A Tel Aviv District Court has found that attorney Ronen Oren and Ayal Meshich defrauded an businesswoman of about 1 million shekels in a land deal involving the same Ramat Hasharon plot they had already been convicted over before. Judge Naftali Shila ruled on June 8, 2026, that the pair gave no coherent explanation for where the money went, while the plaintiff provided detailed records of her transfers and her testimony was more credible.
The woman, identified as D., had worked with Oren for years as her lawyer and trusted him. In June 2017, Oren introduced her to Meshich, who claimed he controlled 15 dunams in Ramat Hasharon, supposedly enough for 300 housing units. A month later, D. signed an agreement under which she and Oren were to each pay Meshich 1 million shekels for four land units of 100 square meters each, with an option to buy half the plot for 50 million shekels.
The court record showed that both men knew they did not own the land. As early as 2013 it had been determined that the company Meshich claimed represented had no rights in the property. In 2015, after an earlier scam involving the same land surfaced, Oren was recorded telling a victim, “I’m Ronen Oren, I’m not doing another contract on that land. Period. I’m not doing it... I did it once by mistake.” In February 2017, another couple sued them over the same plot. In February 2020, both were convicted of fraud and given prison terms converted to community service, Oren for four months and Meshich for nine. Oren was later suspended from the Israel Bar Association for seven years, in January 2023.
D. says she transferred about 1 million shekels in roughly 20 payments, bought into the project’s development, moved into offices connected to Oren and Meshich, paid rent and even furnished the space herself. She later learned from Yuvlavim that Meshich did not own the land and that, instead of 300 units, only up to 12 could be built there. She also alleged that some of her checks paid for Meshich’s home renovations and vehicles. After demanding her money back, she says Oren initially sought legal fees from her and later returned four checks of 50,000 shekels each, though the bank refused to honor even the first. Oren had also sued her in 2023 for 3 million shekels in fees.
The court ordered Oren and Meshich to pay D. 1.55 million shekels, including 1.01 million for the land payments with indexation and interest, 150,000 shekels for pain and suffering, and 400,000 shekels for a loan she says she gave Oren. With interest and linkage, the total rises to about 2.3 million shekels, plus 150,000 shekels in legal costs.
