Benny Steinmetz and his lawyer Adv. Ram Caspi have left for New York for meetings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This follows legal procedures launched by the SEC against Halton, controlled by Steinmetz, following suspicions that the company purchased Teledata securities early in September based on information that the company was up for sale.
After Steinmetz denied allegations, he and Caspi initiated a meeting with the US authorities, with the aim of cooperating and presenting relevant documents. In the opinion of Caspi and Steinmetz’s US lawyer, there are no grounds for suspicions and legal proceedings.
The SEC is continuing to investigate various bodies, most of them in Israel, which purchased shares in Teledata in early September. The affair is expected to become complex, and the SEC has reportedly approached the banks which executed transactions in shares, requesting lists of the purchasers.
The SEC is focusing mainly on large and out of the ordinary shares which were purchased. In a letter sent by Caspi in Steinmetz’s name to the Bank of Israel before they left for the US, he states that in his estimation, after the misunderstandings are clarified, the matter will be solved "within a short time." In any case, the letter stated, Steinmetz is cooperating fully with the US authorities, and will continue to update the Bank of Israel on all developments.
Steinmetz is one out of three groups currently bidding in the tender for the purchase of Bank Discount’s controlling core. At this stage, Bank of Israel has not consolidated a standpoint regarding the continuation of his bid, and this depends on developments in the affair in the US. Bank of Israel sources said the Supervisor of Banks is monitoring the affair, and will wait to examine developments before forming any stance regarding Steinmetz’s further participation in the tender.
Published by Israel's Business Arena September 28, 1998