Ukraine extradites head of massive fraud to Israel

Extensive Ukraine-Israel cooperation leads to Dmitri Malkiel's extradition for aggravated fraud against hundreds of Israeli victims.

By YONAH BOB
Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich with Lieberman 311 (photo credit: REUTERS/Mykhailo Markiv/Presidential Press Service)
Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich with Lieberman 311
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mykhailo Markiv/Presidential Press Service)
Dmitri Malkiel was extradited from Ukraine to Israel on Thursday under suspicion of money-laundering and aggravated fraud against hundreds of Israeli victims, particularly immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
The Haifa Magistrate’s Court convicted Malkiel in 2007 of committing other crimes involving fraud, and sentenced him to four months imprisonment as part of a plea bargain agreement.
However, he fled the country before serving his sentence, violating a court order barring him from leaving Israel.
Malkiel lived in Ukraine since his 2007 escape, continuing to direct his wide-ranging fraudulent activities against Israeli victims from there.
He swindled over NIS 1 million out of his many victims, generally preferring to conduct a large number of schemes in which each victim was defrauded of relatively smaller amounts of money.
Many wings of the Justice Ministry were involved in Malkiel’s extradition case, including the Tel Aviv Police Fraud Squad, the Tel Aviv Prosecutor’s Office and the international law department.
Initially, the international law department submitted legal assistance requests to Ukraine as the two countries cooperated to gather evidence regarding Malkiel.
At the end of 2011, the international law department made two parallel extradition requests to Ukraine regarding Malkiel.
The first request was to return Malkiel in order to serve his 2007 sentence that he had avoided by escaping.
The second request was to bring him to trial in Israel for the more recent fraud he had conducted against Israeli victims, including while living in Ukraine.
Following his extradition, Malkiel’s remand to police custody was extended on Thursday by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.
The arrest and extradition of Malkiel cut off his fraudulent activities, which he continued until his arrest.