Ex-Tax Authority Official Charged in Massive Fraud Scheme

A former senior official in Israel's Tax Authority, Shimon Cohen, faces a sweeping indictment for tax offenses, forgery, and money laundering. Cohen, who previously held positions including head of professional divisions and acting deputy director for professional matters, is accused alongside former colleague Orly Tal, businessman Tzvi Shefetz, Haim Salter, and David Apple. Three companies controlled by Cohen are also named as defendants.

The indictment alleges Cohen used fabricated trusts and false documents to help clients evade hundreds of millions of shekels in taxes. Simultaneously, he is accused of concealing tens of millions in personal income and laundering approximately 50 million shekels. One case involves Shefetz, where Cohen, Tal, and Shefetz allegedly presented a fabricated trust to the Tax Authority, claiming foreign assets were held in a trust established years earlier by an offshore resident. The prosecution claims this trust was created retroactively in 2016, with a forged trust deed dated 2005.

In this instance, Haim Salter, an Israeli living in Romania, was allegedly presented as the trust's creator and signed the forged deed for $15,000 paid by Shefetz. Cohen allegedly misrepresented the trust's assets as worth $20 million, when their actual value was half that. Tal and Shefetz are also accused of forging additional documents and attempting to solicit false statements to conceal Shefetz's foreign company's control from Israel.

Another alleged scheme involved Cohen fabricating a trust purportedly established in 1990 to fraudulently legitimize undeclared foreign assets and income for clients, enabling them to pay significantly lower taxes. He allegedly presented assets valued at 20 million pounds sterling, though their actual worth was less than half, and received $300,000 in cash for this service, which he did not report.

Furthermore, Cohen is linked to David Apple in a 2018 deal involving the sale of a foreign company's holdings for approximately 563.5 million euros. Cohen allegedly received about 8.45 million euros in commissions, transferred to a Swiss bank account he controlled, and failed to report this income. To disguise millions of shekels transferred to Apple, who was under receivership, Cohen and Apple allegedly created fake loan agreements, bypassing the official receiver and tax authorities. The prosecution asserts Cohen engaged in money laundering totaling around 50 million shekels through offshore accounts, fake loan agreements, and investments abroad.