Ephraim Margalit, the former director of the Israel Keren Hayesod Appeal in France, was found guilty today on all 76 counts in connection with the embezzlement of $166,000 from the organization’s funds. The trial lasted one week.
Declaring that the guilt of the accused had been proven on all counts, District Court Judge Binyamin Halevi, who handed down the judgment, rejected the defense argument that the court had no jurisdiction over acts committed abroad and said that all the offenses affected the rights and properties of the Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Agency.
Judge Halevi classified Margalit’s offenses in three major categories: stealing funds given by contributors: drawing funds under false pretenses: and cheating an organization cashier and forging the signature of a Jewish Agency accountant.
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