Israeli businessman Moshe Hogeg charged in $290 million crypto scam

Israeli police are set to press charges against the businessman and former Beitar Jerusalem Football Club owner Moshe Hogeg for fraud involving digital assets worth $290 million. Bloomberg reports.

According to law enforcement authorities, the entrepreneur is also charged with theft, document forgery, tax offences and sexual harassment.

The prosecution has not yet decided whether to press criminal charges.

“We are convinced that after the case is reviewed by the Office of the Attorney General it will become clear that the situation is completely different from the various posts published for many years and that have brought great injustice toward Hogeg,” Hogeg’s lawyers said.

According to investigators, Hogeg and several of his unnamed associates are suspected of diverting millions of dollars raised from Israeli and foreign investors in 2017 and 2018 to four cryptocurrency startups.

Police say they have questioned 180 witnesses, collected 900 pieces of evidence and seized some assets.

The businessman and seven others were detained in 2021, but later released on house arrest. Hogeg is the founder of the Singulariteam investment fund, which backs Web3-projects. He is also involved in several failed startups.

The entrepreneur previously received money from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim for the now-defunct Mobli photo hosting service. In addition, he raised more than $1 million for the Yo app, which allowed sending and receiving messages containing only the word “yo”.

In August, Singapore police detained 10 people on suspicion of laundering more than $700 million, including through digital assets.

Earlier in Belarus, police uncovered the facts of exchanging funds stolen from citizens into cryptocurrency totalling more than 2 million Belarusian rubles (~$800,000). According to investigators, two men over two years received and laundered funds obtained from foreign criminals.