Defendant 1 stated that in partnership with Defendant 2 there was a division of duties whereby Defendant 2 recruited clients, and he was responsible for the operation of the arena and the technical support to investors. Since this method of action did not yield satisfactory returns, Defendant 2 offered to add Defendant 3, whom Defendant 2 knew as a colleague from the past, but his recruitment did not help increase profits. According to him, he benefited greatly from the therapeutic process he underwent in connection with the previous case, which helped him critically examine his patterns of conduct and recognize the distortions in his thinking, and by minimizing his actions and making the mistake of believing that investors are aware of the risks involved in investing their money, and that their loss is a result of the risk they chose to take. In the assessment of the Probation Service, Defendant 1's desire to preserve his culture from his family of origin, and on the other hand, his desire to belong, when he felt rejected and different, led to the formation of introverted, manipulative and anxious personality lines, and created physical and emotional distance between him and his environment, along with patterns of concealment. The impression is that on the formal levels, Defendant 1 made efforts to present a functioning and adaptive façade, but in the virtual space, which he perceived as anonymous and enabling, he tended to act in a boundary-breaking manner, had difficulty considering the consequences of his actions, and was focused on satisfying his needs.
The nature and severity of the offenses were noted as risk factors; the damages caused; the previous case; defendant 1's tendency to split between the formal parts of his life in which he conducted himself in a stable and adaptive manner, and the virtual space, where he acted illegally, with a focus on satisfying his needs; and the systematic, intellectual and manipulative manner in which he acted when committing the offenses for economic gain, while rationalizing and minimizing his actions. The prospect of rehabilitation was noted as the protracted therapeutic process; the cooperation with the treatment bodies, and the impression that the treatment was effective for him and helped him to critically examine his conduct, to gain insights regarding his problematic patterns of conduct, and to recognize the connection between his conduct in the previous case and the commission of the offenses in question; In addition, thanks to the treatment, he is able to express sincere remorse, understands the wrongness and severity of his actions, acknowledges the damage caused to the complainants, and demonstrates empathy. The Probation Service's assessment is that the lengthy therapeutic process helped reduce the risk in Defendant 1's condition, and its recommendation is to prefer the rehabilitative channel in his case, and that he be punished in the form of community service, along with a lengthy conditional sentence as an additional deterrent.
- In the report of Defendant 2 dated October 13, 2024, which was also prepared in relation to a psychiatric opinion in his case dated January 1, 2023, his life circumstances and characteristics were detailed, and that he was 44 years old, divorced for the second time, and the father of two minors. Defendant 2 stated that over the years he worked in the fields of marketing and sales, including Real forex in the sale of financial instruments in the capital market until the company's closure, and currently works as a freelancer in the field of marketing and selling fashion products. Defendant 2 has a previous conviction for which he was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
It was noted that Defendant 2 regretted referring customers to a trading arena outside of Israel, which was not supervised, but at the same time, he limited his responsibility to the other acts of which he confessed and projected responsibility on Defendant 1. According to him, defendant 1 established the trading platform and will operate it alone, while denying sending text messages and e-mails to potential customers, and involvement in the merchant's website, as well as refusing to manipulate the customers' money. The impression is that he found it difficult to relate in depth to his problematic conduct, his motives, and the harm caused by his actions. The report detailed that Defendant 2 had a history of abuse of psychiatric drugs, but according to him, his mental state had improved, and that he now denies drug abuse and is under psychiatric supervision (no recent documents were presented). After his release from prison in the previous case, he had a short period of therapeutic contact with a social worker on behalf of the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, but according to him, due to his work, he did not persist in treatment. Defendant 2 did not express a therapeutic need, including in the area of fraud, and to the impression of the Probation Service, he is focused on satisfying his needs and desires while having significant difficulty in seeing the other.