Israel Police Make Arrests in Diamond Exchange

Police entered the Israel Diamond Exchange Sunday morning and have reportedly arrested a well-known money changer along with 15 other people, Rapaport reported.
Numerous computers and documents were taken by the police in what appears to be the conclusion of a year-long undercover investigation involving fraudulent invoices and money transfers by a special tax force against professional money laundering.
Traffic in the exchange building was noticeably lighter as many members of the trade decided to take the day off.  The suspects are expected be arraigned Monday morning.
According to The Marker publication, the suspects were systematically laundering money in large sums without reporting the transactions to the relevant authorities in Israel or abroad. They were also reportedly illegally converting foreign exchange and providing unlawful loans. The group allegedly gained tens of millions of shekels in profits from these activities, The Marker stated.
The 16 individuals are suspected of using their offices in the diamond exchange and other locations over a number of years to conduct transactions of the bank without the sufficient reporting, including providing loans, transferring money overseas, and foreign currency conversion disguised as legitimate diamond transactions. The value of these transaction amounted to hundreds of millions of shekels each year and the combined value of these deals over the years may have reached billions of shekels, The Marker reported.
Management of the Israel Diamond Exchange had not yet issued a statement at press time.