The always well-informed FinanceFeeds today reported on the latest development in the Yukom Case. Accordingly, the U.S. government sees no reason why the court should grant immunity to Yossi Herzog and his partners Nissim Alfasi and Elad Bigelman for their depositions in the case of co-defendant Lee Elbaz. Herzog, Alfasi, and Bigelman were named as witnesses by Elbaz and should, therefore, make their testimony before the authorities. Faced with the indictment, the three were no longer willing to appear voluntarily for their scheduled depositions without immunity. Consequently, Elbaz requested the Court compel the U.S. Government to seek court-ordered Use Immunity for each of the witnesses. The prosecutors, however, filed its objections to her requests.
The Perpetrator and Co-conspirators
In the Yukom Case around a vast binary
The Herzog Indictment alleged that he and his partners were involved with Yukom Communications, the same company where Lee Elbaz has been CEO. Yossi Herzog was a shareholder of the company. In the trial, the prosecutors will prove that Herzog, Bigelman, and Alfasi were Elbaz’ co-conspirators.
In a document, filed with the Maryland District Court on June 25, 2019, the U.S. Government uncovered that they informed Lee Elbaz’s counsel that the Israeli counsel for the three Herzog defendants was notified to allow the witnesses to make fully informed decisions as to whether to waive their rights and proceed with the depositions.
The people charged
A total of 18 people are charged in the Yukom case. The identity of 9 defendants has already been announced by the authorities. Of these, 5 have already pleaded guilty to fraud with binary options. For procedural reasons, the identity of the remaining 9 defendants is not yet known. The Yukom Case court season starts with the trial for Lee Elbaz scheduled for July 16, 2019.
- Lee Elbaz
- Austin Smith (pleaded guilty)
- Yair Hadar (pleaded guilty)
- Lissa Mel (pleaded guilty)
- Liora Welles (pleaded guilty)
- Yosef “Yossi” Herzog
- Nissim Alfasi
- Elad Bigelman
- Shira Uzan (pleaded guilty)
Yukom Case in a nutshell
In March 2018, Lee Elbaz, the former CEO of the Israel-based company, Yukom Communications, was charged in an indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud for her alleged participation in a scheme to defraud investors with binary options. Lee Elbaz was arrested by the FBI in September 2017 for charges of binary options fraud. The indictment alleges that the Israel-based Yukom Communications Ltd provided boiler room services (so-called conversion services and retention services) for two websites, BinaryBook and BigOption. Elbaz allegedly participated from approximately May 2014 through June 2017 in the fraudulent scheme. Yukum was owned and controlled by the Israeli Yossi Herzog. BinaryBook and BigOption have been operated as SpotOption white-label solution. The founder and main shareholder of the Israeli SpotOption is an Israeli known as Pini Peter, whose full name is Pinchas Peterktzishvilly. FBI agents visited the offices of SpotOption in January 2018.
