The authorized trustee of the failing pension fund company Slice, CPA Effi Sandrov, filed a landmark lawsuit today for approximately one billion shekels against the Goldberg family, led by the company’s former CEO, Assaf Goldberg.
According to the lawsuit, about 7,500 members transferred around 850 million shekels into personal pension funds (IRA) and study funds, which were transferred to unregulated foreign investment funds, and a significant portion of the funds was not returned.
According to Sandrov, this is one of the most severe cases the Israeli pension savings sector has ever experienced. "The Slice affair is the largest and most serious breach of trust against pensioners," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit highlights significant failures: lack of supervision by the board of directors, collapse of control mechanisms, negligence on the part of the compliance and regulation officer, and flawed auditing by the external accountant. Sandrov said, "The entire system failed-from the management that operated like a 'grocery store' to the gatekeepers who abandoned their duties."
The sharpest criticism is directed at Assaf Goldberg, who, according to the lawsuit, "failed in every possible way in his role" and managed Slice without the necessary knowledge, experience, or qualifications. Sandrov also points to "connections with dubious insurance agents, some of whom have criminal backgrounds," and claims the company operated in repeated violations of proper corporate governance.
"There was no one to ask how and why," the lawsuit states. "If they had asked, they would have discovered that Slice was unprepared, unaware, and had no control over the members' funds. This created a foolproof recipe for collapse-and the result: hundreds of millions of shekels disappeared, and thousands of savers-some elderly-were left with nothing."