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Thursday, July 12, 2012

5 indicted in Behadrei Haredim website Extortion Affair

Three of those arrested in the Beharei Haredim extortion

Jerusalem - Police announced Thursday it had found sufficient evidence to warrant an indictment against five suspects in the Hadrei Haredim website extortion affair.

Police suspected that over the last two years, the five members of staff working for the haredi news site extorted large sums of money from businessmen, rabbis, organizations and large companies, who paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The five suspects comprise the director-general of the website, his deputy and three other employees.

The suspects allegedly threatened to publish content that would damage people's reputations unless they paid them large sums of money.

The police said that it had completed an investigation into the affair and transferred the case to the prosecution.

“People were worried about what would happen. Some of the information was false, but it would still have ruined reputations in an irreversible way,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld previously said.

The investigation began in March when Jerusalem District Police received a complaint over alleged extortion.

The man who filed the initial complaint allegedly recorded a phone conversation with the director-general of the website in which sums were were demanded, prompting the investigation.

Source:  Jerusalem Post

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