Yona was sentences in 2008 to seven years after he was found guilty of a slew of fraud charges pertaining to the company's collapse in the summer of 2007, which left thousands of families homeless. Yona fled to Italy to avoid arrest but was later extradited back to Israel.
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The State Prosecutor's Office and the defense agreed on a guilty plea inaccordance to a deal devised by the parties. Yona was to serve a seven-year prison sentence and pay NIS 4 million (about $1.06 million) in restitution to Heftsiba clients, who lost their money when the company filed for bankruptcy.
Judge Moshe Ravid adopted the plea bargain signed between Yona and the State Prosecutor's Office in terms of the prison term, but doubled the original fine included in the deal.