LA: Israeli enforcer pleads guilty to racketeering charge
Reputed enforcer for notorious Israeli cartel decides to take plea deal in the midst of his federal trial after top-ranking member of group testified against him
LOS ANGELES - A reputed enforcer for a notorious Israeli cartel decided to take a plea deal Tuesday in the midst of his federal trial - after a top-ranking member of the group testified against him, officials said.
Hai Waknine, 35, pleaded guilty to a single racketeering charge, according to Assistant US Attorney Tom Sleisenger. Under a deal with the government, he will be sentenced to nine years in prison, Sleisenger said.
Waknine had faced 46 counts of racketeering, extortion, conspiracy, and other charges stemming from an alleged scheme to hide money embezzled from an Israeli bank by loaning it out in Miami and Los Angeles. Waknine was accused of threatening violence to get debtors to pay up.
The turnabout came shortly after a morning of testimony from Gabi Benharosh, a powerful member of an organized crime syndicate known as the Jerusalem Group. Authorities say the syndicate has enriched itself through loan sharking, extortion, money laundering and illegal gambling in Israel, Europe, California, Nevada and elsewhere in the US.
Benharosh told jurors Waknine had helped devise the scheme and collect the money, Sleisenger said.
That conflicted with the defense's argument that Waknine acted under duress and was merely doing Benharosh's bidding.
A message left with defense attorney David Kenner was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Waknine - an Israeli national who lives in Marina del Rey and describes himself as a businessman - is out on USD 2 million bond until his sentencing in September, Sleisenger said.
Benharosh agreed to a plea bargain in March but has yet to be sentenced.
Waknine threatens to 'physically harm' man
Prosecutors allege that an employee of the Tel Aviv Trade Bank embezzled funds to help pay off her brother's debt to Benharosh and other members of the Jerusalem Group.
After receiving part of the funds, Benharosh wanted to leave Israel amid a police investigation into the bank employee, traveling to the US where he met Waknine, prosecutors said. With Waknine's help, money was then lent to two people in Miami, one in Los Angeles.
In one case, Waknine and two associates threatened to "physically harm" a man if he didn't pay back the USD 520,000 that Benharosh loaned him, according to court documents.
And in March 2003, he and three others visited the Los Angeles debtor and allegedly demanded that he repay USD 950,000. One of Waknine's strongmen, the victim of a bomb blast, then showed the man scars on his legs and implied the same could happen to him. Waknine later demanded an inflated repayment of USD 2 million, according prosecutors.
