Real Estate Fraud
Attorney Shlomo Ben Haim and Chaim Bukris Charged With Forging Documents and Impersonating a Kfar Saba Property Owner to Sell His Property Without His Knowledge for NIS 2.2 Million
The Central District Attorney's Office has filed an indictment in the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court alleging that attorney Shlomo Ben Haim forged a power of attorney and mortgage documents, caused entries to be registered at the Land Registry against a valuable property without its owner's knowledge, and offered the property for sale. According to the indictment, Chaim Bukris impersonated the owner before a lawyer and in a video filmed for the buyers. A NIS 2.2 million sale contract was signed, and the money was not transferred after the owner discovered what had been done with his property.
In brief
- The Central District Attorney's Office (Criminal) filed an indictment against two defendants in the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court; police file 89273/2025, prosecution file 426/25.
- Defendant 1, Shlomo Ben Haim, born 1976, of Bnei Brak, practised real estate law at the relevant time according to the indictment, which describes him as the "driving force" behind the scheme. Defendant 2, Chaim Bukris, born 1976, of Lod.
- According to the indictment, between October 2024 and February 2025 an irrevocable power of attorney, a company resolution, a mortgage deed and a special-terms document were forged, and entries were registered against the property at the Land Registry without the owner's knowledge.
- Bukris is charged with impersonating the owner twice: before a lawyer who verified his signature, and in a video in which he "signed" a sale contract. According to the indictment he was promised NIS 20,000, which was never paid.
- Buyers signed a NIS 2,200,000 sale contract, and Ben Haim instructed them to transfer the money to a company's account rather than to the owner. The money was not transferred.
- The charges: obtaining by fraud under aggravated circumstances, joint impersonation, forgery with intent to obtain, and use of a forged document. Ben Haim is also charged with inducing a false statement in an investigation.
- The defendants have not been convicted and are presumed innocent.
On 24 February 2025, a real estate agent contacted the owner of a property in Kfar Saba and asked him about the sale of his property. He had sold nothing. By then, according to an indictment filed by the Central District Attorney's Office (Criminal) in the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court, a pledge note and a caveat had already been registered against the property, a NIS 2.2 million sale contract had already been signed, and another man had already been filmed impersonating him and signing in his name.
The indictment attributes the acts to two defendants: attorney Shlomo Ben Haim, born 1976, of Bnei Brak, and Chaim Bukris, born 1976, of Lod. According to the indictment, the two knew each other beforehand.
The lawyer the indictment calls the "driving force"
According to the indictment, Ben Haim practised real estate law at the relevant time and was the "driving force" (literally, the "living spirit") behind planning and carrying out the fraud. The prosecution alleges that he exploited his professional status, his knowledge of property law and his access to official databases to "weave a complex web of document forgery, impersonation and fraudulent acts", with the aim of transferring ownership of a property that was not his and receiving money for it. The property, according to the indictment, is valuable and was solely owned by the complainant.
According to the indictment, Ben Haim asked Bukris to sign forged documents and to be filmed impersonating the complainant, in return for a promise of payment. To avoid having to transfer the money to the owner's account, Ben Haim registered a mortgage in the name of a company owned by a third person, identified in the indictment by initials only.
An irrevocable power of attorney, without the owner's knowledge
According to the indictment, on or before 8 October 2024 Ben Haim forged an irrevocable power of attorney: he filled in the complainant's details and signed in his name, without lawful authority and with intent to defraud. The document purported to show the complainant appointing Ben Haim and two other lawyers to act on his behalf in matters concerning the property.
Between 8 October and 17 November 2024, Ben Haim passed the power of attorney to one of those lawyers so that he would verify the complainant's signature and file an application with the Land Registry to register a mortgage. According to the indictment, that lawyer verified the signatures of the complainant and the company, stamped the power of attorney, the mortgage deed and a document titled "Special Terms to the Mortgage Deed", and sent the documents to the Land Registry. All of this took place without the complainant's presence, knowledge or consent.
The Land Registry refused, and the documents were produced again
On 17 November 2024 the Land Registry rejected the application over four defects: no resolution of the mortgagee was attached, the area of the property was wrong, the identity of the person signing for the company was missing, and no property tax clearance was attached.
According to the indictment, between 17 November and 9 December 2024 Ben Haim created or forged three documents so that the application would be accepted: a company resolution, a mortgage deed in which he filled in the details, and a "Special Terms to the Mortgage Deed" document purporting to have been signed on 8 October 2024 by the company and the complainant.
The first impersonation: before a lawyer
According to the indictment, Ben Haim passed the documents to another lawyer so that she would verify the complainant's signature and file a further application with the Land Registry. On 9 December 2024 he presented Bukris to her "as if he were the complainant and his relative", and Bukris introduced himself by the complainant's name. Relying on that misrepresentation, the lawyer verified Bukris's signature and filed the forged documents. The application was approved, and an entry was made in the property's registration.
One buyer grew suspicious, other buyers asked for a video
Next, according to the indictment, Ben Haim actively worked to sell the property and offered it to buyers. On 13 February 2025 he met a prospective buyer and the buyer's lawyer at his office. The lawyer raised doubts about the reliability of the deal, and the buyer did not sign a contract.
Around the same time, Ben Haim offered the property to two other buyers. Their lawyer asked Ben Haim to send him a video showing the complainant signing the sale contract.
The second impersonation: make-up, clothes and a camera
On 18 February 2025, according to the indictment, Ben Haim met Bukris, instructed him to impersonate the complainant, and had him made up and dressed so that the footage would look authentic. He then filmed Bukris impersonating the complainant and purportedly signing the sale contract, and sent the video to the buyers' lawyer. In return for the video, Ben Haim promised Bukris NIS 20,000, but according to the indictment never paid him.
A NIS 2.2 million contract, and an instruction to pay a company
On the strength of the misrepresentation and the forged documents, the buyers signed a sale contract. According to the indictment, Ben Haim instructed them to transfer the purchase price, NIS 2,200,000, "in cash to the company's account, instead of to the complainant".
On the same day, 18 February 2025, the buyers' lawyer filed an application to register a caveat in their favour against the property. Ben Haim signed the application as the complainant's representative and also verified his signature. On 20 February 2025 the caveat was registered at the Land Registry.
One phone call stopped the deal
On 24 February 2025 a real estate agent unconnected to the deal contacted the complainant and asked him about the sale of the property. That is how it emerged that the sale was not his doing. He filed a police complaint, and the purchase money was not transferred to the company.
According to the indictment, during the investigation Ben Haim instructed Bukris not to identify himself in the impersonation video. The prosecution alleges that in doing so he sought to induce Bukris to give a false statement, or to withhold a true one, in his police interview.
The charges
Both defendants are charged with the following offences under the Penal Law, 5737-1977:
- obtaining a thing by fraud under aggravated circumstances, section 415 (latter part);
- impersonating another person with intent to defraud, jointly, section 441 (latter part) together with section 29;
- forgery with intent to obtain a thing, section 418 (multiple counts);
- use of a forged document, section 420 (multiple counts).
Ben Haim alone is also charged with inducing a false statement in an investigation, section 245(a).
The aggravating circumstances, according to the indictment: the acts spanned several months, from 8 October 2024 to 24 February 2025; abuse of professional status as a lawyer; the high value of the property; advance planning "with great audacity"; impersonation; forgery of many documents; and registration of entries against the property, misleading the public register.
The prosecution has notified the court that, if the defendants are convicted, it may ask for a sentence of actual imprisonment.
What has not yet been decided
An indictment sets out the prosecution's case. The defendants have not been convicted, the facts it describes have not yet been proven in court, and they are presumed innocent. A response from the defendants or their counsel will be published here if received.
In the copy published here, the block and parcel numbers and the complainant's surname have been redacted so as not to identify the victim or his property. The lawyers, the buyers and the real estate agent appear in the indictment by initials only and are not defendants.
Read the full indictment (PDF, in Hebrew, complainant and property details redacted) →
Sources: Indictment, State of Israel v. Shlomo Ben Haim and Chaim Bukris, Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court, criminal case 09-26 (the full case number does not appear on the copy we hold), police file 89273/2025, prosecution file 426/25, Central District Attorney's Office (Criminal); Penal Law, 5737-1977, sections 29, 245(a), 415, 418, 420 and 441.
The information in this section is general and is not legal advice. An indictment is not a conviction.
