Israel news sources are reporting that former UTrade analyst Roy Cuzin has pled guilty in Tel Aviv District Court to multiple counts of aiding aggravated fraud, as part of a plea agreement in which both Mr. Cuzin’s attorneys and state prosecutors will request a 22 month prison sentence for Mr. Cuzin, alongside an NIS 25,000 (USD $8,300) fine.

UTrade owner Aviv Talmor was convicted back in 2023 of defrauding investors of NIS 77 million, and is now serving a five year jail sentence. At the time an indictment was also filed against Roy Cuzin, who served as the chief analyst of UTrade. However Cuzin left Israel, and was extradited earlier this year from Mexico to face the charges.

The original indictment against Talmor and Cuzin claimed that UTrade, an online broker which purportedly offered algo trading services, used more than half of investors’ money to expand and cover operating expenses for Talmor’s growing forex and binary options business at the time, which largely targeted investors abroad. Much of the money was reportedly transferred to the bank account of an Israeli company called Binary Call Center Ltd.

UTrade regularly used customer funds for its operational expenses, for strategic expansion of its activities (including the acquisition of foreign companies) and payment of debts of old customers, in a pyramid scheme.

While the fraud was directed by Aviv Talmor, Roy Cuzin admitted to aiding the fraud by presenting false statements and making false presentations to investors, while he knew what was occurring at UTrade. He also persuaded clients to leave their money with the company, or agree to delayed payment.

The judge who heard the Talmor case, Justice Khaled Kabub, has since become the first Muslim member of Israel’s Supreme Court.