Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Fraudster Convicted By U.S. Court

(JTA) — An executive whose firm was an integral part of Israel’s multibillion-dollar binary options industry, which has scammed millions around the world over the past decade, was convicted of wire fraud by a U.S. court on Tuesday.

Lee Elbaz, the CEO of Yukom Communications, who was arrested by the FBI in 2017, was found guilty of stealing more than $145 million, The Times of Israel reported. The indictment alleged that Elbaz and her subordinates misled investors. Her lawyer blamed her employees for the fraud.

According to The Times, whose English-language reporting on binary options pushed officials to take action, the binary options industry in Israel has brought in up to $10 billion a year over the past decade. Hundreds of local companies have defrauded millions of people worldwide.

Binary options are marketed as a financial instrument that can yield big returns fast. The companies’ websites allowed clients to place bets on whether a commodity, like a stock or trading index, would increase or decrease in value over a short time period. In most cases, though, clients lost all or nearly all the money they invested because the game is rigged. Salespeople regularly used false identities and misrepresent their location, credentials and product. Israel outlawed the industry in 2017.

Elbaz faces a maximum penalty of up to 80 years in prison.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.