In a joint operation Tuesday night, the FBI and the Israeli police raided a Tel Aviv-based company and arrested 26 Israelis on suspicion of involvement in an organized financial fraud operation. It is suspected of being part of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme.
Although the name of the company or scheme remains unknown, authorities suspect that individuals have defrauded millions of shekels from foreign nationals.
The statue was made after a joint investigation with the United States and Israeli authorities as the scheme was aimed at residents in the United States. The investigation was led by US authorities.
The scheme extracted money from the victims by marketing various investment products but did not offer any form of investment. Authorities cornered the alleged perpetrators with a stinging operation last month.
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In addition to the arrests, authorities also confiscated computers and digital storage media related to the scheme from searches and seizures. The raids began on Tuesday evening and continued until early Wednesday morning.
Fee not yet charged
According to several local media outlets, most of the arrested suspects denied any wrongdoing because they did not know that the scheme was a fraud. One of them is also said to be a well-known figure in the business community, but his identity has not been revealed.
Police are still questioning the arrested people, but it is not known whether or not they will be charged with fraud and money laundering.
Earlier, US authorities accused the Israeli masterminds of multiple binary options schemes, including SpotOption, which usually target US residents. Recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicted two Israeli residents for allegedly operating boiler rooms and selling binary options.
