Nicholas Levene admitted to defrauding Ahouvi of £14.9 million, which was supposed to finance the purchase of a stake in Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek Global Real Estate.
British stockbroker Nicholas Levene has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of cheating investors out of £32.3 million when he appeared at the Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday. The investors he cheated include real estate developer Igal Ahouvi. Sentencing will be on October 22. Judge Martin Beddoe said that he would face a severe jail term, telling Levene, “Although I will give credit for the pleas of guilty, there will inevitably be in your case substantial sentences of imprisonment for the 14 matters you have acknowledged your responsibility."
Levene admitted to defrauding Ahouvi of £14.9 million, in April 2007 by claiming that the cash, which was transferred to a Monaco bank account, had been used to buy 7.15 million shares in Delek Global Real Estate Ltd., controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva through Delek Real Estate Ltd. (TASE: DLKR).
Levene immigrated to Israel with his parents from the UK as a teenager and returned to London several years later. He maintained close connection with his family in Israel and after his bankruptcy his creditors recovered assets owned by his family including a $5 million villa in Herzliya registered in the name of his wife Tracey.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 27, 2012
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