The Taxation and Economics Prosecutor's Office has filed a serious indictment at the Tel Aviv District Court charging Shimon Cohen, who previously held senior positions at the Israel Tax Authority, including Acting Professional Deputy Director and Director of Professional Divisions, with a series of complex economic crimes. Alongside Cohen, those charged in the case include attorney Orly Tal, Zvi Shepetz, Haim Salter, businessman David Appel, and three companies under Cohen's control.
According to the indictment, as reported by ICE, the defendants systematically committed tax, forgery, money laundering, and insolvency law offenses. The indictment alleges that Cohen utilized his professional expertise to establish fictitious trusts and present fraudulent documents, enabling clients to evade tax payments estimated in the hundreds of millions of shekels. It is further alleged that Cohen concealed personal income worth tens of millions and laundered funds totaling approximately 50 million shekels.
Details from the charges indicate that in one instance from 2016, Cohen and Tal, along with client Zvi Shepetz, forged a trust deed to make it appear as if it had been drafted in 2005. It is alleged that they hired Haim Salter, who was paid to present himself as the creator of the trust, in an effort to launder declared assets worth 20 million dollars. Another fraud attributed to the defendants concerns a fictitious trust from 1990, valued at 20 million pounds, for which Cohen allegedly received a 300,000-dollar cash payment without reporting it.
Another prominent charge involves a 2018 transaction in which Cohen and Appel brokered the sale of holdings in a foreign company for 563. 5 million euros. It is suspected that Cohen received a brokerage commission of approximately 8. 45 million euros into a Swiss bank account without reporting it to the authorities. Additionally, it is alleged that Cohen assisted Appel, who was then undergoing insolvency and receivership proceedings, to conceal millions of shekels from his share of the commission through fictitious loan agreements with family members.
The defendants are charged with obtaining benefits by deceit under aggravated circumstances, forgery under aggravated circumstances, assisting in the concealment of a debtor's assets, false entries in corporate documents, and offenses under the Prohibition of Money Laundering Law. The investigation was conducted jointly by the Tel Aviv and Haifa Tax Investigation Offices along with the Supervisor of Insolvency and Economic Rehabilitation. It is important to note that these are allegations contained in an indictment and have not yet been adjudicated in court.