Israeli news sources are reporting that Aviv Talmor, former owner of the UTrade Retail FX and algo trading brand, has been jailed for two weeks for not making payments as part of a 2016 bankruptcy plan for UTrade.
Under the agreement, Talmor was to make monthly payments of NIS 3,500 (USD $1,000) to the insolvency fund – a small drop in the bucket considering that it is suspected that more than $12 million of investors’ money had gone missing from UTrade.
In a court proceeding held this morning in Tel Aviv, attorneys for the special administrator claimed that Mr. Talmor had indeed paid none of the required money into the fund over the past two years (save for a less-than-$100 contribution made within the past few weeks), and asked the presiding judge to jail Mr. Talmor for two weeks, unless he immediately came up with NIS 56,000 (about $15,700). The judge accepted the attorney’s arguments, and Mr. Talmor was carted off to jail.
The insolvency proceeding (and Mr. Talmor’s landing in jail as part of it) is separate from a continuing fraud investigation into the disappearing funds. Apparently Israeli prosecutors are getting close to issuing formal charges against Mr. Talmor, which are expected to claim (based on an investigation by Israeli business newspaper Globes) that Mr. Talmor used tens of millions of shekels of UTrade customer money for personal purposes, including for his other businesses.
Aviv Talmor was first arrested in March 2016 after returning to Israel following a six month hiatus. He was initially placed under house arrest, but was later released as police and prosecutors have continued to investigate.
Talmor claimed to the court that he has been unable to make ends meet, mind you contribute to the insolvency fund as required. However the court was presented with evidence that Talmor’s mother helps him out to the tune of NIS 5,000 per month, that he drives a 2013 Mazda and is living in a house worth NIS 3 million.