Israeli-born billionaire accused in Moldova scheme to stay under house arrest

An Israeli-born businessman who allegedly embezzled about $1 billion from three banks in Moldova lost a bid to end his house arrest.

On Monday, a Moldovan court rejected the appeal by Ilan Shor, 28, who has been linked to the disappearance of nearly $1 billion, or 12 percent of Moldova’s GDP, late last year. His house arrest began last week.

Shor is heir to the Dufremol duty-free shop business and one of Moldova’s richest men.

Last November, $767 million disappeared from the three banks over three days. The New York-based corporate investigations firm Kroll concluded in a report that the damage, which is expected to reach $1 billion in total, was attributed to complex loan transactions that allowed Shor to store the money in offshore bank accounts, CNN Money reported.

Shor, who is married to Russian pop star Jasmin but likes to stay out of the public eye, was born in Tel Aviv and moved to Moldova as a toddler. His father, Miron Shor, started the Dufremol business, which opened Moldova’s first duty-free shops in 1994.