PNN – A Zionist faces up to 20 years in prison in the United States for a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network; the newspaper Maariv reported on its website this Saturday that Ayelet Raz, an Israeli woman, has confessed to committing a major fraud in the U.S. securities market.
According to the report, Israeli entrepreneur Ilit Raz—who founded and managed the AI Company “Junco”—has pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges, as announced by U.S. officials; this confirms that investors who had put approximately $27 million into the company were deceived by her.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the development late this week.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, during fundraising rounds in 2021 and 2022, Raz provided investors with misleading information regarding the scope of the company’s operations, the identity of its clients, and its actual and projected revenue.
Among the allegations is the claim that Raz falsely identified some of the world’s largest companies—including a credit card issuer, a sportswear brand, an online travel company, and a luxury fashion brand—as clients of Junko.
In reality, according to the lawsuit, these companies were never clients of the startup, and Raz was aware of this fact.
According to U.S. officials, the case intensified in 2023 after an investor grew suspicious of the company’s operations and requested further information, such as bank statements.
It is alleged that Raz sent the investor a document showing an average balance of over $5 million in the company’s account; however, according to the complaint, the document was forged, and the actual balance was less than $1 million.
A few days later, Raz sent the investor documents that appeared to be purchase orders from the company’s clients. According to the Department of Justice, many of these documents were fabricated and contained forged signatures; some were even presented as having been signed by companies that had no business relationship with Junko.
The company later collapsed, causing millions of dollars in losses for investors.
According to Maariv, Raz 40, an Israeli national, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and is awaiting sentencing; the maximum penalty is 20 years in prison.