keyes said he was stepping down to “pursue new opportunities in the private sector.”
Netanyahu, in response, praised his “talent and contribution” in a separate statement, and wished him success.
The Israeli premier himself has long been a suspect in ongoing criminal investigations, but he has so far refused to step down.
Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's former minister of military affairs, said last year that Netanyahu “should have resigned a while ago” as a result of the ongoing criminal investigations against him.
“This is a matter of political culture, obviously there is no smoke without fire,” he said in April 2017.
Under Israeli law, a prime minister does not need to step down if indicted and can continue to serve as premier during the duration of a trial.
The Israeli premier is under probe over charges that he had accepted highly-valued gifts lavished upon him by billionaires and entered a deal with the Yedioth Ahronoth paper ensuring more favorable coverage of his political career.
Netanyahu’s allies have said they would support him continuing to serve as prime minister even if either of the criminal investigations against him, which are known as Case 1000 and Case 2000, leads to an indictment.
Case 1000 involves alleged illicit gifts given to Netanyahu and his family from billionaires, including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.
Most notably, the gifts include hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne, which Netanyahu and his wife Sarah have played down as mere “trifles” exchanged between close friends.
Case 2000 is focused on an alleged clandestine deal under which Netanyahu has accepted to advance legislation to reduce the circulation of Yedioth’s main commercial rival in exchange for friendlier coverage from the newspaper.
Every Israeli prime minister in the last 20 years has been embroiled in graft scandals, including Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon. Dozens of cabinet ministers, Knesset members and mayors have also been the subject of graft investigations.
Netanyahu has been the subject of criminal investigations before. During his first term as prime minister in 1997, he was accused of appointing an attorney general who would offer favorable treatment to a political ally. Police then recommended charging Netanyahu, but prosecutors declined to file charges.
Two years later, Netanyahu was again investigated for fraud, this time for accusations involving a government contractor but once again, he was not charged.
Sharon was accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the late 1990s and prosecutors recommended bringing charges against him, but the attorney general prevented it.
Ehud Olmert is currently serving a 19-month prison sentence for fraud and breach of trust in a 2012 scandal and then another for taking bribes in 2015.
Israeli minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman has been interrogated over money laundering, fraud, and breach of trust in a long-running corruption probe that still resurfaces in the Israeli news.
The most high-profile scandal, however, involved former president Moshe Katsav who was released from prison last December after serving five years of his seven-year sentence for rape and other sexual offenses.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s international media spokesman David Keyes has formally resigned his position three months after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him.
Keyes, who denies the allegations, first took an open-ended leave of absence in mid-September, when The Times of Israel published an exposé regarding him, citing 12 women who described a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward themselves and other women, including at least two accounts of what could be considered sexual assault.
Since then, four more women have contacted The Times of Israel to complain about their encounters with Keyes. To date, four of the women who have complained about Keyes’s behavior have been named.
After the publication of the exposé, Keyes said all the allegations “are deeply misleading and many of them are categorically false.”
He later said that he was taking a leave of absence amid the uproar to try to clear his name.
On November 29, the Civil Service Commission formally closed its probes into alleged misbehavior against Keyes, saying no wrongdoing was found on his part that would require further disciplinary action.
The head of the commission’s Department of Discipline, Guy David, said in a letter that most of the complaints against Keyes related to the period before he started working for Netanyahu, and cited a 1963 law that states that disciplinary measures can only be taken against civil servants for deeds committed while they were working for the state.
In a statement on Wednesday, Keyes said he was stepping down to “pursue new opportunities in the private sector.”
Netanyahu, in response, praised his “talent and contribution” in a separate statement, and wished him success.
The Israeli premier himself has long been a suspect in ongoing criminal investigations, but he has so far refused to step down.
Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's former minister of military affairs, said last year that Netanyahu “should have resigned a while ago” as a result of the ongoing criminal investigations against him.
“This is a matter of political culture, obviously there is no smoke without fire,” he said in April 2017.
Under Israeli law, a prime minister does not need to step down if indicted and can continue to serve as premier during the duration of a trial.
The Israeli premier is under probe over charges that he had accepted highly-valued gifts lavished upon him by billionaires and entered a deal with the Yedioth Ahronoth paper ensuring more favorable coverage of his political career.
Netanyahu’s allies have said they would support him continuing to serve as prime minister even if either of the criminal investigations against him, which are known as Case 1000 and Case 2000, leads to an indictment.
Case 1000 involves alleged illicit gifts given to Netanyahu and his family from billionaires, including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.
Most notably, the gifts include hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne, which Netanyahu and his wife Sarah have played down as mere “trifles” exchanged between close friends.
Case 2000 is focused on an alleged clandestine deal under which Netanyahu has accepted to advance legislation to reduce the circulation of Yedioth’s main commercial rival in exchange for friendlier coverage from the newspaper.
Every Israeli prime minister in the last 20 years has been embroiled in graft scandals, including Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon. Dozens of cabinet ministers, Knesset members and mayors have also been the subject of graft investigations.
Netanyahu has been the subject of criminal investigations before. During his first term as prime minister in 1997, he was accused of appointing an attorney general who would offer favorable treatment to a political ally. Police then recommended charging Netanyahu, but prosecutors declined to file charges.
Two years later, Netanyahu was again investigated for fraud, this time for accusations involving a government contractor but once again, he was not charged.
Sharon was accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the late 1990s and prosecutors recommended bringing charges against him, but the attorney general prevented it.
Ehud Olmert is currently serving a 19-month prison sentence for fraud and breach of trust in a 2012 scandal and then another for taking bribes in 2015.
Israeli minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman has been interrogated over money laundering, fraud, and breach of trust in a long-running corruption probe that still resurfaces in the Israeli news.
The most high-profile scandal, however, involved former president Moshe Katsav who was released from prison last December after serving five years of his seven-year sentence for rape and other sexual offenses.
10 dec 2018
Sex-party at Casa Madeline
Suspects reportedly scouted local schools, recruiting underage girls as sex workers for drug-fueled parties, attended largely by Israeli businessmen and discharged IDF soldiers. The illegal sex business was marketed as 'tour packages.'
Several Israeli nationals have been arrested in Colombia on suspicion of soliciting women and teenage girls to engage in prostitution under the guise of a tourist company offering tour packages from Israel to Colombia.
While various local media outlets reported that 14 Israelis had been detained, the Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed that so far only four of the country’s citizens are under arrest.
The police investigation revealed that the Israeli suspects marketed the illegal sex business mainly to Israeli tourists, most of whom were businessmen and discharged IDF soldiers.
According to Colombian authorities, eight members of the sex trafficking network, including two Colombians, are already in custody while international arrest warrants were issued for the remaining suspects.
The network’s holiday packages included accommodations, as well as drug-fuelled private yacht tours and parties, where women and underage girls were offered as “sex slaves.”
Authorities also raided a number of properties belonging to the suspects, including a spa in the resort village of Taganga, a building known as Casa Madeline, and a hostel in Colombian capital of Bogotá.
These properties were allegedly used exclusively to host the Israeli tourists, and served as safe havens for sexual exploitation of women and for drug use. Overall, the police seized property worth some $45,000.
The prosecutor's office in Colombia said the investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring began in June 2016.
“The investigation into the sexual exploitation of girls was started the day Israeli national Shay Azran was murdered in Medellin, which was ordered by another Israeli over a property dispute,” the Colombian prosecutor's office said.
The prosecutor's office also claimed the person who put out a hit on Azran was an Israeli businessman—Assi Ben-Mosh—who was extradited back to Israel in November 2017 following suspected drug and tax offenses, as well as soliciting minors for prostitution.
Ben-Mosh also reportedly turned Hotel Benjamin in Taganga, which he owned, into a drug and prostitution den.
This led the investigators to believe that Ben-Mosh was the one overseeing the sex trafficking network, and the purpose of his visits to the Latin American country was to receive reports from his colleagues—Itay Senyor and Mor Zohar—regarding the business's operations.
Suspects reportedly scouted local schools, recruiting underage girls as sex workers for drug-fueled parties, attended largely by Israeli businessmen and discharged IDF soldiers. The illegal sex business was marketed as 'tour packages.'
Several Israeli nationals have been arrested in Colombia on suspicion of soliciting women and teenage girls to engage in prostitution under the guise of a tourist company offering tour packages from Israel to Colombia.
While various local media outlets reported that 14 Israelis had been detained, the Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed that so far only four of the country’s citizens are under arrest.
The police investigation revealed that the Israeli suspects marketed the illegal sex business mainly to Israeli tourists, most of whom were businessmen and discharged IDF soldiers.
According to Colombian authorities, eight members of the sex trafficking network, including two Colombians, are already in custody while international arrest warrants were issued for the remaining suspects.
The network’s holiday packages included accommodations, as well as drug-fuelled private yacht tours and parties, where women and underage girls were offered as “sex slaves.”
Authorities also raided a number of properties belonging to the suspects, including a spa in the resort village of Taganga, a building known as Casa Madeline, and a hostel in Colombian capital of Bogotá.
These properties were allegedly used exclusively to host the Israeli tourists, and served as safe havens for sexual exploitation of women and for drug use. Overall, the police seized property worth some $45,000.
The prosecutor's office in Colombia said the investigation into the alleged sex trafficking ring began in June 2016.
“The investigation into the sexual exploitation of girls was started the day Israeli national Shay Azran was murdered in Medellin, which was ordered by another Israeli over a property dispute,” the Colombian prosecutor's office said.
The prosecutor's office also claimed the person who put out a hit on Azran was an Israeli businessman—Assi Ben-Mosh—who was extradited back to Israel in November 2017 following suspected drug and tax offenses, as well as soliciting minors for prostitution.
Ben-Mosh also reportedly turned Hotel Benjamin in Taganga, which he owned, into a drug and prostitution den.
This led the investigators to believe that Ben-Mosh was the one overseeing the sex trafficking network, and the purpose of his visits to the Latin American country was to receive reports from his colleagues—Itay Senyor and Mor Zohar—regarding the business's operations.
Assi Ben-Mosh
According to the report, Ben-Mosh has set up sexual exploitation centers and drug dens all over Central and South America, all operating in a seemingly legal manner under the guise of hotels and spa resorts.
To recruit sex workers, Ben-Mosh’s people began scouting local schools and forcing young girls from low socioeconomic background to participate in large-scale sex parties, while they were reportedly under the influence of drugs.
Authorities claim that the profit made from pimping was used to invest in companies and real estate.
Testimonies by the underage victims reveal that a sex worker usually received between 200 and 400 Colombian pesos ($0.06-$0.13) for "their ability to tolerate the harassment of Israeli tourists," and had been forced to join WhatsApp group called "Purim."
According to the report, Ben-Mosh has set up sexual exploitation centers and drug dens all over Central and South America, all operating in a seemingly legal manner under the guise of hotels and spa resorts.
To recruit sex workers, Ben-Mosh’s people began scouting local schools and forcing young girls from low socioeconomic background to participate in large-scale sex parties, while they were reportedly under the influence of drugs.
Authorities claim that the profit made from pimping was used to invest in companies and real estate.
Testimonies by the underage victims reveal that a sex worker usually received between 200 and 400 Colombian pesos ($0.06-$0.13) for "their ability to tolerate the harassment of Israeli tourists," and had been forced to join WhatsApp group called "Purim."
Viktor Yanukovych
Chief military prosecutor in Ukraine says his country will demand Viktor Yanukovych's extradition if he arrives in Israel; issue will pose a political dilemma for Jerusalem, since Yanukovych is close to Russian President Putin.
Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 and was removed from his post after being held accounteable for the Euromaidan demonstrations, during which 125 people were killed in clashes with the police, is seeking medical treatment in Israel.
Yanukovych, 68, was injured in mid-November while playing tennis in Moscow and was hospitalized for emergency treatment at a private clinic. His lawyer, Alexander Goroshinki, said he sought medical treatment in Israel, prompting Ukraine to demand his extradition.
Media reports about Yanukovych's request to be treated in Israel have triggered public outcry in Ukraine. Anatoly Matios, the chief military prosecutor in the country, said that if Yanukovych does arrive in Israel, Ukraine will seek his extradition.
"There is legal cooperation between the state attorney's office in Ukraine and the State of Israel. If Yanukovych arrives in Israel, we would be obligated to demand his extradition," Matios added.
Yanukovych is wanted by the Interpol and therefore rarely leaves Russia for fear of being arrested. It is safe to assume that before his possible arrival in Israel, he will seek assurance that the Israeli authorities will not turn him in to Ukraine.
This could pose a political dilemma for Jerusalem, since Yanukovych's request would probably be backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is close to the former president.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response: "The Ministry is not aware of any request regarding Yanukovych's arrival in Israel."
Chief military prosecutor in Ukraine says his country will demand Viktor Yanukovych's extradition if he arrives in Israel; issue will pose a political dilemma for Jerusalem, since Yanukovych is close to Russian President Putin.
Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 and was removed from his post after being held accounteable for the Euromaidan demonstrations, during which 125 people were killed in clashes with the police, is seeking medical treatment in Israel.
Yanukovych, 68, was injured in mid-November while playing tennis in Moscow and was hospitalized for emergency treatment at a private clinic. His lawyer, Alexander Goroshinki, said he sought medical treatment in Israel, prompting Ukraine to demand his extradition.
Media reports about Yanukovych's request to be treated in Israel have triggered public outcry in Ukraine. Anatoly Matios, the chief military prosecutor in the country, said that if Yanukovych does arrive in Israel, Ukraine will seek his extradition.
"There is legal cooperation between the state attorney's office in Ukraine and the State of Israel. If Yanukovych arrives in Israel, we would be obligated to demand his extradition," Matios added.
Yanukovych is wanted by the Interpol and therefore rarely leaves Russia for fear of being arrested. It is safe to assume that before his possible arrival in Israel, he will seek assurance that the Israeli authorities will not turn him in to Ukraine.
This could pose a political dilemma for Jerusalem, since Yanukovych's request would probably be backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is close to the former president.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response: "The Ministry is not aware of any request regarding Yanukovych's arrival in Israel."
27 nov 2018
The head of the airline's Development and Resources Department, Rami Yogev, is suspected of helping a large-scale drug trafficking network bring nearly 15 kilograms of cocaine into Israel from South Africa; former Shin Bet agent also among suspects in the case.
Police arrested a senior El Al on Monday who is suspected of being involved in a large-scale drug trafficking operation.
The airline official, Rami Yogev, 53, is the manager of the Development and Resources Department at El Al and has been working for the company for 25 years.
As part of his job, Yogev serves as the liaison between El Al and the Shin Bet, which determines the security arrangements for EL AL flights and their representatives abroad.
As such, Yogev is granted a top security clearance—one of the highest in Israel—and is authorized to enter restricted areas housing the planes, and load and unload special supplies, including weapons.
According to the the Israel Police's Unit of International Crime Investigations, as a member of a drug trafficking network, the suspect allegedly used his security clearance and free access to company's planes to smuggle large amounts of cocaine to Israel.
Three other men suspected of involvement in the drug trafficking network were arrested. One of the suspects was identified as ex-Shin Bet official Beno Shalom, who served for 12 years as an agent in the Shin Bet's Jewish Division and was even involved in a secret operation in which he infiltrated an extreme right group.
Testimonies gathered by the police suggest that the network had a drug smuggling "route" between Johannesburg, South Africa, to Israel, and managed to smuggle in nearly 15 kilograms of cocaine.
Yogev was suspected of assisting the network in airport security checks.
The Rishon LeZion Magistrate's Court extended the remand of Yogev, Shalom and another suspect, Roy Chen, until Tuesday of next week.
"We believe that the suspect (Yogev) played a larger role in the operation than the other suspects so far," a police representative said at the court hearing.
Yogev's attorney said that his client "denies these allegations. Due to his classified nature of his job, I cannot elaborate further. We are confident that the police will release him soon." The other suspects also denied their involvement.
El Al said it "views these allegations gravely and awaits the result of the police investigation."
Police arrested a senior El Al on Monday who is suspected of being involved in a large-scale drug trafficking operation.
The airline official, Rami Yogev, 53, is the manager of the Development and Resources Department at El Al and has been working for the company for 25 years.
As part of his job, Yogev serves as the liaison between El Al and the Shin Bet, which determines the security arrangements for EL AL flights and their representatives abroad.
As such, Yogev is granted a top security clearance—one of the highest in Israel—and is authorized to enter restricted areas housing the planes, and load and unload special supplies, including weapons.
According to the the Israel Police's Unit of International Crime Investigations, as a member of a drug trafficking network, the suspect allegedly used his security clearance and free access to company's planes to smuggle large amounts of cocaine to Israel.
Three other men suspected of involvement in the drug trafficking network were arrested. One of the suspects was identified as ex-Shin Bet official Beno Shalom, who served for 12 years as an agent in the Shin Bet's Jewish Division and was even involved in a secret operation in which he infiltrated an extreme right group.
Testimonies gathered by the police suggest that the network had a drug smuggling "route" between Johannesburg, South Africa, to Israel, and managed to smuggle in nearly 15 kilograms of cocaine.
Yogev was suspected of assisting the network in airport security checks.
The Rishon LeZion Magistrate's Court extended the remand of Yogev, Shalom and another suspect, Roy Chen, until Tuesday of next week.
"We believe that the suspect (Yogev) played a larger role in the operation than the other suspects so far," a police representative said at the court hearing.
Yogev's attorney said that his client "denies these allegations. Due to his classified nature of his job, I cannot elaborate further. We are confident that the police will release him soon." The other suspects also denied their involvement.
El Al said it "views these allegations gravely and awaits the result of the police investigation."
