The announcement indicates that Fine referred to American Israel (which is a shop company) as "My company", while noting that it is managed by Brett Waxtenbaum. In both the body of the text and in its signature, Fine made use of the company's website address (www.americanisrael.com), with the text "Specializing in TAMA 38 Development" (Specializing in TAMA 38 Development) above the URL. Although Fine used his private email address, rather than the company's address, it appears that the reference to "my company" and the inclusion of the details at the end of the message created a representation that he held an office with the company.
It should be noted that other emails sent by Fine to Ancona did not include the last two lines allegedly linking the message to American-Israel.
- In the announcement, Fine explained to Ancona about the essence of an urban renewal project in Israel. He attached to the announcement a prospectus of an urban renewal project on HaTayasim Street in Holon (Appendix B to Ancona's affidavit). Although there is no dispute that this project is not one of the projects in the economic venture that is the subject of the lawsuit, but rather another project in which a company owned by Debret has contracted, this was not mentioned in the notice. Therefore, it seems that Ancona was entitled to assume that this was an example that represented the business venture presented to him. As mentioned, the prospectus states that the project has excellent collateral security ("Projects have excellent collateral") and the lenders will be guaranteed the rights in the new apartments ("Our lenders have a lien over the rights of the new apartments").
Ancona claimed that Fine sent him another brochure, essentially identical, describing a project on Bialik Street in Bat Yam (Appendix C to the affidavit). There is no indication that the prospectus was attached to this announcement by Fine, and it is not clear how and when it reached Ancona.
- Following the first email message, on January 2, 2020, Fine sent another message to Ancona (Appendix D to Ancona's affidavit). The announcement said that we have over 100 investors who have invested a total of about $30,000,000 and are earning a handsome return. This statement is consistent with descriptions in the prospectus regarding the financial scope of projects included in Debret's other ventures (in which it is stated that the total investment is ILS 100,000,000 and other ventures with other entrepreneurs are detailed). It is clear that it does not relate only to the five projects that are the subject of the lawsuit, which are much smaller in scope. In any event, the use of the phrase "we have" was predicted to link Fine to the company, although this time the announcement did not include a signature similar to the previous one.
After this message was sent, the two switched to correspondence mainly through the WhatsApp application (Appendix E to Ancona's affidavit).
- In February, Fine and Ancona met in New York, both at Ancona's office (paragraph 29 of Ancona's affidavit) and Ben at the home of an acquaintance (paragraph 36 of Ancona's affidavit). Ancona testified in his affidavit that at a meeting at the office, Fine explained to him about TAMA 38 projects, stated that "Debret is a true professional and highly skilled in promoting such projects" and that everything he says is based on Debrett's opinion "and on his direct mission" (paragraph 31 of his affidavit). These statements are consistent with Ancona's claim in the statement of claim that he knew that Fine was an agent of Debreth. In this context, the statement of claim states that during the negotiations, Payne "explicitly acted" as an agent of Debret, "made it clear that he was consulting with [Debret] regarding the commercial terms and that he was aware of the negotiations and approved the representations and commercial terms discussed between the parties" (paragraph 73 of the statement of claim). Reinforcement for this statement, to which Ancona is bound, can also be found in the exchange of messages between the two (p. 49 of Ancona's appendices).
Ancona further claimed that during the meeting, Fine told him that the deal was almost risk-taking; it was "backed by real estate"; and it has strong collateral in the real estate and on the contractual level (section 32 of the affidavit).
- On July 6, 2020, a few days before Ancona signed the loan agreement, Fine emailed him a copy of the loan agreement (Appendix H to Ancona's affidavit). In the body of the message, Fine wrote that Shop has four projects currently in the works; And that the project on HaMatid Street is in the construction stages, 80% of the construction in this project has been completed, there is good progress in the sale of the apartments and it is expected to be completed by October. These figures are consistent with the data that Debreth included in his letters to investors. It is therefore possible to accept Payne's version that he received the data from Debert.
Attached to the notice was not only a copy of the loan agreement, but also an up-to-date brochure presenting three of the five projects of the business venture that is the subject of the action (pp. 85-90 of the appendices to Ancona's affidavit). The Persistent Project is not included among these. In this brochure, which differs from the prospectus sent to Corrie, it is stated that the most important criterion in investment is the assurance of the investment, and that "we provide excellent security/collateral. Our lenders have a lien over the rights of the new apartments" (p. 87 of the appendices to Ancona's affidavit).