Former Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Pini Gershon is one of several people who fell
prey to a conman who bilked unsuspecting buyers out of hundreds of thousands of
shekels on bogus real estate deals, Tel Aviv police confirmed on
Thursday.
Gershon, who currently serves as head of Hapoel Holon’s
management, was one of four people who complained to police that they had signed
contracts and paid thousands of shekels to an agent who promised to secure them
residential properties in development projects going up in the Tel Aviv
area.
Police said all of the contracts were counterfeited and the victims
quickly found out that their investments were worthless.
The suspect,
Moshe Ezra, 50, is a Tel Aviv-based real estate agent with years of experience
in a well-known business that had a solid reputation, police said. While an
official with the Tel Aviv district police said they are unsure why an
established businessman would carry out such a scam, they are examining the
possibility that he had fallen into some sort of debt recently. They added that
Ezra is not known to have any connection to organized crime.
On Thursday
afternoon officers from the anti-fraud division arrested Ezra, who could face
charges of fraud and forgery, among others.
Police said they believe that
there could be more investors who fell victim to the scam, and have called on
members of the public to come forward if they know of such cases.
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