The Probation Service recommended that he be given community service, and that he avoid actual imprisonment due to the rehabilitation aspect. The Magistrate's Court set a range of 18-36 months in prison and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, a conditional sentence, a fine of ILS 20,000 and compensation of ILS 10,000 for each complainant. The District Court canceled the payment of the fine.
In contrast to our case, the defendant's actions lasted for a short time - about two years, which is seven charges, the appellant returned a significant part of the money to the complainants and remained in debt of ILS 400,000 to two complainants.
Determining the appropriate penalty area
- In light of all this, taking into account the social values that were harmed as a result of the defendant's actions, the degree of harm to them, the circumstances of the commission of the offenses, including their multiplicity, their frequency, their scope, their location and the damage caused to the victims, and after examining the customary sentencing policy, I determine a separate punishment range for all the offenses of fraud and forgery committed by the defendant, in each of the indictments, when he used the same criminal tactic in each of them in order to enrich his pocket.
- I will reiterate, as I noted in paragraph 65 above, that the reason for which I found it appropriate to establish two separate penal complexes for the offenses of fraud and forgery of which the defendant was convicted, in the framework of the two indictments, is due to the fact that I consider the circumstances of the commission of the offenses - the subject of the attached indictment - to be of additional severity that justifies the establishment of a separate compound. The defendant, as stated, committed his actions in more serious circumstances - that is, during the course of the main case against him, he repeatedly committed additional fraud and forgery offenses, after he was prohibited from practicing law by the court and by the Disciplinary Court of the Israel Bar Association. As noted in section 64, the defendant's "sequence of actions" was interrupted by the filing of the indictment against him in the main case in 2020 and not on his own initiative. Therefore, these offenses were committed in different periods. The indictment in the main case deals with offenses between the years 2008-2018, and the attached indictment deals with offenses between the years 2022-2024.
- Therefore, I will determine one penalty range for the acts of fraud and forgery committed by the defendant, in accordance with the offenses detailed in the first to twelfth indictment in the main file, and an additional penalty range for the acts of fraud and forgery committed by the defendant, in accordance with the offenses detailed in the first to fourth indictment in the attached file. In addition, I will determine a separate penalty area for the tax offenses that are the subject of the thirteenth indictment in the main case. Everything is as detailed below:
The appropriate penalty range for the offenses of fraud and forgery for which the defendant was convicted in the main case - the first to the twelfth charge - ranges from 5-7 years in prison, with an accompanying punishment.