Supreme Court lengthens Nochi Dankner's sentence

Nochi Dankner  photo Ami Shooman, Yisrael Hayom
Nochi Dankner photo Ami Shooman, Yisrael Hayom

In dismissing his appeal, the justices gave Dankner an extra year in prison, and stressed the need for stiffer sentences for economic crimes.

Supreme Court Justices Neal Hendel, David Mintz, and George Karra have upheld the conviction of Nochi Dankner and lengthened his prison sentence to three years, in their dismissal of Dankner's appeal. Dankner was once the strongest person in Israel's economy. They also dismissed the appeal of investment manager Itay Strum's conviction in the Tel Aviv District Court in February 2012 for manipulating shares of IDB Holding. Strum's sentence was extended to two years. In an unusual development, the ruling was announced today by e-mail, not at the court itself.

Dankner and Strum are instructed to present themselves to begin serving their prison terms at 9:00 AM on October 2.

In their ruling, the justices stressed the trend towards giving stiffer sentences for economic crimes, particularly in securities offenses. They stated, "This trend reflects recognition of the great seriousness of economic offenses, the degree of sophistication involved in committing them, and the difficulty in exposing them, as well as the enormous damage they cause the Israeli economy and society in general. Economic crimes are usually committed by exploiting access to focuses of influence and power and by abusing the trust given to these criminals in management of other people's money, thereby causing damage that is no less than the conventional property offenses committed through the use of physical force."

According to the judgment, in view of the above, when securities fraud of exceptional seriousness in scale and the extent of harm to the values being protected is involved, "There is no alternative to intervening in the verdict of the District Court in the cases of Dankner and Strum."

Dankner and Strum appealed their sentences by the District Court. Judge Khaled Kabub sentenced Dankner to a two-year term and fined him NIS 800,000 and sentenced Strum to a one-year term and fined him NIS 500,000. The Supreme Court has now added one year to both men's terms.

"The only reasonable conclusion from the array of evidence considered above is that Dankner intended to influence the stock price and acted according to a plan devised together with Strum for this purpose. This conclusion is based on the evidence and the general picture it creates. The meaning is that the principal foundation disputed in this case - the mental foundation of Dankner - was proven by the prosecution beyond any reasonable doubt. This is the key to Dankner's conviction for both the crime of fraudulently exerting influence and the other offenses of fraud, reporting, and money laundering. At the same time, the foundations of these crimes are not the same and are not confined to proof of an intention to influence the share price. We will therefore now consider whether they exist," the judgment states.

The justices also wrote, "The background is the stock exchange. The stock exchange constitutes the main highway of the Israeli economy - an interurban highway that crosses the entire country. While there are other roads in Israel, the stock exchange has great power in the modern Israeli economy and affects the other lanes in the economy, including activity that is not traded on it. The essence of the crime is recognition that someone who exerts influence on the share price through fraud is liable to cause concrete damage in various circles like ripples in the pond of society."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 29, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

Nochi Dankner  photo Ami Shooman, Yisrael Hayom
Nochi Dankner photo Ami Shooman, Yisrael Hayom
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange credit: Shutterstock MagioreStock Foreign investment in TASE hits five-year high

Foreign investors have been flocking to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in recent weeks, the TASE research department tells "Globes."

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange share prices rising credit: Tali Bogdanovsky TASE opens sharply higher after Trump U-turn on tariffs

The pause is being interpreted as a climb down after US President Donald Trump admitted he had made the move to calm the markets.

Tomer Weingarten Photo: PR Trump targets SentinelOne exec in act of revenge

The US administration has suspended the security clearance of the company's chef intelligence and public policy officer Chris Krebs and everyone associated with him.

Elbit Systems tank turret systems credit: Elbit Systems Elbit Systems wins $100m tank turret systems deal

The Israel defense electronics company will supply its advanced UT30 MK2 unmanned turret systems to General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) to be supplied to a NATO European country.

groundcover founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli observability co groundcover raises $35m

groundcover has developed a “Bring Your Own Cloud” (BYOC) observability solution, redefining the architecture of a modern observability platform.

Nir Zuk credit: Inbal Marmari Palo Alto Networks mulls buying AI security co for $700m

Sources inform "Globes" that on Palo Alto's radar is Protect AI.

Thu: TASE ends volatile week with strong gains

NICE Systems led the gains today as Shufersal fell. The market will be closed Sunday for the Passover holiday.

Up 250%, Ashot Ashkelon wins another Defense Ministry order

The Israeli defense company's share price has risen 250% in the past three years since FIMI Opportunity Funds acquired control.

Phoenix Investment House CEO Avner Hadad  credit: Tommy Harpaz "The market has priced in all the bad things"

Phoenix Investment House CEO Avner Hadad says US markets could continue to fall, but that we are close to interesting territory for patient investors.

ZIM ship credit: ZIM Trump's tariffs torpedo ZIM's share price

ZIM's share price fell 16.4% on Wall Street on Thursday and a further 7.2% on Friday, closing with a market cap of $1.5 billion, wiping out all its gains in 2025.

Yoni Assia CEO eToro Credit: PR eToro defers IPO amid market turmoil

The online trading platform had planned to begin meetings with investors this week.

Caesarstone kitchen credit: Caesarstone Caesarstone bucks Nasdaq as tariffs boost potential

The Israeli quartz countertop manufacturer company has fallen on hard times due to Chinese rivalry but tariffs could boost its revenue.

Arkady Volozh  credit: Shlomi Yosef Analysts see Israel-linked Nebius challenging CoreWeave

Nebius, founded by Yandex founder Arkady Volozh, operates in CoreWeave's AI server market, but is growing "more rationally", and has far less debt.

Highcon chairperson Shlomo Nimrodi  credit: PR Packaging tech co Highcon winding down

The company, which numbers Benny Landa and JVP among its investors, is laying off most of its workforce, having lost 99.9% of its value since its flotation.

Tel Aviv credit: Shutterstock Tel Aviv slips in World's Wealthiest Cities ranking

Tel Aviv's position as one of the world's wealthiest cities took a big knock over the past year as it slipped from 42nd to 48th in investment advisors Henley & Co.'s "World's Wealthiest Cities" Top 50 ranking.

Accountant General Yali Rothenberg credit: Rafi Kutz Israel's fiscal deficit continues to narrow

The deficit narrowed in the twelve months to the end of March 2025, for the sixth consecutive month, Ministry of Finance accountant general Yali Rothenberg reported today.

President Donald Trump hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credit: Reuters Kevin Mohatt Israeli officials confident on US tariff concessions

Senior Israeli figures believe that concessions could be tied to progress on strategic regional political issues that are important to President Trump.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018