Accountant Louise Brittain of Deloitte, trustee of the assets if British broker Nicholas Levene, has filed a request in the Tel Aviv District Court to enforce the British bankruptcy order of October 7 in Israel. On Sunday, the court handed down a four-day gagging order on the application.
Brittain wants to appoint Aharon Zohar of Tel Aviv firm Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar & Partners as receiver of Levene's assets in Israel, and to authorize him to seize Levene's Israeli property.
The application to the court stated that Levene had incurred debts, including to Israeli creditors, amounting to some £200 million.
According to Brittain, Levene's assets in Israel include a house in Herzliya Pituah bought for $5.5 million in 2007, registered in the name of his wife, Tracey Levene. In May 2008, Levene took a mortgage from First International Bank of Israel of $4 million on the property. Other assets are a house with a garden in Ramat Hasharon, registered in the name of Levene's sister and her husband, worth $700,000 according to Brittain, and mortgaged in Levene's favor to the tune of $400,000. In addition, there is a four-room apartment in Eilat, registered in the names of Levene's parents, on which there is also a mortgage registered in favor of Levene.
Brittain also discovered that Levene had rights in vehicles in Israel, and that there was an urgent need to seize his personal computer, located at the Herzliya house, and on which there was a great deal of information, in order to prevent anyone from trying to delete information or remove the computer.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 5, 2009
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