Three Japanese and Singaporean companies, one a public company in Japan, have filed a NIS 19.5 million lawsuit with the Tel Aviv District Court against Israeli businessman Moshe Haimov.
The companies claim that Haimov presented himself as having extensive business ties in Russia and other countries, and that he carried out a sting operation against them, which netted him several million dollars by creating fictitious diamonds transactions. Haimov is a scion of a well-known family of diamond merchants.
The petitioners claim that Haimov presented himself as being involved in Russia’s gold and oil industries, as well as in diamond transactions in Europe, and as the controlling shareholder in US corporations worth hundreds of millions of dollars. On the basis of these claims, the petitioners said that they transferred money to Haimov to finance transactions around the world.
These claims were false. The petitioners hired an investigations agency, which uncovered the sting operation, and that Haimov was the subject of more than 30 financial claims by other victims. The petitioners said that, three years ago, a court ordered Haimov to pay NIS 1.5 million, which he had obtained through a similar sting operation.
The petitioners have asked the court to issue an order to temporary seize Haimov’s assets in the amount of the lawsuit, and to ban him from leaving the country.
Haim has petitioned the court to cancel the temporary steps against him. He says that he owes the petitioners nothing, and that the lawsuit is unfair pressure to obtain early repayment of money due to be paid upon the completion of a Russian oil transaction.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 20, 2007
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