The defense will begin on Sunday its part in the stock manipulation trial of businessman Nochi Dankner, the former controlling shareholder of IDB, with testimony by Dankner himself, in front of Judge Khalid Kabub in Tel Aviv District Court, The Marker reported.
The son of Yitzhak Dankner, one of six brothers who founded Dankner Investments, Nochi is also the founder and chairman of the Ganden Group, and a board member of the Jewish Agency for Israel. In 2011 he was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 11th richest Israelis.
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The prosecution says that Dankner, with the help of his partners, was been involved over several days in February 2012, in illegal market manipulation, while also issuing legitimate shares. According to the charges, Dankner and his friend, broker and owner of ISP Itay Strum, a co-defendant, conspired for Strum to make a large purchase of IDB Holding shares on the stock exchange, over the three days of the issue, in order to prevent further decline in stock, and to increase its trading.
To that end, according to the indictment, Dankner helped Strum receive approval from Bank Leumi for a loan of roughly $4 million, arranged for buyers who picked up some of the shares he was stuck with, and even lent him about $2 million, which took breaking Dankner’s personal a dollar deposit account.
The prosecution bases its case on a state witness named Adi Sheleg, Strum’s former partner, who told the court in January that Strum had asked him to purchase millions of dollars worth of IDB shares.
The defense claims Sheleg is lying to protect his wife, herself a broker who traded in inflated IDB shares.
