Aaron Mizrachi (Martinelli Brother-in-Law) and His Son Mayer Mizrachi Face Corruption and Wiretap Charges

[Bud]

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FBI fingers Martinelli relative

Posted on June 14, 2016 in Panama

Aaron Mizrachi, fled Panama on Martinelli jet

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AN INTERPOL red alert  for Aaron Mizrachi,  brother-in-law of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli –  in connection with a corruption investigation focused on a software contract with the German company SAP  remains in place.

Mizrachi fled the country aboard Martinelli’’s private jet in July 2015 as investigator’s were closing in on another  case related to the purchase of spy equipment for Martinelli’s surveillance program of political opponents, judges, journalists and businessmen.

He left the Albrook airport the same day that judicial authorities revealed that a company linked to Mizrachi, Caribbean Holding Services, was used as a conduit to funnel payments to the Israeli NSO Group, which provided the surveillance equipment.

In a resolution dated June 9, Judge Alina Hubiedo rejected a defense motion to prevent the arrest of Mizrachi.

The red alert   for his capture was issued through Interpol in April. In the ruling, Hubiedo highlighted that the offence which is being investigated is serious “since it is an act against the public administration.”

In the opinion, the judge referred to the testimony of Andrew Robinson, an FBI agent who participated in the investigation into the contract being conducted in the United States.

That testimony showed that SAP Vice President Vicente García (now jailed in the US) agreed to pay bribes in exchange for state contracts.

Robinson said that Mizrachi met with Garcia at a hotel in Panama to arrange for the payments.

Mayer Mizrachi under arrest in Colombia

In addition, Robinson explained that Mizrachi and Garcia exchanged e-mails in which they discussed the bribes. Mizrachi allegedly demanded a 10 percent payment to ensure SAP received the contract. That money was paid to a marketing company he owned.

Mizrachi’s son, Mayer, has been  in detention in Colombia, awaiting extradition on other criminal charges also involving offences against the administration.He was allegedly paid for encrypting government software security programs, but never delivered. He was arrested in December after flying from the United States.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachi-interpol-red-alert-remains

[Bud]

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Mizrachi a fugitive after bribing guard

Posted on June 22, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi at the time of his arrest

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ON THE DAY he was to be released from detention in Colombia after a Panama Court had revoked his  extradition order, Mayer Mizrachi, the son of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli’s brother in law again became a fugitive.

Colombia official authorities reported that Mizrachi bribed a guard of La Picota prison to allow him to escape. This, although on Wednesday  June 22 he  would be released and sent by the immigration authorities to Panama.

A statement from  Panama’s Foreign Ministry, which had received a notice revoking an earlier extradition order said:  “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was told tonight by the Government of the Republic of Colombia that the Panamanian citizen Mayer Mizrachi escaped at  a time when the Colombian authorities arranged  deportation to Panama after his  detention and extradition request was overturned by the   Supreme Court of Panama, “said a  bulletin released by the Panamanian Foreign Ministry Wednesday night.

In the hearing before the Supreme Court Silvio Guerra, defense attorney, argued that his client “did not intend to alter or suppress evidence or abscond.”

The  Ministry note adds that the Colombian authorities launched an investigation for “ a possible act of high-level corruption, specifically bribery of an official of the National Institute of System Penitentiary and Prison  System in Colombia, who has already been dismissed by the authorities and charges have been brought before [the] prosecution by the fact “.

The Foreign Ministry warns that Mizrachi is a fugitive from justice

In Panama, Mizrachi is being investigated for  the commission of crimes against public administration to the detriment of the Authority Government Innovation (AIG), in the last government.

The preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for August 24.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachi-fugitive-bribing-guard

[Keith Woolford]

This guy just doesn't want to come home.

[Bud]

I'm fairly sure that no script writers could ever come up with this ongoing, seemingly never ending, debacle. (editorial comment on my part)

 

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‘’Non absconding” Mizrachi on the run

Posted on June 23, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi's Twtter image

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MAYER MIZRACHI Matalo, is now listed by Colombian authorities as a fugitive  after escaping from La Picota Jail in Bogota, Colombia, , says Panama’s Foreign Ministry.

After a Panama court revoked the order to extradite Mizrachi, he faced deportation to Panama for overstaying his visa in Colombia.

During an appearance before Panama’s Supreme Court while seeking to get the  extradition order revoked, Mizrachi’s lawyer told the court that there was no risk of his client absconding.

Before he could be deported, Mizrachi apparently bribed an official of the National Institute for Penitentiaries and Prisons (Inpec). The Panamanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Colombian authorities have opened an investigation into the incident and have charged one person.

On Wednesday, Mizrachi was flaunting his escape on Twitter, while Colombian authorities were issuing alert notices to neighboring countries.

Mizrachi who is facing trial in Panama on embezzlement  charges, is now considered a fugitive, Panama’s foreign the ministry said on Wednesday night soon after they received notice of his extradition order being revoked.

His father is also on the run. He fled Panama in August last year aboard Martinelli’s private jet, while being investigated for his involvement in offshore accounts used to funnel money to Israel for the purchase of spying equipment alleged to have been used by Martinelli for illegal surveillance of 150 rival politicians, journalists, judges and businessmen.

On his Twitter account, Mizrachi said that “there was no legal order in Colombia for my deportation” and denied bribing any officials. He said that the decision to halt the extradition process “did not include a transfer to another entity.”

“I am grateful to the staff of La Picota for having acted fully for not giving me to another entity without legal order,” he wrote.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/non-absconding-mizrachi-run

[Keith Woolford]

Welcome to Panama  ..where the truth can be stranger than fiction.

According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Mizrachi has some legitimate smarts.

Meet The Entrepreneur Who Launched A WhatsApp Rival From A Colombian Prison

The view from Mayer Mizrachi Matalon’s jail cell is a fine one; clumped red-brick houses, the undulating emerald fields of Bogotá, Colombia, mimicked above by white furrowed clouds.

Inside the rusted bars of La Picota prison, reality bites. Small bunk beds, shelves cluttered with packets of assorted foodstuffs, buckets used to store water for washing, drinking, brushing teeth, cleaning the toilet.

His two roommates are wanted for aiding terrorists and drug crimes, typical of the inmates at infamous La Picota. Like Mizrachi, 28, they say they are innocent.

Outside his cell’s door are cold showers, non-kosher food that Mizrachi, who is Jewish, can’t eat. Inmates play table tennis and hang their laundry in a cloistered mess hall. They eye one another suspiciously. During his time here, Mizrachi has experienced threats of violence and rape from baying prisoners, many accused of helping run the drug trade that’s ravaged South America. Relentless fear. It’s been five months now.

Inside Mizrachi’s head, the awful, unanswerable question runs in a loop: How did I get here?

From party planning to prison

As the end of 2015 drew near, Mizrachi was burning out. His company, Criptext, had spent the year raising a small pot of money, $500,000 in a seed round all from uncle Joseph Matalon, as it tried to expand beyond its original tech: a plugin that allowed Gmail and Outlook users to recall emails and encrypt their messages. That tool garnered some press attention and, the company tells me, nearly 20,000 users (an official Google page reveals there are just under 11,000, some of whom clearly weren’t happy with the service judging by the reviews).

Mizrachi wanted a vacation before embarking on his next big project, the launch of a refreshed Criptext Messenger, a potential rival to Facebook-owned WhatsApp, currently the most popular cross-platform messaging app in the world. Rather than simply try to take on WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging apps, Mizrachi had bigger plans for Criptext, previously a business-focused app for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems. He wanted customers, from hospitals to banks, to embed the tool in technology they already owned. In Mizrachi’s master plan, the technology would let patients interact securely with doctors online, or online bankers message customer service without fear of being snooped on. It would do the same between real people and chat bots, which mimic real-life company representatives.

The inspiration for the expansion of Criptext came from a contract with the government of Panama to provide secure communications. Unfortunately for Mizrachi, that 2014 deal went sour. In the end, rather than liberate his business, the Panama problems turned a vacation into an indefinite prison stay, where the young entrepreneur would oversee the launch of Criptext Messenger, far from the comfort of his New York office.

On December 29, the day Mizrachi was due to get on his flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he’d briefly visited family, to Cartagena, Colombia, his mother warned him not to go. “I didn’t have a good feeling. I said don’t go, let’s stay here together, please. Don’t travel,” Rebeca Matalon tells me. Mizrachi, a 28-year-old full of vim, ignored his mother, seeking a break from the madness of start-up life in New York. What better way to shed the stress than with a New Year’s blowout with friends in a city replete with beauty, with pre-internet history?

But when he landed in Cartagena, Mizrachi was pulled aside at customs. He was told he was wanted for extradition by the government in Panama, where he owned a business (Innovative Ventures, the parent to Criptext, is registered in Panama. Criptext is based in New York). Video footage shows the young entrepreneur as he’s escorted by officers of Colombia’s national police wearing Interpol jackets, out of Cartagena airport to a van, and then on to a local jail. He appears either surprisingly calm or shell-shocked in the face of an incomprehensible twist of fate.

A baffling case

Mizrachi’s case is, as one of his five lawyers Alexandre Vernot puts it, very strange, redolent of the Kafkaesque. Sometime last year, the Panama government put out an Interpol Red Notice for Mizrachi, claiming he was wanted for fraud against the government. According to his legal team, there are no official charges, but one of the few pieces of official documentation available online notes he is accused of breaching a contract to provide Criptext services to Panama, awarded in March 2014, though it doesn’t specify how that deal was broken. A Panamanian government statement, on the postponement of a court hearing in February, explains that Mizrachi and unnamed “others” had been called before the country’s criminal courts “for the alleged commission of crimes against the public administration.” Panama, which has an extradition treaty with Colombia, applied for his extradition on January 6.

Speaking to FORBES from his confines, Mizrachi tells me the investigation relates to a contract with the Autoridad Nacional Para La Innovación Gubernamental (AIG), the Panamanian department for innovation and technology, to provide secure alternatives for email and WhatsApp (which has just become significantly more secure with its own end-to-end encryption). Court dockets from Panama show the AIG as the complainant in the case against Mizrachi.

There’s much conflicting information about the nature and alleged breach of the contract. Rather than being accused of fraud, Mizrachi says the state alleged he embezzled money. Panama media reports indicate that is indeed one charge levelled by the government, though the chief complaint is that the software was not fully rolled out. Mizrachi describes both claims as absurd, as he was never a government employee, but a contractor paid by the AIG. He says he provided 100 licenses, which the government chose not to fully use. An audit ordered by Panama’s government, he argues, was inadequate as it looked at the number of devices using Criptext, rather than the number of licenses provided.

“They’re accusing him of a criminal act when basically it’s an administrative situation. It shouldn’t be a criminal act. It’s a dispute about a contract, which was just a license for nine months,” Rebeca Matalon says.

Colombian police, according to a Reuters report from December, claimed the contract was worth $13.3 million, though there was no official comment from Panama. Mizrachi says the deal was worth just under $200,000 and only covered 100 employees. He claims the technology was delivered but stopped being used after just four months after the transition to a new government, led by Juan Carlos Varela.

Mizrachi provided FORBES with an email to a newly-appointed AIG director, Irvin Halman, dated October 28, 2014, in which he asked the director why the product wasn’t being used. Mizrachi claims he was repeatedly ignored by Halman and had flown to Panama in July 2015 to speak with government investigators about their probe into the deal, only to be told he was not needed. He claims to have provided ample evidence to prove the contract was delivered. Though he knew about the government investigation, he had no idea they’d go as far as issuing a Red Notice that would lead to his precarious situation. (Halman had not responded to FORBES’ inquiries at the time of publication. Former AIG director Eduardo Jaen is also under investigation by anti-corruption prosecutors in Panama).

If there are no charges and close-to-zero information on how the contract was breached, why the five-month long stay in a maximum security Bogotá institution? Mizrachi’s family ties may provide a clue. Reports from December claim Mizrachi, a dual Jamaican and Panamanian citizen, is the nephew of ex-Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, but that’s not quite true. His father is, in fact, in a relationship with the sister of Martinelli. In rather public spats, President Varela has accused the Martinelli regime of corruption, leading to the launch of an official investigation at the start of 2015. A week before Mizrachi’s detention, Panama’s Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Martinelli, who is believed to be living in Miami.

“He’s been caught up in some kind of web following the change of government. That’s no reason for him to be languishing in a Colombian jail,” says Lord Anthony Gifford, an attorney specializing in human rights, working out of Jamaica and the UK.

The entrepreneur’s representation believes egregious human rights violations have occurred. First, they claim Interpol did not carry out adequate checks before issuing a Red Notice, failing to check whether any charges had been filed. Second, he should not be incarcerated over what is essentially a contract dispute. Third, they claim to have paid the bail to have him released. Mizrachi provided a document that appears to show a $100,000 payment to Panama’s justice division, dated February 23rd 2016. Panamanian media reported on January 19 a court had granted a petition for bail for that amount in January before he’d even reached La Picota, and yet he remains there. The justice department had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Getting any full comment from those responsible for Mizrachi’s detention is akin to talking to robots whose speech is limited to bureaucratic platitudes. “Unfortunately, I can’t answer your questions,” Panama government spokesperson Sandra Sotillo told FORBES. “That case was already sent to the Supreme Court to process his extradition.” Sotillo would not say when Panama asked Interpol for a Red Notice or provide any more detail on the crimes Mizrachi is supposed to have committed. Panama may well have a case against Mizrachi, but it’s refusing to elaborate.

The Colombian police did not respond to enquiries, though La Picota confirmed Mizrachi has been incarcerated there since January 20.

Interpol distanced itself from all responsibility. A spokesperson told FORBES over email: “Interpol cannot insist or compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. Nor can Interpol require any member country to take any action in response to another member country’s request. Each Interpol member country decides for itself what legal value to give Red Notice within their borders, including whether or not to arrest an individual and also whether to extradite or not.

“Interpol’s role is not to question the criminal proceedings initiated against an individual, nor to gather evidence, so a Red Notice is published … based on a valid arrest warrant or judicial decision having the same effect issued by the relevant national judicial authorities.” They could not comment on Mizrachi’s specific case, but noted his legal team could appeal to the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files, an independent body created to address such requests. Mizrachi’s team has not gone down that route, instead appealing to bodies in Panama and Colombia.

Thus far, his team’s petitions have achieved little. Vernot says appeals to Colombia’s minister of justice and Panama’s foreign office have been fobbed off, both sides stating the decision on his extradition would eventually be made by the Supreme Court at an as-yet unspecified date. Appeals to criminal courts in Panama have yielded just as little.

The most recent attempt to get some kind of official recognition was a request for assistance from the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. It’s unclear how the group could help. And like Interpol, the IACHR said it could not comment on the matter, other than to confirm it had received the petition from Mizrachi’s lawyers.

Life inside

Mizrachi tells me he went through two different prisons before his long stay in La Picota commenced. One sleepless night at the police station in Cartagena’s old town was preceded by three weeks at a small detention center in Bogotá. The first thing they did when he arrived at La Picota was shave his head, his already trim ochre hair reduced to dark stubble, though it’s now growing back.

The walk to his temporary holding cell was worse. “I could hear noise, so much noise, of people shouting and screaming. It sounded like a jungle. And it was scary, it was scary,” he tells me from the prison. “I was disappointed in myself. I thought I got myself into this position, I let down my family and everyone that loves me, everyone around me.” For a third time since his arrest, he cried.

Then the trip up to the top floor, where extraditable prisoners are kept, was similarly unpleasant, inmates shouting “nuevo,”, the new boy was in town. “When I’m taken up, I’m paraded around,” he adds. “They’re telling me everything that’s going to happen, who’s going to rape me, they’re screaming at me … it was just mental torture, emotional torture.”

Criptext CEO Mayer Mizrachi in the La Picota mess hall. His lawyers say egregious human rights violations have been perpetrated against him and his health is at risk.

Conditions at La Picota are favourable compared to some other institutions, like the deadly La Modelo in Bogotá. But there are just two showers for 80 inmates on his floor, running water available just three hours a day: one in the morning, one at midday, one at 2 p.m., he says. One particularly grim anecdote: though water can be purchased in bottles from a kiosk, for a two-week period they ran out, leaving no option but to drink from the faucet. “Everyone got sick … That was really shitty because right at the same time was Easter. It was an entire week-long event, and no one worked, so we couldn’t get a doctor that entire week. My family tried to send in medication and they wouldn’t accept it.”

There’s no heating. Constant searches of persons and their cells. No outside area to roam, to taste emancipation. “It’s kind of like a Las Vegas casino, you go into the casino at 2 a.m. and at 2 p.m. and it looks exactly the same.”

But he continues to work. The new consumer version of Criptext Messenger launched this month, though to little fanfare. Through various forms of communication, Mizrachi has managed to work on his business plan, review and test software, even make changes to Criptext Messenger from within the prison walls. That has provided some measure of sanity. Not shy of spinning his imprisonment into a PR opportunity, he wears his Criptext t-shirt when he needs to, as in the photos taken on inmates’ smuggled mobile phones for this article.

“As long as I have Skype and I have a keyboard and email, I can communicate with my team… This is limited, it has limited what I can do but it hasn’t stopped me from doing anything.”

Contact with his family has also provided some succour. His mother, who is temporarily residing in Bogotá, visits once a week. Other family members fly down when they can. His twin brother Mark, meanwhile, is running Mizrachi’s Twitter account, occasionally tweeting Panamanian officials, calling for justice.

But there’s a pressing concern about Mizrachi’s health. At a young age, he was diagnosed with a rare disease, a form of vasculitis known as polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Usually seen in the middle-aged and elderly, it causes inflammation of veins, causing blockages and lack of blood supply to organs. Medication is limited to steroids, immunosuppressives and chemotherapy. If Mizrachi’s illness returns whilst inside, his life may be at risk.

“He has flare ups, then it goes into remission,” mother Rebeca Matalon says. “[It's] an autoimmune condition, you always get ill from it, especially under stress and under abnormal conditions.”

Dr. Vas Novelli, who treated Mayer Mizrachi at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London from 1998 to 2007, tells me excessive stress certainly could lead to a return of symptoms, which include fever, swelling and seizures. If left untreated, they could lead to a heart attack or stroke, he warns. Dr. Novelli has compiled a report for Matalon to be included in the various petitions.

Rebeca Matalon, who moved to Colombia in January to provide her son with support, is worried but remains upbeat. “Mayer for me is a miracle,” she tells me. “We have to be positive, we have to make good things happen to him.”

What hope?

When they might happen is impossible to judge. At some point in the next few months, Panama will provide Mizrachi’s lawyers with a full list of accusations. Vernot says the team has 10 days to reply. Then comes a period of limbo, which Vernot says could last another six months, until Colombia’s Supreme Court makes a final decision. If that goes Mizrachi’s way, he’ll likely walk free, head home to New York and continue promoting Criptext.

The company, a small team of 16 working out of New York City and Ecuador, needs to prove a lot. It currently has no paying customers it can name. (Loaiza tells me one customer was a Brazilian firm called Shippify. He neglects to tell me he ran the company, later apologizing).

Criptext’s cryptography is also unproven. Any encryption product worth its salt is subjected to rigorous independent testing from an unforgiving crypto community. Criptext will have to go through such an audit if it wants to compete with the Signal protocol, the underlying code behind WhatsApp’s encryption. Loaiza provided FORBES with a brief paper on the company’s method for providing secure transfer of data, which seems unremarkable.  In fact, the technology, looking at the limited information available, is similar to other encryption systems, according to University of Surrey cryptography expert Alan Woodward.

He’s already noted one issue: “The idea is that their server is the honest broker that issues keys to smaller systems wanting to send each other encrypted data. These types of key management services are not uncommon but they do have a vulnerability – they know the key used by each party and so theoretically could leak that key if compromised.”

Regardless of the quality of the tech, Mizrachi and his lawyers are optimistic about his personal wellbeing. They believe that not only do they have a rock solid case, they have the backing of the Panamanian people. Over Criptext, the CEO adds: “People in Panama have gone mad about this. They see it for what it is: a sleazy banana peel.”

If Panama prevails? A fourth prison beckons. Whether Mizrachi is guilty of any crime, his incarceration for a breach of contract is, at the very least, baffling. At worst, it’s illegal.

Additional reporting by Dan Alexander

CORRECTION: This article previously stated Mizrachi’s father was married to Martinelli’s sister. They are not, but are in a long-term relationship. The article was updated to represent that fact.

The article was also updated to note his uncle Joseph Matalon was the sole investor in the seed round.

UPDATE: The Panama Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a statement through to FORBES on May 22 to explain the situation with Mizrachi’s bail. The government department said the bail only applied in Panama. This meant that if he returned to the country he wouldn’t be jailed, but would be required to remain there for as long as the investigation into his contract with the innovation department continued.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/05/19/mayer-mizrachi-criptext-ceo-in-prison/#2c8254092b15

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2016 by Keith Woolford

[Bud]

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Embezzlement runaway seeks political asylum

Posted on June 24, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi at the time of his arrest

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MAYER MIZRACHI  Matalon, wanted   by the First Anticorruption Prosecutor for alleged  embezzlement,  from the Government Innovation Authority  (AIG), has no intention of returning to Panama to face justice.

Detained in Bogota, Colombia, on December 29, Mizrachi won his release on Wednesday, June 22 at a time when deportation to Panama was pending, for overstaying the 90  days he could legally stay in the neighboring country.

On Thursday, June 24 Mizrachi applied through his lawyer Alexander Vernot for political asylum. He claims to be politically persecuted by President Juan Carlos Varela and invokes Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “in case of persecution, everyone has the right to seek asylum and to enjoy life in any country.”

“The current government of the Republic of Panama has partnered and saddled the  Mayer family relationship with the president Ricardo Martinelli [with whom he  has no relationship of any kind]; because his father, Aron Ronny Mizrachi, had a relationship with Mrs. Analida Martinelli, sister of ths former President of Panama, for several years, “says Vernot in the note to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Mayer has reported that in Panama there are no legal guarantees at this time, neither shall they respect his  rights , as indeed has happened with many other cases under the current government  of people associated with the previous government of Martinelli,” adds Vernot .

This week, the Second Superior Court ordered the lifting of the arrest warrant and extradition issued against Mayer. Earlier, in January, the same court favored his release on bail of $ 100k with an injunction that prevented him from leaving the country. He left for the US.

Migration Colombia filed a criminal complaint against the Colombian National Penitentiary and Prison, for not having delivered Mayer Mizrachi after his release from La Picota prison, on Wednesday.

He is under investigation for allegedly receiving money from the state without providing the contracted service: the installation of a software (Criptext) to encrypt messages in the cell of personnel security sectors. AIG paid $ 211 850 for the service.  Innovative Venture, the company of Mizrachi.

Also charged, and left holding the can are the former head of AIG, Eduardo Jaen, and former officials Adonay Ortega, Eduardo Briceño and Edgar Rodriguez.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 26.

Mizrachi’s father Aaron who was also facing investigation in cases, fled Panama on Martinelli’s private jet in August last year.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/embezzlement-suspect-seeks-political-asylum

[Bud]

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Mizrachi Colombia expulsion order stands

Posted on June 25, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi wanted for embezzlement

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WHILE  LAWYERS for  a Panamanian absconder claim he has sought political asylum in Colombia the country’s  Foreign Ministry warn that an expulsion order  against Mizrachi Matalon continues.

The Colombian Foreign Ministry said that on June 21,  when Panama announced its decision to withdraw the extradition of Mizrachi after the decision of the Second Court quashed an arrest  order  Immigration Colombia had already issued an  expulsion order that  includes  a prohibition from entering  the South American country for a period of 10 years.

Mizrachi left the jail in which he had been held since December in  a car with his lawyers while officials were waiting nearby to deport him.

The statement said that his  legal obligation to leave, as established by the rules of that country was breached.

Mizrachi is scheduled to appear in court in a Panama court  in  August along with several others, accused of embezzlement  from the state,

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachi-colombia-expulsion-order-stands

[Bud]

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Embezzlement suspect’s hearing stands

Posted on June 27, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi at the time of his arrest in Colombia

 

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IN SPITE of his Twitter grandstanding, suspected Panama embezzler Mayer Mizrachi remains  a fugitive and is presumed to be in hiding in Colombia.

Meanwhile the whereabouts of his father Aaron Mizrachi are also unknown. He fled Panama in August last year on ex-president Ricardo Martinelli’s  private jet as  investigators moved  on his links to purchasing spy equipment for use by Martinelli against political opponents.

Prosecutors have asked for a hearing to be held Aug. 26 for, the younger  Mizrachiwho faces corruption charges for irregularities in a contract a company he owned signed with the government innovation agency during the previous administration. The work he was contracted to perform was never done and he skipped the country

Mizrachi was detained in Colombia Dec. 29 and faced an extradition process, but a Panama court ordered the extradition to be halted. Mizrachi was slated to be deported to Panama, but he allegedly bribed a prison official to release him. He is now considered to be a fugitive, though he has denied any wrongdoing through his Twitter account.

The Public Ministry said that while the extradition order was cancelled, the case against Mizrachi remains open, which is why it scheduled the preliminary hearing.

Irvin Halman, the current director of he innovation agency who filed the complaint, said that the extradition issues are “exclusive from the prosecution of the case.”

In addition to Mizrachi, a number of other people are charged in the case, including a former officials who handed out a contract to Mizrachi.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/embezzlement-suspects-hearing-stands

[Bud]

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Prison boss fired over Mizrachi release

Posted on June 30, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi's Twtter image

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WHILE Mayer Mizrachi, facing embezzlement charges in Panama,  continues to thumb his nose at Panamanian authorities and flaunts on Twitter  his version of events  of hi srelease from jail, the director in charge of the Picota detention center has been  fired.

Jorge Ramirez, director of the Penitentiary and Prison Institute of Colombia (INPEC), Ramirez told Colombian radio station La FM that Fabio Becerra had explicit orders to surrender Mizrachi, as ordered by Colombian law, to Migration, for that entity to complete its deportation process, and did not.

The afternoon of Thursday, June 30, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo noted that “the Inpec decided to fire  the official because  the Panamanian businessman was not handed over to the Colombia immigration authorities “.

The Inpec director said he does not know why, but that is already is being investigated, as well as a possible bribe.

“He was given a very clear order to coordinate with immigration. I have already ordered an administrative investigation and a criminal investigation, for possibly accepting a bribe in the case.

Immigration officials filed a complaint into the matter last week. Mizrachi was slated to be deported to Panama to face criminal charges related to a contract he received from the government’s innovation agency to encrypt communications by security officials.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/prison-boss-suspended-mizrachi-release

[Bud]

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Mizrachi asylum plea rejected

Posted on July 7, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi flaunts his "release" on Twitter

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PANAMA PLAYBOY, fugitive suspected embezzler, and Ricardo Martinelli relative,  Mayer Mizrachi, who has been thumbing his nose at  Panamanian authorities from what he thought was a Colombian safe haven, may be running out of bolt holes.

The Colombian government has rejected his application for political asylum made after his bizarre exit from prison which led to charges against the prison’s Director. He avoided immigration officers waiting to put him on a plane to Panama where he faces trial, and headed with a lawyer to a Bogota hotel, meanwhile flashing pictures of himself on Twitter.

After that incident He was given five days to seek asylum. With its rejection   the relative  of former Panama  president Ricardo Martinelli  has been given another five days grace to appeal ,  but cannot leave  Bogota according to Panama Foreign Ministry sources.
Mizrachi had requested asylum using the mantra of his relative, Martinelli: “political persecution in his  country” where he is accused of embezzlement..
The former  high roller was released from  La Picota prison,on June 22 where had been held since December 2015 following his arrest  at Cartegena airport  after disembarking from a plane arriving from Fort Lauderdale.
He was released after a controversial Panama court decision, lifting the red alert and was to have been handed over to Migration Colombia for expulsion. Instead he drove off with a lawyer leaving immigration officers behind. The court decision canceling the red alert said he posed no flight risk.

This scenario led authorities to suspend on June 30,  the prison system’s deputy Director of Safety, Fabio Becerra, who was also serving as acting Director of La Picota prison.

Another twist to the cat and mouse story came on Wednesday. July 7 when Mizrachi’s lawyer suggested he might head for Jamaica where he has citizenship.

Mizrachi’s father Aaron, brother in law of Martinelli, has also skipped Panama. He left the country in August last year after publication of stories linking him to offshore companies used to funnel money for spying equipment purchased from Israel. He fled on Martinelli’s private jet.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachi-asylum-plea-rejected

[Bud]

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Nothing political in rejection of asylum plea

Posted on July 12, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi at the time of his arrest

Post Views: 119

“There is absolutely nothing political” in the refusal of Colombia  to grant political asylum to Panamanian fugitive, Mayer Mizrachi, says  Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.

Mizrachi, Panama playboy, businessman and Ricardo Martinelli relative by marriage who is  under  investigation  for  the commission of crimes against public administration to the detriment of the Government Innovation Authority  (AIG),  fled Panama for Fort Lauderdale in Florida. He left his Floida hideout and flew to Cartegena Co ombia  where he was arrested by Interpol in  December. On his release from prison he escaped from immigration authorities waiting to deport him.

He then applied for political asylum, using the “political persecution” mantra familiar to many of the previous administration facing trial for corruption.  “He was refused asylum and has ten working days to exercise his appeal” which will be  on July 22, said Holguin

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/nothing-political-rejection-asylum-plea

Edited July 13, 2016 by Bud

[Bud]

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Calls for help in bribery case linked to Martinelli, Mizrachi

Posted on July 13, 2016 in Panama

Aaron Mizrachi, fled Panama on Martinelli jet

Post Views: 84

MEXICO and the Virgin Islands have been asked to assist in a Panama corruption investigation linked to former president Ricardo Martinelli and his brother- in- law Aaron Mizrachi .

The sixth anti-corruption prosecutor has issued judicial assistance requests to the two countries as part of the investigation being carried out into alleged anomalies in the procurement and installation of software acquired from the company Advance Consulting, a distributor of SAP in Panama.

Mexican authorities are being asked to interview Mauricio Deveaux, a legal representative of Advanced Consulting, about bribes that were allegedly paid to government officials.

The Virgin Islands is being asked about banking information related to Aaron Mizrachi through the company Caribbean Holding, including the existence of safety deposit boxes connected to the company.

Recently, a judge rejected a motion by Mizrachi to block the investigation.

Caribbean Holding is also linked to the investigations into the purchase of spy equipment by the government and the failed irrigation project in Tonosí.

Mizrachi fled the country. In August 2015 aboard Martinelli’s private jet.

SAP executive Vicente García pleaded guilty in the United States to paying bribes to Panama officials and people close to former President Ricardo Martinelli in exchange for contracts. Garcia was jailed.

Martinelli  is fighting extradition from Miami to face trial for his role in the illegal surveillance of  over 150 opposition politicians, journalists, judges and businessmen. Supreme Court Judge, Harry Diaz is acting as prosecutor in the case, and an Interpol Red Alert has been issued. Martinelli is also facing multiple corruption investigations.
Mizrachi’s son  Mayer, is in Bogota, Colombia, awaiting deportation, after a request for political asylum was turned down, following a bizarre escape  from immigration authorities after six months detention following his arrest in Cartagena in December.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/calls-help-bribery-case-linked-martinelli-mizrachi

[Bud]

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Martinelli “royal” relative named in FBI probe

Posted on July 17, 2016 in Panama

"Royal"Aaron Mizrachi, fled Panama on Martinelli jet

Post Views: 91

AARON MIZRACHI, brother-in-law  of former President Ricardo Martinelli and linked by prosecutors to multiple cases of alleged corruption in the previous  government, was called “royalty” in the circle where allegedly a plot was executed to distribute commissions for a contract between Panama and the Social Security Fund for the purchase of SAP software.

This was revealed last week by the businessman  Heraclio Bustamante, in a preliminary statement to the Sixth Anticorruption Prosecutor.

“The other person of  which I am aware was  Carlos Bissot  who referred to The ‘Royalty.’ When I asked who was  royalty , He told me Aaron Ronny Mizrachi, ” said Bustamente.

The prosecutor Aurelio Vasquez has imposed an injunction on Bustamente preventing  him  from leaving the country and ordering hi,  to report to the prosecution  every Friday.Before mentioning Mizrachi he  had given  the prosecutor details of the role played in the plot  by his company True Marketing .

According to the trader, commissions to Advanced Consulting were transferred through True Marketing by the  ex-administrador of the National Authority for Government Innovation Eduardo Jaen, who received 1% of the commission. The other 1% was for Carlos Bissot, the other partner of Advanced Consulting.

Mizrachi  who is named  in several other cases of alleged corruption, is outside the country.

He fled Panama  in August 2015 aboard Martinelli’s private jet.

Meanwhile, the alleged involvement of Mizrachi in this case was revealed  in a  statement by FBI agent Andrew Robinson, , who participated in the investigation in the US and to whom Vicente Garcia, former vice president of SAP, (now in a US  jail) admitted  he had  created a scheme to pay kickbacks and so get contracts in Panama.

Robinson, according to the Thirteenth Criminal Court which denied an appeal by Mizrachi, said that he met with Garcia in a hotel in Panama and the then vice president of SAP said Mizrachi was the brother-in-law  of President Ricardo Martinelli and could get the multinational millionaire contracts with the state.

The FBI agent said  tha tAdvanced Consulting, the SAP distributor in Panama would pay, Mizrachi 10% of the contract and Jaen 1%, which would be funneled  by Bissot through True Marketing.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/martinelli-royal-relative-named-fbi-probe

[Bud]

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OFF THE CUFF: Playboy’s leash shortens

Posted on August 12, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi flaunts his "release" on Twitter

Post Views: 240

TIME MAY BE  running out for Panama playboy-businessman Mayer Mizrachi, who, like his father, is on the run from Panama authorities.

Mizrachi’s father skipped the country aboard the private jet of his brother-in-law, ex president Ricardo Martinelli  as investigators were looking at some of his offshore financial dealings  Mizrachi Junior  is facing trial in Panama for government work paid for but not done,

“Royal”Aaron Mizrachi, fled Panama on Martinelli jet

He was arrested in Colombia on  an Interpol warrant, and after several months in jail and a bizarre exit, that left the prison director facing charges, he applied for political asylum. After a series of rejections and appeals, he was notified on Wednesday, August 10   through his attorney was notified of the decision of the appeal presented by his  lawyers, which confirmed the refusal of the application for refugee status issued by the National Commission of Refuge (Conare) of Colombia on June 7.
Mizrachi had until Friday to  submit  the Colombian offices of Immigration to demand the renewal of safe conduct to avoid missing  the extension of five working days that entity that awarded the previous week.

Is he heading for a flight to Panama to face the music, or will  he dance to another tune, and send yet abother selfie to his Twiier account?

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/off-cuff-playboys-leash-shortens

Edited August 13, 2016 by Bud

[Bud]

Quote

FBI fingers Martinelli relative in bribery scandal

Posted on August 29, 2016 in Panama

Aaron Mizrachi

Post Views: 148

FBI fingers Martinelli relative in bribery scandal

RICARDO MARTINELLI’S  brother in law Aaron Mizrachi, is considered by an FBI  investigation to be a key figure in the Social Security (CSS) bribery scandal,

The case involves bribes allegedly paid by the German company SAP to Panama officials in exchange for a lucrative contract from the CSS.

The Mizrachi king pin role  is according to an affidavit given by FBI agent Stuart Andrew Robinson to the sixth anti-corruption prosecutor investigating the case.

Robinson’s statement revealed that former SAP official Vicente Garcia dealt with former National Innovation Authority Director Eduardo Jaén and businessmen Aaron Mizrachi and Carlos Bissott,, to arrange for the payment of the bribes. Bissott has since died.

The agent reported that Garcia confessed that he saw a blank contract with instructions on how to send bank transfers to accounts of Mizrachi in the British Virgin Islands.

Jail term
Garcia was sentenced in California,  to 22 months in prison for paying the bribes. The sentence was handed down based on the results of the FBI investigation.

Mizrachi fled the country on Martinelli’s private jet and is the subject of a red alert by Interpol.

Jaén is in custody and has confessed to  investigators that he accepted payments from SAP officials.

Other high ranking CSS officials are also being investigated, including the former director Guillermo   Saez Llorens, who, while in office had Hospital City named after Martinelli, a move

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/fbi-fingers-martinelli-relative-bribery-scndal

[Bud]

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Mizrachi’s wife denies husband’s bribe role

Posted on August 30, 2016 in Panama

Analida Martinelli and gone missing Aaron Mizrachi

Post Views: 135

EX-PRESIDENT Martinelli’s, sister, and wife of businessman Aaron Mizrachi has rushed to the defense of her husband accused of taking a bribe worth 10% of a $14.5 of a Social Security contract (CSS).

She sent a lengthy letter to La Prensa which had carried the story of the  German company SAP which paid a bribe to receive the software contract.

The SAP person who paid the bribe, has been sentenced in the US to 22 months in jail.

Prosecutors say that the bribe was paid through the company Advanced Consulting, and it represented 10 percent of the contract’s value. Prosecutors have also alleged that the software was overpriced.

More than a dozen people, including former Social Security officials, have been charged in the case.

But Analinda Martinelli, in an e-mail to La Prensa   denied that her husband did anything wrong.

Mizrchi  fled the country in Martinelli’s private jet, and is the subject of an Interpol red alert.

The e-mail, which was sent Monday, was in reaction to the story linking  Mizrachi to the case, calling him the “key” to the investigation.

“This is not the first time that La Prensa has written something that is wrong in an attempt to destroy his reputation,” Martinelli wrote. “You write lies, and if you want to do something decent and professional, you should rectify it.”

She said  that the contract in question was approved by a number of entities, including the Cabinet Council. She noted that current President Juan Carlos Varela was one of the people who signed off on it.

“This contract was approved in 2010, and you should remember who was in the Cabinet Council at that time,” she said.

She also denied that there was any link between her husband and Vicente Garcia, the former SAP official convicted in Florida of paying bribes to Panama officials.

“There is no existence of e-mails between Aaron Mizrachi and Vicente Garcia,” she said, adding that the two men met for less than 20 minutes on one occasion before the contract was finalized.

“It is a lie to say they met many times,” she added.

Also on Monday prosecutors outlined their case in more detail against Mizrachi and the others charged in the matte reports La Prensa

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachis-wife-denies-husbands-bribe-role

[Bud]

Quote

Wannabe jetsetter deported to Panama

Posted on September 7, 2016 in Panama

"big shot" grabbed by big team

Post Views: 128

THE ROPE has finally run out for wannabe jetsetter  Mayer Mizrachi  who has been thumbing his nose at Panamanian justice for months as he has sought political asylum in Colombia.

He was arrested Wednesday, September 7  in Bogota by Colombia immigration officials.

He was transferred to Immigration headquarters for formal notification of his impending expulsion.

He was expected to be deported to Panama the same day or Thursday.

Mizrachi was arrested while riding as a passenger in the back of an armored vehicle.

He tried to flee, but an immigration patrol car intercepted the vehicle to prevent his escape.

His lawyer asked that his client be granted permission to leave the country by his own means, but immigration authorities turned down that request.

Mizrachi referred to the incident on his account on the social network Twitter.

He claimed his expulsion from the country is illegal.

He faces charges in Panama related to a government contract that allegedly contained irregularities.

He was originally arrested in Colombia on an Interpol warrant, and was later involved in a jail “release” that led to the prison boss being fired

Meanwhile his father Aaron, brother-in law of ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, is  also wanted  on an Interpol Red Alert.

He fled the country in August last year on Martinelli’s private jet.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/wannabe-jetsetter-deported-panama

[Bud]

Quote

Security company obstructed fugitive’s arrest

Posted on September 8, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi and his lawyer Silvio Guerra.

Post Views: 153

WHILE PANAMANIAN gadfly Mayer Mizrachi is back in his home country to face embezzlement charges, a Colombian security company is under investigation for alleged obstruction of his arrest.

Colombian immigration officials reported that they will petition the Superintendency of Surveillance of that country to investigate the security company Neostar Seguridad de Colombia

The petition relates to the detention and subsequent expulsion of  Mizrachi on Wednesday, September 7

Sources said that when Mizrachi was arrested he was in the back seat of an armored car belonging to the company.

He was escorted by employees of the company who threatened immigration officials and even tried to run over one with a vehicle.

Employees of the company also allegedly followed the vehicle carrying Mizrachi to the airport, but did not interfere with his eventual deportation.

Mizrachi arrived in Panama early Thursday to finally face corruption charges after months of attempt to gain “political asylum in Colmbia.

Earlier in the year a Colombian prison director was suspended when Mizrachi left the jail and   dodged immigration officials.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/security-company-obstructed-fugitives-arrest

[Keith Woolford]

1 hour ago, Bud said:

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/security-company-obstructed-fugitives-arrest

After the fight this person put up to avoid being returned to Panama, I'm surprised he was granted bail once he was dragged back, but then again..

The kid's obviously got good lawyers and deep pockets.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Keith Woolford

[Bud]

2 minutes ago, Keith Woolford said:

I'm surprised he was granted bail once he was finally returned to Panama.

The kid's obviously got good lawyers and deep pockets.

Did you notice the hair style for his attorney. Almost looks like a Mohawk. I started to write "hair cut" instead of hair style, but it appears to be natural based on advancing age and male baldness.

[Bud]

Quote

Mizrachi facing money laundering probe

Posted on September 9, 2016 in Panama

Mizrachi flaunting the shirt of his company accused of corruption

Post Views: 130

MAYER MIZRACHI, the would be political asylum seeker, will be facing additional criminal investigation on  Monday September 12.

He will be questioned  by Seventh Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Janeth Rovetto on charges of money laundering, a new case being brought against the businessman who on his return to Panama boasted he was free to walk the streets.

Mizrachi was detained in Colombia this week, after his pleas for asylum were rejected  and brought to Panama to face charges related to irregularities in a contract his business received from the Government Innovation Authority for encryption technology.

He was released on $100,000 bond at a hearing Thursday August 8. He was also ordered not to leave the country.

The new charges are related to the movement of money linked to that contract.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/mizrachi-facing-money-laundering-probe

[Bud]

Quote

Mayer Mizrachi fails to attend hearing

12 sep 2016 - 09:59h

Temas: Mayer Mizrachi Matalon AIG

Mayer Mizrachi, currently under investigation for crimes against public administration, did not attend a hearing this morning related to another investigation involving his technology company Criptext.

The new investigation involves allegations of money laundering. Mizrachi was represented at the hearing by his lawyer, Ana Belfon, a former attorney general under the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014)

The hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 19.

Mizrachi is free on $100,000 bail. He was deported last week from Bogota to Panama.

He is accused of selling encryption technology to the government that failed to meet specifications. He has denied any wrongdoing.

http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Mayer-Mizrachi-indagatoria-supuesto-blanqueo_21_4574002559.html

[JudyS]

I wish he would get put in jail for the rest of his life, so CL could stop cluttering up the forum with "What's Next for Martinelli?"

[Marcelyn]

Judy: You do not have to read about Martinelli or anything else on CL. Just review the instructions on how to set up your own activity stream. Need help?

[Moderator_02]

Quote

Suspect no show at money laundering investigation

Posted on September 12, 2016 in Off The Cuff, Panama

Anna Belfon

Post Views: 105

MAYER MIZRACHI, the gallivanting corruption suspect who sought political asylum in Colombia, continues to thumb his nose at the justice system.

Currently under investigation for crimes against public administration, he failed to show for a hearing on Monday September 12 related to a money laundering  investigation involving his technology company Criptext.

Mizrachi, who likes to flaunt his brushes with the law on his Twitter account was represented at the hearing by his lawyer, Ana Belfon, a controversial former attorney general under the government of Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014)

The hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 19.

Mizrachi is free on $100,000 bail. \He was deported last week from Bogota to Panama after being held in jail for months and then evading immigration authorities while  he claimed political asylum.

He is accused of selling encryption technology to the government that failed to meet specifications.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

Mizrachi  is prohibited from leaving the country. His father, Aaron, bother in law of Martinelli, is the subject of an Interpol Red Alert.

He fled the country on Martinelli’s private jet.

http://www.newsroompanama.com/columns/the-cuff/suspect-no-show-money-laundering-investigation