Intel Israel has filed a lawsuit in the Haifa District Court against Natalia Avtsin, a former employee, and Yafim Tsibolevsky, a former supplier, accusing them of orchestrating a NIS 3 million ($800,000) fraud at its Haifa development center.
According to the lawsuit, the two exploited their prior acquaintance to carry out the scheme between October 2023 and Avtsin’s dismissal in November. Although she was fired due to projected downsizing, Intel claims the fraud was ongoing during her time in the company’s hardware manufacturing department, where she managed subcontractors and supplier orders.
Tsibolevsky, who now works at Israel Railways, had registered in September 2023 as a licensed business under the name Energy Electronics 2000 and soon after began supplying Intel.
The alleged scheme worked as follows: Avtsin would request a price quote from Tsibolevsky for components via email, then submit the quote for managerial approval. Once approved, she would allegedly change the payment classification from “components” to “services” without notifying superiors.
Because services didn't require signed delivery notes or receipts, Tsibolevsky could issue an invoice and receive payment without further checks. Intel claims this bypassed internal controls and that had the purchases been correctly classified, the company would have required warehouse confirmation of delivery, preventing the fraud.
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“Had Avtsin declared the purchases were for services, her manager would not have approved them, since Energy Electronics was not authorized to provide such services,” Intel said in a statement.
Avtsin had a purchasing limit of $20,000 per order. Intel noted that Tsibolevsky’s invoices, submitted at her request, consistently matched that threshold almost exactly. In addition to the direct transactions, the pair allegedly processed further fake purchases through a third-party company, Levanon Kogan, which provides procurement solutions for non-listed Intel vendors.
While Intel is not accusing Levanon Kogan of wrongdoing, it claims Avtsin used their services to mask another 30 fictitious orders totaling more than NIS 2 million ($530,000), again reclassifying component purchases as service payments.
Intel is demanding the full amount be returned, along with any profits made from the funds.
Ynet’s sister publication Calcalist reached out to the defendants for comment, but they had not responded as of publication time.