Supreme Court Reduces Tax Offender's Sentence Due to Delay and Trauma

The Supreme Court has reduced the prison sentence of tax offender Ophir Galfer by five months, citing an unexplained six-year delay in indicting him and trauma he has suffered since the October 7th attacks. Justices Ofer Groskopf, Gila Kenfy-Steinitz, and Ruth Ronen ruled that Galfer will serve 27 months in prison, down from the 32 months initially imposed by the Central District Court.

Galfer was convicted of hundreds of offenses related to VAT, income tax, and money laundering. Between February 2013 and December 2015, he collaborated with others, including alleged organizers Sergei Sidorov and Ronen Zagir, and field operatives Lot Lev, Yitzhak Simoni, and Ofer Benbenishti, in a large-scale criminal scheme. This involved issuing fictitious invoices totaling hundreds of millions of shekels to various clients, and engaging in money laundering. Galfer admitted to issuing 1,015 fictitious invoices amounting to 220 million shekels, with a VAT component of 33 million shekels. The group received at least 12 million shekels for these invoices, and Galfer laundered at least 20 million shekels.

The prosecution had sought a 45-month sentence for Galfer, arguing his role was more severe than others involved. The defense highlighted that the offenses occurred between 2013 and 2015, while the indictment was only filed in July 2022, over seven years later. The indictments against the main organizers were filed as early as January 2016, and the investigation concluded seven years before Galfer's indictment without justification for the significant delay.

District Court Judge Michal Barak-Nevo had previously acknowledged the severity of the offenses, describing Galfer's role as the "administrative manager" of the organization. She noted his sophistication, systematic approach, and his function as a liaison between field operatives and organizers, as well as his dealings with accountants and management of bank accounts. She also sentenced him to a 120,000 shekel fine and a 70,000 shekel forfeiture.

In their decision, the Supreme Court justices stated that while the tax and money laundering offenses are serious, the extensive delay in indictment, for which no reasonable explanation was provided, and Galfer's personal circumstances, including a recognized psychological disability stemming from the October 7th events, warranted the reduction. They noted that the reduced sentence still aligns appropriately with sentences given to other defendants in the case, considering their respective roles.