Israel extradites dual citizen accused of bank fraud in US

Israel has extradited a dual Israeli-American citizen to face charges in California over a multi-million-dollar bank fraud scheme.

Aryeh Greenes fled to Israel nearly a decade ago after being charged in the US District Court in Los Angeles with bank fraud and making false statements in loan applications between 2004 and 2008, according to the FBI, which identified him as a rabbi.

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in September that Greenes could be extradited, clearing the way to putting him on Wednesday’s flight.

He and Aviv Mizrahi, also a US citizen, are accused of defrauding California banks for $33 million. The FBI believes Mizrahi, who also goes by Aviv Shoham Schwartz, relocated to Israel several years before Greenes.

Greenes was the chief financial officer of several of Mizrahi’s electronic wholesaling businesses, according to the FBI, and they allegedly used fake financial records to obtain credit from multiple banks.

If convicted, Greenes, who is in his early 60s, faces a prison term that would keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life.