Rabbi suspected of multi-million shekel fraud
Noted ultra-Orthodox persona Rabbi Yosef Schneider suspected of swindling aspiring inventors seeking assistance of Israeli Center for Inventors, defrauding business partner
The Israeli Center for Inventors aimed to provide fledgling inventors with step-by-step assistance on the way to realizing their ideas, but according to police suspicions, Schneider pocketed the fees paid to the center and failed to deliver the goods.
Dozens of complaints were filed with the Tel Aviv Police Fraud Division against the center recently, according to the which the Bnei Brak resident and father of eight, promised budding inventors their products would be produced in China – a pledge for which they paid him tens of thousands of shekels.
As time went by and no products were supplied, the inventors began questioning Schneider, who allegedly provided them with fictitious invoices indicating the manufacturing process was underway.
The police allege that Schneider defrauded both his clients and his business partner to the amount of millions. Early Tuesday morning, police officers raided Schneider's office, arrested him and confiscated computers and various files.
Schneider will be arraigned later Tuesday and the police are expected to ask the court to allow him restricted bail.
